A fierce competitor who gives absolutely everything to the cause, the 34-year-old demands a lot from himself and expects those around him to devote blood, sweat and tears for the common cause.

Throw into the mix the pressure of defending your title and pleasing a large fanbase then you’re talking about a real test of character.

Muscat is confident that Victory’s new recruits will stand up and be counted as Ernie Merrick’s men prepare to kick off their campaign at Wellington Phoenix.

The Victory skipper says the focus within the camp is on themselves rather than stressing about the opposition and that the players are aiming high.

“Certainly we made a point of looking after ourselves and worrying about ourselves all through last season and I think we’re planning to maintain that approach," he said.

“I’m looking forward to it. Every team in the league will think they’ve improved their squad and we’re no different.

"I think we’ve got the right mixture at the moment. Of course, only time will tell.”

Victory reported back for training well ahead of their rivals before the start of last year’s glorious campaign and Muscat has noticed others adopting the same approach.

“It’s no guarantee of success but it’s certainly helped us,” he said.

Asking for a second successive ‘double’ (premiers and champions) is a lot to ask but Muscat believes it is vital to look towards fresh triumphs.

He said: “If you aren’t ambitious enough to emulate or get as close as possible to last season then you shouldn’t be at the football club.

“Among ourselves we’ve stopped talking about last year though. It’s a clean sheet and there’s seven other teams trying to hunt us down.”

It has been a busy pre-season for Merrick with some familiar faces moving on and plenty of new additions arriving at the Telstra Dome.

Pre-Season Cup results were more than disappointing but the real competition starts this weekend.

So will the new boys take the Hyundai A-League in their stride?

“I don’t really like singling out individuals," said Muscat. “We’ve eight or nine come in and each and every one of them has go a role to play.

“Coming into a team where the standards have been so high, it’s going to be very interesting to see which players actually stand up.

"I’m sure they’ve all got the ability to do so.”

Muscat is particularly looking forward to locking horns with a good friend this year, the pair having recently caught up at this week’s Hyundai A-League launch.

“There’s no doubt Craig Moore’s looking forward to coming up against me," he said.

"It’ll certainly be a race to see who gets the first one in when we come up against each other because we’ve obviously been very competitive over the years - and very good mates.”