Troisi is off in May but could fill the marquee spot previously held by Ollie Bozanic before he departed for Japanese side Ventforet Kofu last month.

“There are discussions taking place all the time, that’s as much as I can give out with respect to the individuals and that’s our policy at this club that we don’t discuss these matters,” Muscat said.

“Only your observations can tell you (if it affects people) and you’ll see tomorrow night I don’t think you’ll see anything that’ll give you an indication that it’s affecting James Troisi come tomorrow night.

“It’s your opinion. No one is out of contract at the moment.

“On me, it doesn’t impact me one little bit, every individual is different and I haven’t asked players how they deal with it.”

Could Troisi fill the marquee role next season? Photo: Ashley Perez Photography.

Alan Baro, Nick Ansell, Fahid Ben Khalfallah and George Howard are also some names which are yet to be pencilled in by Victory.

Left-back Daniel Georgievski is already locked in to join Newcastle Jets next season, but asked whether it would have been beneficial to keep the Mariners-departed Scott Galloway, he felt they were projecting too far back.

Georgievski is suspended for the Mariners game as the only key out after being dismissed in last week’s goalless draw to Western Sydney Wanderers.

“Danny wants to win another trophy before he leaves the football club and again I’ll say it, Danny gets brought up every time there’s talk about contracts,” he said.

Muscat also had a tongue-in-cheek dig regarding transfers which were already finalised around the A-League.

He added: “There’s a dozen players around the league and I can name them all for you who’ve signed for other clubs but it doesn’t seem to be headlines… Maybe it’s not as interesting at other clubs.”

Muscat did not want to kiss and tell, saying “quite a few” had signed but he was more focused on acquiring momentum after three losses.

“It’s exciting times because there’s a trophy up for grabs,” Muscat said. “Why shouldn’t we put ourselves in a position to say we want to go and win it?

“To do that you need to perform well and you need to forget about individual things.”

Muscat was under no illusion results were now more important than performances for the finals.

He took confidence from the first 50 minutes in last week’s game against the Wanderers before being reduced to 10-men.

He explained it was “bloody hard to reproduce” if positive results came from luck.

“Do we gain more confidence because we wake up and see in the headlines that you’ve won?” Muscat questioned.

“Or do you gain more confidence by reviewing the game and seeing that you’ve executed things that will hold you in good stead?

“Without doubt it’s important to win, I’m not trying to put a performance together not to win but what we do believe is when we perform anywhere near our capabilities the result normally looks after itself.

“The concentration can’t be the result because then you’re just relying on luck, but it’s important to play well tomorrow night which will give us the win if we do that.”

Main Photo: Muscat and Football Operations Manager Paul Trimboli on the bench in Victory's most recent win against Perth Glory last month. Ashley Perez Photography.