With Robbie Kruse and Andrew Nabbout missing extended time at season's commencement, Victory had largely been the Toivonen show early-doors. One could, therefore, have worried that his absence would result in Victory struggling mightily to break down the Jets at AAMI Park. 

Considering the scoreline ended 4-0, you needn't have worried. 

Victory's captain banished to the stands following the collection of his fifth yellow card against Melbourne City, Kruse slotted into the nine role for the visit from the A-League cellar-dwellers and quickly showed that, at least for a one-off, his club famously adapt without the services of the big Swede.

A heaven-piercing ball over the top from Leigh Broxham – deployed at centre back thanks to Thomas Deng’s Olyroos call-up and yet another injury to German import Tim Hoogland – fell perfectly for the Socceroos winger’s run behind the Jets lines in the ninth minute.

The Jets' defenders caught on their heels, Kruse met the bouncing ball seamlessly in stride with a sumptuously cushioned header that brought it to his feet before, with Glenn Moss advancing furiously out from his net, firing between the custodian’s legs.

Kruse demonstrated his ability to create something out of nothing with his positivity for Victory’s second in the 61st minute when he, seeing six Jets taking up position centrally, drove inside and let loose with a shot that Moss could only parry. An open goal in front of him, it was a simple task for Migjen Basha to fire into the net to celebrate his birthday with a goal.  

If the first goal was a demonstration of Kruse’s touch and the second one showing his initiative, the third was all about his intelligence.

Holding the ball up on the right flank and drawing defender John Koutroumbis towards him, Kruse intelligently held his position following his layoff to Anthony Lesiotis and, when the ball was played centrally to Jakob Paulson and dragged the Jets centrally, darted down the right flank.

It left him perfectly placed to receive a ball into space from Paulson, drive into the penalty area and then cut the ball back to Nabbout – who, a minute after failing to beat Moss with subtlety, hammered an effort into the net to make it 3-0.

While Coach Marco Kurz was hesitant to heap too much praise on his attacker, the importance that he holds for the team, both with and without the ball, was bleedingly obvious. 

The confidence he plays with is seemingly infectious, with Elvis Kamsoba, who shifted into a wide role as part of the Toivonen-enforced reshuffle continuing to show the initiative and freedom that he has demonstrated since Kruse’s addition to the Victory lineup.

Showing great creativity, the Burundi international was unlucky to not register an assist after creating numerous second chances for his teammates. Using his small frame to his advantage as he ducked and weaved in dangerous areas around the Jets penalty box, there were also half chances for the 23-year-old to find his maiden A-League goal.

Needless to say, should he do so at home, that first shot that finds the back off the net will blow the roof off AAMI Park.

Conversely, while his contributions to the Jets attacking play are undeniable, Dimi Petratos defensive contribution on Sunday could probably have been replicated by placing a traffic cone on top of a remote-controlled car with a rapidly depleting battery, and his defensive maladies weren’t unique.

While Jets Head Coach Ernie Merrick explained after the game that his striker's responsibilities don't include much in the way of defensive work, it did nonetheless force those behind him to do more work - stretching and fatiguing them. 

Victory can’t exactly be accused of having had the most functional of attacks thus far in 2019/20 but the Jets made them look downright vivacious – at least until they reached the final third.

In large part because of a lack of defensive pressure, Victory was able to effectively bypass their struggling midfield and look to get the ball to the feet of Kruse, Kamsoba and Nabbout.

Indeed, by the end of the night, Victory had begun to take the proverbial as they looked to get forward; Matt Millar’s 85th-minute own goal, when his attempt to clear a Lesiotis cross went straight into his own net summed up a confused, disparate and uninspiring defensive night.

It’s the fourth time this season that the Jets have conceded four goals in a game – with three of those occasions coming in the past three months.

Normally, the Jets are at least able to hang their hats on their ability to create chances up the other end, even if their ability to convert said chances thus far has been suspect at best.

But on Sunday their best chance was really a half-chance, coming during their brief period of showing some life on either side of the halftime whistle when Petratos received a Steven Ugarkovic ball and let loose with a low shot from outside the area that forced a save as Lawrence Thomas fell to his right.

Despite Victory’s defence seemingly being there for the taking with Tim Hoogland and Thomas Deng absent, the Jets’ attacks lacked any sort of plan or real intent and, as mentioned, the pressure applied to James Donachie and Broxham left much to be desired.  

"We had lots of possession," Merrick said post-game. "The stats show that we had 57% possession and 500 odd passes.

"But really, there was no chances of us scoring goals. In the front third we didn't even look like we were going to score. 

"Once again, if you're not going to score goals you're going to struggle to win. Not only did we not score goals, we're conceding them badly now so we've got to fix that next week.

"We've got a good enough side to be competitive, but we're not going to be competitive if we can't score a goal."

Following today's contest, Victory is now knocking on the door of the top six, while the Jets remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

Powered by a Kruse missile, Victory appears to be going in the right direction. The Jets? They need to find theirs.