Arthur Diles is determined to reward the unwavering Melbourne Victory support in Round 1 of the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Victory take on Auckland FC at AAMI Park on Saturday, October 18, kick-off 7.35pm AEDT, putting a full stop on an extensive off-season program.
It is a repeat of last term’s highly charged semi-final clash that saw the Boys in Blue prevail on aggregate to reach the Grand Final.
Speaking during his pre-match press conference, Diles previewed Victory’s opening weekend clash and assessed the test posed by last term’s Premiers.
“We’re looking forward to tomorrow night. We want to make sure that the stadium in there is full, our fans are making a lot of noise, and we put on a performance for them.”
On Auckland he added: “They are a formidable opponent and we’re looking forward to matching up with them nice and early and seeing where we are at.”
Diles was also quizzed about the makeup of his squad and gave a round-up on player availability in advance of team news being revealed on matchday.
“Nish is unavailable through injury. He got injured in our last pre-season hit-out against Adelaide. He’ll be gone for a couple of weeks at least.
“Reno is unavailable. Unfortunately, he’s been injured since our Australia Cup game. He hasn’t joined the team since then.
“Franco Lino is unavailable. He hasn’t been able to recover yet from his injury.
“Luka Kolic is unavailable. Rawlins is suspended, and obviously, Brendan Hamill is still recovering from his ACL. So there’s a few out, but that’s ok. We’ve got a squad and everyone’s going to stand up.”
Find a complete Injury Report list for our Men’s team by clicking here.
Watch Diles’ full press conference below.
