Melbourne duo Billy Celeski and Rody Vargas agree that Victory are still getting used to their new home at AAMI Park and that the return to familiar surroundings at Etihad Stadium last week gave the team a considerable boost.
Melbourne duo Billy Celeski and Rody Vargas agree that Victory are still getting used to their new home at AAMI Park and that the return to familiar surroundings at Etihad Stadium last week gave the team a considerable boost.
Melbourne played the first of their five home games at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, beating arch-rivals Sydney FC 3-0 in the club’s best performance of the year. It came after just one win in their first five matches at their new home across town.
Victory has upcoming home games against Adelaide and Gold Coast at Etihad Stadium and Vargas said the win on Saturday plus the previous experience at the bigger stadium will hold them in good stead.
“I don’t know if we feel better (at Etihad). To give you an honest answer, I think AAMI Park is still relatively new for us, it’s our home ground, we’ve had three or four games and I suppose we feel it’s not yet our home ground,” he said.
“We did spend a good 2-3 years playing at Etihad. The stadium, the ground, the surroundings were very familiar It was nice to be back there, have a game and have a 3-0 win.”
Vargas said there was a real perception among the players that despite the fact the dimensions of the playing area are basically the same, that there was more room to move at Etihad Stadium.
“We felt like we had lot more space, the ground was a lot bigger. The surroundings of the stadium, the extra pitch on the outside, but it’s a perception,” he said.
“AAMI Park is still the best surface and the best football stadium in Australia, we are relatively new here. We are getting used to it. I’d like to think that in a couple of years it will become a fortress for us.”
Celeski agreed that while it was good to get back to their old home, the players are adjusting to the newer ground.
“I think we are still getting used to AAMI Park. It is relatively new for us as well. We feel really comfortable at Etihad, we still consider that home as well. We were happy with the way we went,” he said.
“We’ve got a couple of games at Etihad coming up in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we get another big turnout as well. We were pleased with the crowd, close to 20,000. Really important games the next few weeks for us.”
“But we love AAMI for the fact it’s compact and the crowd is on top of you. For different reasons we are comfortable at both venues.”
Before Victory play at home again, they must travel to Brisbane to take on the Roar on Saturday night, a team they have beaten five of the past six times they have met them.
“I think it’s important to get any little edge, especially against a team like Brisbane,” Celeski said.
“They are a great team. We will take our last game into account and obviously our form against Brisbane and we are going to try and back up like we did the other night.”
