Melbourne City star Mathew Leckie says there’s added fuel to this weekend’s Melbourne Derby after former City boss Patrick Kisnorbo crossed the divide to take charge of Melbourne Victory this season.
Kisnorbo coached City to two Isuzu UTE A-League Premierships and the club’s maiden Championship title in 2021, but after leaving the club in 2022, has returned to Victoria as Victory head coach on a three-year contract.
Leckie was signed by Kisnorbo at City in 2021, and spent one season under his watch.
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Ahead of Saturday’s Melbourne Derby at AAMI Park, Leckie was asked for his thoughts on Kisnorbo’s decision to join Victory after stints as both a player and coach at City down the years.
“It just adds more fuel to the derby, I think,” Leckie said.
“I had two good years with PK, and he obviously had his success previously, before I came (to the club), and he made a big part of the success at Melbourne City.
“Yeah, it adds more fuel to the game, and knowing him as a coach, you know how he prepared us, (we) know Victory is going to come out firing, really intense and aggressive, it should match the derby perfectly.
“I think as fans, they always feel betrayed or hurt, in a sense. That’s just how it is with derbies and teams coming from the same cities. But I’ve seen it a number of times when players or coaches go to, I guess, the enemy territory you can say.
“At first, they’re a bit wary or not happy about it, but PK in the A-League has done really well with City and I’m sure he’ll bring Victory to a higher standard and they’ll be a very good side this season.”
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“Of course I wish him well,” Leckie added. “Obviously on Saturday, we want to get the three points, but PK… I still have contact here and there with him. He’s been a great guy, first and foremost he was my coach but off the field he had quite a good relationship with a number of players.
“So of course, I wish him success for the season – but not for this Saturday.”
Leckie has been named in City’s squad for Saturday’s Melbourne Derby but after missing Round 1 with a quad injury, revealed he’s no guarantee to feature in the blockbuster clash.
“It’s not confirmed, I’ve trained a bit with the team this week and just got to see how I feel tomorrow, and then speak to the coach,” he said.
“There hasn’t been any conversation about it, it’s just been more or less getting back on the training field. Hopefully, I can get through the sessions well.”
In his pre-match address, City head coach Aurelio Vidmar expressed eagerness to approach Leckie’s return to play with caution as the club continues to monitor the Socceroo’s recovery from training sessions on a daily basis.
“He’s trained this week, trained again this morning so we’ll just see how he pulls up in the morning,” Vidmar said.
“It’s been his first week, to be honest, so I’d really like to see him have another week. But, let’s see. I’m not counting on him, put it that way.
“All we’re interested in at the moment is: is he able to finish every training session that he’s on the park, and pull up well in the morning. That’s what we’ve been doing for a little while, we’ve done that this week as well so we’ll do that again tomorrow morning and we’ll make a final decision.”
One player Vidmar will be counting on to make an impact against Victory however is Leckie’s fellow Socceroo Marco Tilio, who scored the winning goal for City against the Jets in Round 1.
After a four-month pre-season, Vidmar says the 23-year-old is in prime condition for the opening phase of the 2024-25 campaign, and predicts big things from his exciting young forward in the weeks to come.
“He’s in really, really good shape, really happy and confident,” Vidmar said. It was really pleasing for him also to score the goal last week.
“I think TIls, he’ll just get better, they just need rhythm. It doesn’t have to be a derby, it’s any game.
“In my opinion, he’s probably the best dribbler one-on-one in the competition, when he starts running at you it can be frightening if you’re a defender.
“I’m pleased he’s really worked hard. In pre-season at times I felt sorry for him because hwne he wanted a little break, we just kept pushing him and he’s worked his way into a really nice level of fitness.
“I’m pleased that he scored last week and I’m really looking forward to him having, not just a big game tomorrow, but a big season.”
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