Rather than haul them in for extra sessions following their 5-1 rout to neighbours Melbourne City, head coach Jeff Hopkins says less has been more for his Melbourne Victory side.
Victory were humbled by rivals City on Boxing Day, with Hannah Wilkinson scoring five goals in the Liberty A-League clash.
Instead of dismissing the result as a one-off, Hopkins said his team underwent some soul-searching feedback sessions and mixed up their training ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park.
“It would have been easy just to say it’s just one of those things,” he said.
“I’ve been coaching and playing for a long time and I reckon every year you get at least one game like that a season.
“We looked into it quite deeply. The good thing about this group is they all had a look at themselves this week.
“We had a couple of meetings earlier in the week; one was about our environment and the other was about the game and what we should have done better.
“We sat down and spoke and listened and things felt a little bit different. We cut down on training this week but the intensity has come up. If you want real quality, sometimes it’s best to do less.
“It’s been quite positive and the proof will be in our performance on the weekend.”
Victory face Brisbane on Sunday knowing they can cut Sydney FC’s four-point lead at the top of the table with a win.
Aside from Melina Ayres, Hopkins should have a full squad to choose from.
But he said his side needed to be wary of a Roar outfit, who despite not having won a game to start the season, have enough quality to hurt Victory.
“They’ve got a decent side with speed and experience,” he said.
“Katrina Gorry is coming back from having a baby and she’s starting to get on the field a little bit more.
“Hopefully it won’t be this week, but I’m sure it won’t be long until they get their first win and get their confidence.
“I’m hoping that (we’ve had our blip). It came out of the blue last week and we want to get back to winning ways, especially with Lynn Williams here for the next few weeks.”
