In-form Melbourne Victory winger Marco Rojas has hinted he’s nearing the type of form that saw him win the Johnny Warren Medal in his last Hyundai A-League season.
Rojas has scored five goals in five matches in five competitive matches since returning to Victory in August, with the New Zealand international hitting the back of the net twice and notching two assists in Monday night’s 6-1 thumping of Wellington Phoenix.
MATCH CENTRE: Victory smash six past 10-man Phoenix
After a tough three years in Europe, Rojas is clearly enjoying being back in the Hyundai A-League where he won the Player of the Year award in Season 2012/13.
He was also picked this week in the team of the month for October by www.a-league.com.au
Hyundai A-League Team of the Month: October
Having joined team-mate Besart Berisha and Melbourne City’s Bruno Fornaroli on four goals at the top of the A-League scoring table, Rojas indicated he’s in a similar zone to that award-winning campaign.
“Even with the last season that I was here, you can see that if you’re scoring goals regularly and you’re doing well, then your confidence just keeps building and building, and before you know it you’re doing things without even thinking because of that confidence,” he said on Thursday.
“It’s great to be on that run and hopefully it can continue, and obviously it’s down to the work that the team does. I’m just lucky enough to be on the end of all the hard work that they do.”
Victory’s next test is against leaders Sydney FC, who have started the season with four straight wins and have yet to concede a goal.
Sydney will host Rojas and Co. in the Big Blue on Saturday night and although the Kiwi forward respects what the Sky Blues have achieved so far, he believes Victory will be raring to go after beating Wellington.
“It was a great result for us. Good after a bit of an up-and-down start to the season,” Rojas said.
“Obviously, Sydney have been flying but we’ll take all the confidence from the last game and we’re confident that we can do a good job.”
Victory were a different side against Phoenix when James Troisi replaced Oliver Bozanic as the central playmaker for the final half-hour.
Rojas joked that he didn’t want to discuss Troisi’s impact too much – “otherwise he might think he’s irreplaceable” – but clearly enjoys playing with the attacking midfielder.
“He’s [Troisi] an extremely good player and he showed that in the time that he was on the pitch, especially coming back from that injury so soon and being able to perform like that straightaway,” Rojas said.
