The postponement of Melbourne Victory’s trip to Brisbane Roar could be a blessing in disguise for Grant Brebner with several of his stars given extra time to recover.
Marco Rojas and new signing Ryan Shotton would have missed Sunday’s rematch against the Roar -Rojas recovering from a hamstring injury while Shotton continues to build up his fitness – with the pair eyeing a return in two weeks’ time.
Rojas trained individually on Friday, while Shotton participated in what became a longer and ‘physical session’ with the squad.
”We get an opportunity to bring players a little bit closer to match fitness with this extended break and who knows, it may work out for us,’’ Brebner said.
”We’ve done a physical session today and tomorrow we will open the pitch and look to have an internal game.
”We did manage to organise a practice match with an NPL side for the middle of next week but again we’ve got to wait to see if that goes ahead. I’m hearing we could be playing Brisbane next Friday night, which would mean we leave Thursday.’’
Socceroo Robbie Kruse has also returned to full training but will not be rushed back having missed 11 months of football.
”Robbie is back at full training but he will need games before he returns to the A-League. For him it’s all about mapping that plan and he would’ve been one to benefit from these external matches,’’ Brebner said.
Players were informed during training of the match’s cancellation, with Dolphin Stadium located inside the Moreton Bay area which has been forced into lockdown until Monday.
This would have been the second meeting between the two sides in eight days, with Brisbane walking away with a 3-1 win last Saturday at AAMI Park.
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