Roar central defender Jade North told The World Game his team won't be dictated to by City and will take the game to them at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
"We'll look to defend well as a unit, which is always the aim," he said. "But at the same time we're not going to focus on defending. That's not our game. We're going to go out and have a go at them because we're playing at home and the sort of team we are, we don't back down against anyone."
Even if Socceroos superstar Tim Cahill doesn't play for City because of an Achilles injury, they will still boast last season's leading goal-scorer in the A-League, Bruno Fornaroli, along with Bruce Kamau and Fernando Brandan up front and Luke Brattan pulling the strings behind them.
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But North promised Roar's attack would give City their own problems, particularly since striker Jamie Maclaren will be a on a high after opening his goal-scoring account for this season in last Sunday's 2-1 win over Perth and subsequently being recalled to the Australia squad.
"Jamie's confidence will get a big boost from that," he said. "He'll be right up for this game."
North was adamant it's City who face the bigger challenge of the two teams and reminded the visitors of their struggles on the road over the years.
"We're very strong at home and Melbourne Heart, Melbourne City, they haven't always been the strongest away from home," he said.
"We're going to be ready to go and we'll be looking to take advantage of playing at home again.
"It's going to be nice and toasty, nice and warm up here on Friday night."
Roar are entitled to be confident about playing at home. They are unbeaten in nine straight home games going back to last season.
In 14 regular-season home games last season, they had 11 wins, one loss and two draws, including a win and a draw against City.
City had three wins, seven losses and three draws in away games last season. They have started this season much better, with two wins from two away games, but still have to prove they can regularly get it done on the road.
