Victory's Vukovic pushed to the next level

Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Danny Vukovic said Kevin Muscat has given him what he needed by pushing him out of his comfort zone.

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Vukovic built a reputation as a fierce competitor at Central Coast Mariners, one which he maintained at Perth Glory.

But the now-Victory shot stopper is adamant the Muscat influence is making him push new boundaries.

"He has certainly pushed me and he's testing me at times," Vukovic said.

"I have to think all the time now at training, I'm continually having to work things out.

"I'm certainly out of my comfort zone, but I think that's a good thing for me and at training 'Muscy' never lets the standard or the intensity drop. He's a firm believer in training the way we want to play and that's at a high level of intensity.

"I feel like I'm learning and I'm in a new space, out of my comfort zone, and I believe that's going to improve me as a footballer."

Vukovic is only 30 years old, young for a goalkeeper. 

Two more A-League games will make him the outright record-holder for appearances with 229, taking him past former Central Coast team mate, the now-retired John Hutchinson.

Vukovic is very much in the frame to become the first A-League player to reach 300 games.

Vukovic and his wife, Kristy, celebrated the birth of their first child, Harley, during the off-season and he said the family had settled in beautifully.

He also said Victory's playing style, which took it the A-League premiership and championship double last season, has forced him to change his own game.

"The way that we play is different to how I've played previously," he said.

"We want to retain possession as much as possible and that starts from the back. It's different to what I'm used to, but I think that's going to improve me and my all-round game.

"Ultimately, goalkeeping is about keeping the ball out of the back of the net, but a lot of what you do as a goalkeeper is distribution as well and in previous years I've probably gone long and looked for strikers and things like that.

"But now I'm probably looking to retain possession with fullbacks and midfielders. A little bit different from the distribution side of things, but it's still mainly about keeping the ball out of the back of the net - that never changes."

Vukovic said he had no seen no evidence of a premiership hangover at Victory, which has already won through to the semi-finals of the FFA Cup and is primed for an AFC Asian Champions League campaign as well as the A-League.

"I think everyone at the club knows the target has gotten even bigger on our backs," he said.

"In previous years, as an outsider looking in, Victory was always the scalp that we wanted at my old clubs and the desire from the opposition to beat us is going to be even greater now that Victory is champion.

"Everyone wants to beat Victory because it's the biggest and best club in the league, but we welcome the challenge and look forward to it.

"We know every game is going to be a tough one this season, whether it's the A-League or the Champions League."