Melbourne City star Mat Leckie reveals why his side is the A-League team everyone is chasing

Melbourne City star Mat Leckie is surrounded by quality players – but their runaway success in the A-League this season has not just been down to the team sheet.

A shared desire to be better, a sustainable culture of success and enjoying each other’s company are just some of the reasons why the men from AAMI Park won the title by 11 points this season.

In doing so, Melbourne City created their own slice of history, becoming the first A-League team to lift three consecutive Premiers Plates.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia ahead of June 3’s Grand Final in Sydney, the Socceroos’ World Cup hero in Qatar last year explained what it’s like to be part of a sporting dynasty.

‘Every day is fun, we come to training and the demands are clear to see,’ said the winger.

Melbourne City star Mat Leckie (left) says a collective desire to get better and a winning culture are just two of the reasons his side are the benchmark in the A-League

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On June 3, Melbourne City take on the Central Coast Mariners in the A-League Grand Final, led by talisman Marco Tulio (pictured)

‘Standards have to be met, and we make no apologies for that.

‘Everyone has bought into what we are trying to achieve, and we pride ourselves on playing a style of football that our fans enjoy.’

Leckie also pointed out that his City teammates are not underestimating their opponents in the decider, the Central Coast Mariners.

‘They have been fantastic, they play counter attacking football and are very dangerous in the final third,’ he said.

‘[Socceroos teammate] Jason Cummings handles the ball well and is a quality finisher, Samuel Silvera’s pace is something we must watch and [Marco] Tulio has been on a different level in recent weeks.

‘Then you have one too [Christian] Theoharous off the bench, we know we have to play our best football to beat them.’

Melbourne City are blessed with attack minded players, including Golden Boot winner Jamie Maclaren (pictured, with teammate Andrew Nabbout)

The former player with Borussia Mönchengladbach II, FSV Frankfurt and Hertha BSC in Germany is also unconcerned about the decision being staged at a neutral venue for the first time in A-League history.

‘Obviously it would have been nice to play in front of our fans at AAMI Park, we have a good record there, but it is what it is, we have known about it for some time now,’ Leckie added.

‘We will train hard next week and then we will head to Sydney to do everything we can to win the double.’

Tickets are still available for the 2023 A-League Grand Final at Commbank Stadium, with kick-off 7.45pm.