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 isn’t just due to the team sheet.

A collective desire to be better, a sustained culture of success and enjoying one another’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 the Grand Final on June 3 in Sydney, the Socceroos hero at the World Cup in Qatar last year explained what it is like to be part of a sporting dynasty.

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

Melbourne City star Mat Leckie (left) has revealed a collective desire to be better and a winning culture are just two of the reasons why his team are the yardstick in the A-League

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

‘Standards need to be met, and we don’t apologise for that.

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

Leckie also pointed out that his City teammates won’t underestimate their opponents in the decider, Central Coast Mariners.

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

‘[Socceroos teammate] Jason Cummings holds up the ball well and is a quality finisher, the pace of Samuel Silvera is something we have to watch and [Marco] Tulio has been on another level in recent weeks.

‘Then you also have [Christian] Theoharous off the bench, we know we will have to produce 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 the likes of Borussia Mönchengladbach II, FSV Frankfurt and Hertha BSC in Germany also isn’t fussed about the decider 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 head to Sydney to do everything we can to win the double.’

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