Don’t forget about Melbourne City.
That’s the message from City defender Harrison Delbridge ahead of Saturday night’s Melbourne derby against Victory at AAMI Park.
The same venue hosted an Australia Cup final less than two weeks ago between Victory and South Melbourne, with the attendance of 29,911, a record crowd for a sporting event at the ground.
It led to talk that South Melbourne, the NPL Victoria club that won the Cup in a penalty shootout, had replaced City as Victory’s biggest rivals in terms of the atmosphere and equal levels of support at the decider,
However, Delbridge suggested it would be silly to downplay the significance and stature of his club.
“The success of the club for the past couple of years speaks for itself,” the experienced centre-back said in reflecting on City’s title wins in 2025 and 2021.
“City has established itself as one of the biggest clubs in the country.
“It’s great to see football in the country growing and people watching, but the success this club has had and the benchmark that it set in the league speaks for itself.
“We’re excited to have our football do the talking when we get on the pitch.”
Delbridge wasn’t overly concerned about City’s first-round 3-1 loss to Auckland FC last Saturday.
“Last week there were lots of positives for us. Obviously the result wasn’t one of them, but … we’ll tighten up a few loose things that happened last week and we’ll be buzzing along nicely,” he said.
“It (the derby) is a game that we’re expecting to win. It’s a big game for the club.”
Originally published as Melbourne City’s Harrison Delbridge issues Victory a derby warning after South Melbourne hype