Brisbane Roar coach Warren Moon says his team is facing the A-League Men's ultimate test on Wednesday despite opponents Melbourne City missing four Socceroos representatives.
The league leaders head to Moreton Daily Stadium without ex-Roar favourite Jamie Maclaren, fellow attacker Mathew Leckie and midfield duo Marco Tilio and Connor Metcalfe after the quartet were named in Australia's squad for World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia.
The reigning premiers are however unbeaten in seven matches and will still have talents such as ex-Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson, influential French playmaker Florent Berenguer and winger Andrew Nabbout at their disposal.
"They're the best team in the league," Moon told AAP.
"They're the champions, the most well-resourced club and players that will come in and do the job are just as good - players that most of the rest of the league would dream of (having)."
While City represent a challenge of the highest order in Moon's opinion, his team is also coming into the game on the back of their best performance of the season - a 4-1 thumping of Perth in Western Australia.
That win, Brisbane's second in a row, lifted them off the bottom of the competition ladder and has Moon dreaming of an unlikely push for finals in the back third of the campaign.
"We're not happy with where we're at," he said.
"We've had two wins, which is nice, but we've needed to do that.
"We need to continue. We need to go on a streak.
"We're still ambitious, we still want to try and make finals and the only way we can do that is by going on a run of matches where we win games."
Brisbane will also have to deal with an absence through international duties, with midfielder Rahmat Akbari heading to Turkey to link up with the Afghanistan national team.
His spot is most likely to be taken by Jesse Daley, who missed the Glory win due to suspension.
