Michael Zullo is confident he can overcome a bruised ankle to make the trip to Melbourne for the second-round Hyundai A-League match against the Victory this Saturday.

The Brisbane Roar winger is still nursing his left ankle after copping a knock in last weekend's 3-1 loss to Gold Coast United, but is keen make what he believes will be an even more important match at Etihad Stadium.

"It should be fine," Zullo said. "It was just a contact injury; it wasn't anything structural so it should be all good.

"I have to be 100 per cent to go down there and I think I can make it to be honest."

Last week's hype surrounding the derby opener might have died down, but Zullo said he was just as eager this week to get the right result.

"I think this week's probably more important for us as a test because we're playing the champions," he said.

"Obviously we want to keep them from getting ahead of us. I think they're the best side in the league so this week's probably a bigger game for us than last week.

"If we stutter at the start of the season it's going to be tough to get back and get a top two spot. So we're just keen to get started as soon as possible."

Zullo said he expected Melbourne to bounce back from their shock 2-0 loss to the Central Coast Mariners last week, despite losing inspirational skipper Kevin Muscat to injury.

"Obviously Muscat's a key player for them," he said. "He's their leader and probably their best player but they have a big, quality squad and I'm sure whoever slips in there will do the job.

"The last game was on a Thursday, this one is on a Saturday, so it will be a different atmosphere for them.

"Being the champions, they're not going to want to have two straight defeats so it's going to be a big task for us."

Brisbane Roar's match against Melbourne Victory kicks off at 7.30pm AEST Saturday at Etihad Stadium and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 3.