Glory motivated ahead of grudge match

With the Glory's regular home undergoing a re-development, the club will return to Patersons Stadium to host Roar with a crowd of around 20,000 expected.

Brisbane won last season's grand final after a controversial penalty was won and scored by Besart Berisha, which not only means that Glory and its fans will desperately want a win, but to also do so at the expense Berisha.

Even though Brisbane was perhaps lucky to be awarded the penalty that secured the championship, there's no question Roar was the best team in the A-League last season finishing comfortably with the most goals, assists and passes.

However things have changed at Roar, and the impact of the departure of coach Ange Postecoglou to Melbourne Victory with Rado Vidosic taking over will be intriguing to watch throughout the season.

Despite the change of coach, the majority of Brisbane's squad is back to attempt to win a third successive A-League title even though Henrique and Ivan Franjic still need to pass fitness tests to line-up on Sunday.

Perth made a stirring run last season just to make the grand final and now appears to have strengthened its squad over the off-season, with the signings of Michael Thwaite, Ryo Nagai and Scott Jamieson, its only significant loss being playmaker Andrezinho.

Coach Ian Ferguson said his squad is eyeing off another successful season, beginning at home against Brisbane.

"We've had a fantastic pre-season and everybody has done a very good job, the new players have blended in really well and now the talking stops," Ferguson said.

"We've got a big game on Sunday and we are looking forward to it.

"We all need to be focused on what we have to do and that's get the three points. That's the job we've got to do and we can't worry about what is going on in the terraces or any surprises there might be for Berisha.

"We just have to be ready for this challenge. Brisbane got the better of us last season and we have to try to get that monkey off our back now."

But Glory captain Jacob Burns won't be forgetting about the events of the grand final and neither will his team-mates who played in the game.

"I don't think you ever do completely forget about it. We use that as motivation, but the past is the past," Burns said.

"We are in a new season and we are looking forward. Brisbane are a fantastic team, but we have some good qualities as well and showed that to make the grand final before losing with circumstances that were out of our control. We now have a wonderful opportunity this season to go one better and that's our main focus."