Sainsbury, 23, signed for PEC Zwolle in the Netherlands' Eredivisie early last year and he has now broken into the national team.
He has left a strong impression in his first major international tournament and caught the eye in Australia's 2-0 AFC Asian Cup quarter-final victory over China in Brisbane.
Sainsbury is expected to retain his place in the side to face United Arab Emirates in the second semi-final in Newcastle on Tuesday.
Sainsbury's performance was not lost on Moore, the star defender who played for Australia 52 times and was a member of the 2006 World Cup team that reached the last 16 in the competition in Germany.
"Trent seems to be somebody that the more games he plays the more confident he becomes as a football player," Moore said.
"In terms of defensive attributes he seems to have all the qualities.
"He has good pace and anticipation and he's a good passer of the ball out from the back which is important especially when you look at the way the national team is looking at playing.
"With experience he will continue to improve and judge situations a lot better. You've got to have the drive to be fit and play 95 minutes.
"You have to have the desire to do those things and from what we've seen from Trent he has that desire.
"Then you start looking in terms of being the complete player with the ability to play to the team's structure.
"All this will come with maturity and experience."
Moore said Sainsbury needed to work on a few aspects of his game.
"He still has a bit of work to do in terms of concentration and in professional football that concentration must be there for 90 minutes," he said.
"You have to make sure you're nice and strong and organised in set pieces because if you switch off for the smallest amount of time you get punished.
"For the currrent group of Socceroos players this need for concentration is very important. Concentration is a mindset, really.
"More so, believe it or not, when you actually have the ball because in transition, for example, you might not be as structured as well as you should be and that's when you get caught.
"The key is when you have the ball you have to be in a good position to make an impact and even stop an attack."
Moore said he was not surprised by Sainsbury's rise from a promising defender at Central Coast Mariners to a Socceroos stalwart.
"I'm not surprised at all by how well he has adapted to international football," he said. "The season before he left for the Netherlands he had a very good season with the Mariners.
"I think he himself would agree that his performance the following season probably dipped and now that he has the opportunity to be in Europe he has to challenge himself every single day to not only improve but get a game every weekend.
"And if you do that you develop a lot quicker."
So is Sainsbury here for the long haul?
"At times I got sucked into that one in saying that players would go on and play for Australia for the next 10 years," he said.
"The message I give to all the players is 'yes, you may have an opportunity to play for Australia for a long time but that will only come on the back of what they put in on a week to week basis and playing well enough to be in a position to continue playing for the national team'.
"There are no guaranteed positions but if you continue to do well in whatever league you are playing in you give yourself that opportunity."
