Broxham the quiet achiever

Because he will have earned it the hard way, he said.

Victory faces arch rival Sydney FC in the grand final at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night and Broxham, 22, is expected to play a key role in the match.

Broxham has played in 28 of Victory's 29 matches in the premiership so far, confirming his meteoric rise from gear steward to one of the team's unsung heroes.

And it is a measure of his importance to the team that Victory lost to North Queensland in Townsville in the only match he did not play. He was suspended.

"When you are a player you want to play every minute in every game," Broxham said.

"The first medal I won in 2006/2007 I only signed at about Round 19. I was there at the start of the year doing gear steward jobs and stuff like that.

"I felt I sort of deserved that medal mainly because of the shit stuff I did at the club so I was happy with the medal.

"Last year's one I felt I felt like I could have offered a lot more. I did not have a lot of game time.

"Your teammates will always say that 'you played a part and without you we cannot train so you deserve the medal too'.

"But every footballer knows that if you do not play as much you don't feel that you have done as much for the team.

"I still took the medals but if we were to win on Saturday it would mean a lot more personally."

Melbourne-born Broxham is relishing life as a holding midfielder in Victory's trenches, happy to do his job and let the stars in the team like Kevin Muscat, Carlos Hernandez and Archie Thompson receive all the plaudits from the media.

"To be honest I'm just happy to go about my everyday life," Broxham said.

"It's natural that those players get all the accolades because they perform and produce every week and they deserve what they get.

"But if I play every game and nobody ever speaks about you that does not bother me.

"At the end of the day your teammates and your coach know what you do for the team and that it all that matters."

Broxham is expecting another fiery encounter with the Sky Blues on Saturday night.

As a man who has faced Vitezslav Lavicka's team five times this season he knows exactly where Sydney's forte lies.

"Sydney defend very well and are very compact," Broxham explained.

"They work hard and have dangerous strikers up front who are willing to work hard as well.

"Last weekend Alex Brosque had a great game. He created many chances and with him, Mark Bridge and John Aloisi (who is battling a hamstring injury) they can be quite deadly on the break.

"It will be a good battle and quite physical and everybody wiill be up for the game.

"Melbourne versus Sydney has always been a good game and I don't think we will be letting any fans down."