Victory destroyed Central Coast Mariners 4-1 on Sunday night, scoring three goals in a stunning 17-minute blitz at AAMI Park.

Keisuke Honda started the party and fellow World Cup star Ola Toivonen, on his Victory debut, helped finish it by setting up youngster Josh Hope for a stoppage-time sealer.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Victory's triumph was overcoming a last-minute setback, with coach Kevin Muscat forced to re-jig his side after an injury to Jai Ingham in the warm-up.

In came odd-job hero Leigh Broxham and out went their 4-4-2 diamond formation, with Kosta Barbarouses playing a lone hand up front.

Muscat said however they lined up, it was clear Victory were dangerous going forward.

"Formation. It's a buzzword at the moment," he said.

"We've given up on culture and motivation and now formation is the buzzword in this country.

"In any given instant if you pause the game it's difficult for you to say what the formation is.

"At times Keisuke was the highest forward making forward runs. At times it was Kosta.

"At times it was Terry from the other side. Leigh Broxham joined in.

"I really enjoyed watching it and the players certainly enjoyed it.

"We created a number of chances and geez, we could have had quite a few more."

Victory also believe they'll only get better with Toivonen available.

The Swedish striker enjoyed a 15-minute run after overcoming a calf issue and made a couple of telling contributions.

Most importantly to Muscat, he expands Victory's options and makes it tougher to get in the side.

"You'll draw your opinions (on him) in weeks to come but he's a very clever footballer," he said.

"Whether it's going to be in two weeks (that he starts), Ola's body will tell us.

"All players will tell you they'd prefer to be playing in an environment where it's hard to get in the team."

Victory's cross-town rivals Melbourne City also won comfortably at AAMI Park, defeating Wellington Phoenix 2-0.

The biggest movement of the weekend came in Adelaide, where Tony Popovic made Perth Glory league leaders with a 2-0 defeat of Adelaide United.

Sydney FC left an opening at the top by conceding a late equaliser to Newcastle Jets for a 1-1 draw in the Hunter, while Brisbane and Western Sydney also played out a 2-2 draw in Mudgee.

The league now goes on hiatus for a week during the international break, with the Socceroos playing South Korea and Lebanon in the next eight days.

Australian Associated Press