Melbourne Victory star Denis Genreau's motivation against Melbourne City is simple.
"Every time I play against them, it's another chance to remind them that they made a mistake by not letting me play for their first team," Genreau told AAP.
The French-born, Melbourne-raised midfielder had envisioned a future at City after joining the A-League Men club's academy as a teenager in 2015.
Genreau made his senior debut in the 2017/18 season, but his chapter at City was pockmarked by a revolving door of coaches and a one-season loan at Eredivisie club PEC Zwolle.
He pulled the plug on his childhood dream and moved to Macarthur FC in 2020 after playing just 11 games for City since his debut.
The six-cap Socceroos midfielder went on to spend time at Ligue 1 club Toulouse and La Liga outfit Deportivo La Coruna, before joining Melbourne Victory in 2025.
Suffice to say, Genreau feels no sentiment for City ahead of Saturday's derby at AAMI Park.
"I've never really felt like a Melbourne City first-team player. It doesn't feel weird for me at all," Genreau said.
"And if anything, that really motivates me every time I play them, because I knew that they never gave me a chance to play there."
Just like Genreau, Victory won't be short of motivation after opening the ALM season with a 2-1 defeat to Wellington Phoenix last Sunday.
Victory had struggled to manage fatigue after playing three games in nine days.
The competition heavyweights first suffered an Australia Cup final loss to NPL team South Melbourne on Saturday, before finding some consolation with an Asian Champions League 2 win over South Korean club FC Seoul on Wednesday.
City fared much worse across the Tasman, capitulating in a 3-1 loss to reigning champions Auckland FC thanks to goals from the Lachlans - Bayliss and Brook.
"This second game is going to be so, so important to start our season … off the back of those two losses that we both had," Genreau said.
"It was a difficult week, physically. A roller coaster of emotions.
"But even if we got some tired minds, tired bodies in that third game of the week, it's no excuse to lose, you know?
"We are the biggest club in the city and the biggest club in the country, so we need to show that by beating City every single time that we play them."