Victory win GF shift

Melbourne Victory has won a minor concession on its tight schedule with Football Federation Australia (FFA) moving the kick-off time for Saturday's A-League Grand Final forward by an hour to 7pm so Victory can fly out to their ACL match in Japan on the night of the game.

Melbourne faces Kawasaki Frontale in a must-win match in Japan on Tuesday night, meaning any post Grand final celebrations or commiserations will have to be put on hold.

The team flies out for Hong Kong at 1.05am Sunday morning, just five hours after the initial kick-off in the A-League's season finale.

The club asked that the scheduling be altered and FFA agreed to move it forward after discussing with host broadcaster FOX Sports.

But so tight is the scheduling that should the game go to extra time and penalties, then Melbourne would struggle to make its flight.

Melbourne arrives in Japan at 2pm Sunday afternoon and will train on Monday before the must-win match at Todoroki Stadium on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, the club has confirmed that Tom Pondeljak, who scored the winning goal in last year's Grand Final, is fit and ready to play. Pondeljak had been in doubt with a hamstring injury.

It means that only Matthew Kemp, Billy Celeski and the suspended Nik Mrdja are unavailable for the defending champions.