A-League: All Whites striker Kosta Barbarouses nets hat-trick for Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne Victory have handed Brisbane their biggest A-League defeat and extended their winless streak to nine, with a 5-0 thumping at Suncorp Stadium on Tuesday.

Kevin Muscat's men began like the heavy favourites they were, but were helped by some Roar wastefulness, before running away from a re-jigged Brisbane in the second half.

Swede Ola Toivonen struck first with a neat header, when left alone at the back post in the 14th minute, while Kosta Barbarouses was calm from the penalty spot, after a Luke De Vere handball to extend the margin in the 47th minute.

An open Storm Roux then headed home a third from a corner, before Barbarouses drilled home his second and third against his former club, whose previous worst result was 5-1.

"In every game, there's going to be a moment where a team gets on top of you," Muscat said.

"And in the second half, the belief in our physical conditioning was evident, and gave us the platform to go on and win the game comfortably."

The win shoots the Victory to outright second, ahead of Sydney FC and just one win behind league leaders Perth.

Interim Roar coach Darren Davies rested veteran Matt McKay and dropped Thomas Kristensen to the bench, as Nick D'Agostino got his chance in the middle.

The Victory called all the shots in the opening 25 minutes, combining for nearly four times as many passes as the hosts (198-56) and hogging 66 percent of the ball.

Things then suddenly opened up for Brisbane though, with Adam Taggart heading over the bar in the 27th minute, before Eric Bautheac and D'Agostino both forced saves from Laurence Thomas.

A heavy touch then robbed Taggart of a one-on-one with the keeper and, chasing his 50th A-League goal, the striker then forced Thomas into another sharp save.

They were left to lament those missed opportunities though, as the Victory streaked away in the second half in front of just 7131 fans.

"We were disappointed to be going into the half-time break one down," Davies said.

"And the last 20 minutes, we've got some young players on the park - they'll learn from the experience. A bit of naive defending and they were a little bit all at sea at the end."            

AAP