Carlos Hernandez finally broke the shackles for the Melbourne Victory on the weekend.

The reigning Johnny Warren medallist has been down on form this season but took his first steps to completely turning things around with one of the best individual performances the A-League has seen in 2010/11 against Sydney FC on Saturday night.

The Costa Rican dazzled his opponents with pinpoint passing, deft touches, smart runs and plenty of goalscoring chances but the main this is that he scored for the first time this season.

Hernandez was by far the best player in the league last term with 13 goals and nine assists from midfield but in this new campaign he has been well down on those numbers and only notched his first goal and an assist as he led the Victory to a solid 3-0 win over the hapless Sky Blues.

Although the opposition may not have been much, the fact that Hernandez looked hungry to succeed is a great sign for Melbourne and a repeat performance against the Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium this Saturday would be most welcome for Victory fans.