A wicked, late-swinging 30 metre freekick for Brisbane Roar that left Victory keeper Lawrence Thomas rooted to the spot and drew comparisons to strikes by Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Roberto Carlos.

Now a Jet, Petratos will take on the Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday for the first time since leaving Brisbane, initially for Korea, before touching down in Newcastle.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Petratos said. “It was my home ground for four years. I like playing there. I learnt a lot on and off the field in my time in Brisbane.”

Petratos opened his Jets account with a beautifully crafted and executed goal in the 5-1 defeat of the Mariners in round one.

He is yet to repeat the show-stopper from round 15 last season. 

That, he hopes will come, but his delivery from set pieces has been crucial to the Jets’ commanding start to the campaign.

 “I put a lot of work into it,” Petratos said. “I just need a few more opportunities within shooting range.”

At the end of most training sessions, Petratos grabs a bag of balls and positions four mannequins just inside the edge of the penalty box.

Then he goes to work, firing shot after shot. He uses the inside of his foot, the outside, drives shots, curls them ... the whole arsenal. Satisfied, he shifts to a different spot and repeats the process.”

Usually by his side are Andrew Nabbout, Ronny Vargas and brother, Kosta.

“Sometimes is good to have someone else watching,” he said. “They pick up things with technique and we can learn off each other.” 

Petatros delivered a freekick from out wide, which Nikolai Topor-Stanley headed on to the post and then Ben Kantarovski slotted home for a 2-1 lead against Perth on Saturday.

His corners have been equally threatening.

“Dimi is very good on tactical freekicks and direct freekicks,” Jets coach Ernie Merrick said. “We were unlucky in the last two games not to score a couple of goals from his freekicks, especially the wide ones. His corners too. They are a weapon.”

Vargas took most of the freekicks and corners at previous club AEK Athens and Merrick said it was beneficial to have another option.

“Dimi now has a partner in crime in Ronny,” Merrick said. “If Dimi is feeling a bit fatigued – he has covered the most distance of any player to date including pre-season games – he can say ‘Ronny you take this one’.”

Merrick has Petratos drifting in to a more central role than the winger was deployed in at Brisbane.

“I’m just trying to make him a slightly different player who gets in the box more often than staying wide and continually providing for someone else,” he said. 

Petratos was disappointed to have dropped two points in the 2-all draw with the Glory after creating a host of goal scoring chances.

“The week before, everything we did worked,” he said. “I think we were a little unlucky with some of the chances. We could have finished the game off. We just have to move forward, fix the negatives and take the positives.”