McCormack meets City for the first time since his fruitful stint on loan there last season, when he scored 14 goals in 17 matches.

City scored a controversial derby win over Melbourne Victory in their season-opener, but McCormack believes the heavyweights are still "gettable."

"Melbourne City are a good team, but they're definitely beatable and we'll be looking to try and do that," McCormack told reporters on Thursday.

"There's a lot of new players there, but they're still playing the same sort of way as last season. We're under no illusion, we know they'll be difficult to beat."

And it starts with preventing the forward runs from the likes of City signing Ritchie De Laet, who goaled on debut against the Victory last week.

"The two fullbacks are pretty attack-minded, De Laet and (Scott) Jamieson. So we need to be mindful of that," McCormack said.

"Luke Brattan in the middle of the park is a good player, (and they're) strong defensively, they're just an all-round good team.

"But Melbourne Victory showed on the weekend as well that you can get at them."

The match also marks McCormack's first home game for the Mariners, who clawed a point from their round-one draw in Brisbane.

Gosford holds special memories for the former Premier League striker.

"I had a good experience there last year. The goal that I scored broke an A-League record for the quickest guy to get to 13 goals," he said.

"That was a good day, personally. I'm looking forward to it being in front of the home fans, should be a good atmosphere."

Australian Associated Press