Joe Montemurro's football journey has taken him to Port Moresby, London, Turin, Lyon and now back to Melbourne with the Matildas.

The boy from Brunswick has finally come full circle, and he believes past rejection has him better placed than ever before.

Montemurro went for the Matildas job in 2020 and missed out, with Tony Gustavsson ultimately landing the role.

"It didn't hurt," Montemurro told AAP.

"It was understandable and I understand the decision that was made.

"I took the positives out of it and continued the journey to grow as a coach and that journey took me to some of the biggest clubs in the world."

When Gustavsson departed last August, Montemurro was the top candidate.

After a protracted 10-month recruiting process, Football Australia eventually got their man.

"Alanna Kennedy came up to me and said, 'oh god, finally'," Montemurro laughed of Monday's first meeting with his players.

"It was quite touching actually, because it insinuated that it was the right time and timing was important. It was great. It just feels right.

"Even from a perspective of my career, from a personal perspective, it just feels good."

The 55-year-old started his involvement in football at Brunswick Juventus, rising through the junior, then senior ranks.

His playing career involved stints in Switzerland and Italy before returning to Victoria to play while kicking off his coaching career.

"I understood that not having an illustrious playing career or a good playing career, the journey was going to be a little bit different," he said.

"So I basically went out and educated myself as much as possible.

"It was just to develop as many tools as possible, both as a coach and as a leader - and that journey never ends."

Montemurro prides himself on possession-based, attacking football, but also humility and selflessness, wryly noting that coaching can be "unrewarding".

"You do a lot and don't get accolades for it," he said.

"I don't want accolades for it. I just want each individual to be the best that they can be and play football as the vehicle to do that."

That approach started in youth coaching at different clubs in Victoria, before a stint in Papua New Guinea, in 2013.

Montemurro returned to Australia and started in women's football with Melbourne Victory in 2014, before his time as Melbourne City's inaugural coach kicked off trophy-laden stints with that club, Arsenal, Juventus and Lyon.

"Every one of them were different projects. I can even go back to PNG - I was sent there by the OFC to build a new franchise team. So I had to start a team from scratch," he said.

"Same as Melbourne City, we had to start a team from scratch and it was really, really important that we left the framework and a legacy for what the Melbourne City team is now.

"Arsenal was getting the team back into the fray of the top three in England because it was basically falling away a little bit.

"Juventus, it was to bring it from 33rd in Europe to the top eight. Lyon was starting the process of the cycle change but still winning.

"They've all brought themselves different projects, different challenges, but all of them have the commonality of dealing with people."

It has Montemurro confident he can adjust from club to international football, and prepare for March's Asian Cup across just four windows.

"I don't think time frames are really going to work against us," he said.

"We've got the majority of the block of players that are playing at high levels that are involved.

"Now it's really putting together the identity and the way we want to play, understanding what we need to do to make sure that we're prepared for knockout football."