Just how hard would those Newcastle boys have found that challenge playing in pre-season? Or is that a bit of a cop-out?

Yeah, I'm on the fence at the moment with them because I think I've been saying it all week that I'm quite disappointed in the A-League teams because there's not really any excuse for preparation.

Newcastle Jets, okay, they got themselves to the semi-final and finished...

in mid-May but you know the fixtures are going to be you know two months after that so they were back early enough and it seemed as though that you know Mark Milligan had enough to work with to certainly take that 2-0 cushion into half-time and great to see Nikos Virgos get off the mark and they played really well that first 45 minutes no Luka Tevere for the Preston Lions and I thought here we go, this could be three or four because he's made a real difference to Preston since he's come over and playing back in the Victorian NPL.

And then, you know, Bernardo scores a double and Lazarevsky at the end.

It was just, it was great theatre.

I'm really happy for Preston.

Is there anything to that or is it maybe more, does it more speak to the haves and have-nots of the A-League? Look, mate, there's a lot of

So what was your match day experience before you even got to the ground? Did it feel like the city had been taken over by this fixation on the fixture coming up, the first grand final?

Yeah.

It was amazing.

Even before I landed I had you guys messaging me, and, you know, working with Gary Burchett again, and, um, just so warm and welcoming from a production point of view.

And the people I work with was, uh, is quite refreshing.

I think when you work w- with Paramount and 10 for so long, it, it became very much the same.

Because you'd been working the same sort of product and the same system for the, the whole season.

What would you do if you're Steve Corica, having gone Premier's Plate, A-League Championship, do you stay within the Bill Foley group or do you go elsewhere?

How will that battle define what we see tonight?

Straight up, I'm thinking it's a 3v2.

When you talk about Thiago Quintao, Camillo, Ocon, they're 20, 21 years of age, really young, inexperienced.

But I think that won't really faze them because the three of them together have been fantastic.

You watch Camillo and Ocon, their job is to provide balance, but also to allow Thiago Quintao to peel off in those really dangerous positions.

And I think Vistrata, or is it Howison or Gallegos in there with him, somebody's got to stay at all times with Quintal.

So he's the one they've really got to look at.

How would Steve Corica's mindset be today, ahead of a grand final against Sydney FC?

How will that battle define what we see tonight?

Straight up, I'm thinking it's a 3v2.

When you talk about Thiago Quintao, Camillo, Ocon, they're 20, 21 years of age, really young, inexperienced.

But I think that won't really faze them because the three of them together have been fantastic.

You watch Camillo and Ocon, their job is to provide balance, but also to allow Thiago Quintao to peel off in those really dangerous positions.

And I think Vistrata, or is it Howison or Gallegos in there with him, somebody's got to stay at all times with Quintal.

So he's the one they've really got to look at.

it could well be one of those Steve Corica this is so interesting to me Sydney FC he's so deeply ingrained in that club and even now when you talk to him about it I think some coaches say now that's in the past I don't think about that he was there for a long time wasn't he yeah and sacked by them as well How would Steve Corica's mindset be today, ahead of a grand final against Sydney FC?

[laughs]

Um, you know, because it had something, it had some meaning, right? So Newcastle, Central Coast, any team in the A-League, if something's not riding on the game to go and watch, people don't really give a shit, to be honest.

Um, but that had the, the, the Premier's plate lift up against the rivals.

Whoever made the scheduling, fucking brilliant.

Um, and those fans went and saw an absolute demolition.

The Newcastle fans have gone, "Wow, the Jets are good." But there was a couple of games, remember Robbie, earlier in the season they got a decent crowd, and they didn't play that well, didn't get a result maybe, or was it one-nil one of them.

Um, and it was kinda like, ooh, would, would they, you know, have they missed a trick there to try and keep the fans coming back? And I hate that about the A-League.

Oh, if you're a Wanderers fan, you must be pulling your hair out.