JETS coach Ernie Merrick, seemingly like the rest of the nation, was wowed by the heroics of teenage sensation Al Hassan Toure in Adelaide United's FFA Cup final success.
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"It shows the quality of young players coming through," Merrick said before quickly pointing out "we have some good players coming through as well".
Indeed, Toure caused havoc, scoring a wonder goal and setting up another, in the Reds' 4-0 wipe out of Melbourne City at Coopers Stadium on Wednesday night.
However, it won't be the catalyst for the Jets to pay the 19-year-old special attention when they host the Reds at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
"It's good for Australian football to produce these type of players and rely less and less on overseas players," Merrick said. "He is keeping out the Danish striker [Kristian] Opseth. That is a big plus for him. We don't look at any particular players, we look at their attacking and defensive structures and try to maximise our opportunities and negate their strengths."
What was clear on Wednesday night was the direct and up-tempo game plan deployed to great effect by the Reds. Apart from Toure, wingers Nikola Mileusnic and Ben Halloran cause constant problems.
"That is the Australian game pretty well - speed up front," Merrick said. "We make up sometimes for technical skill with our physical competitiveness and speed. They have a pretty quick starting line-up, up front especially. But we have a pretty quick defensive line as well."
Jets left back Johnny Koutroumbis was hooked after an unhappy first half in the 1-all draw with the Mariners last round. His replacement, Bobby Burns, did well in the second half on debut but Merrick has a lot of faith in Koutroumbis and is confident he will bounce back.
"Johnny is a very good player with a big future," Merrick said. "I find when players go away with the Socceroos or Olympic squad, they come back a little flat mentally. I think that was a part of it."
Adelaide are yet to win a league game, but will arrive in Newcastle on a high, which Merrick welcomed.
"I think it is important to play teams at their best because they are the ones who tend to open up and play good, quality football," he said. "End-to-end play suits us, rather than a team who is coming in on a low. Although Adelaide have lost their first two league games, they will be buoyed by that win. They are the type of team who will attack rather than sit back and park the bus."
The Jets showed enough in attack - they delivered twice as many balls into the box, had twice as many shots and nearly three times the amount of corners - against the Mariners, but couldn't find a killer punch.
"We are buoyed by the way we dominated the game, particularly the second half, against the Mariners," Merrick said. "The boys are pretty keen to score goals and have done a lot of work on the front third."
The match, as well as being the first at home, will be played on a newly laid $1.4 million surface at McDonald Jones Stadium.
"I think the surface is excellent quality, better than it has ever been," Merrick said. "It's not as firm as it used to be, it has a bit of softness to it. When the pitch is watered I think the ball will skid on beautifully."
After the departure this week of Clayton Zane to begin his role as Northern NSW Football Technical Director, Jets W-League coach and former assistant Craig Deans will join Merrick on the bench. Youth League coach Daniel McBreen will also have more involvement wit the senior team.
"Having lost a terrific coach in Clayton Zane sitting next to me on the bench, I want a voice and the experience of someone who knows this league inside out," Merrick said. "To have Craig Deans sit next to me is very important for real-time coaching for the 95 minutes on match day. The information he can deliver will be very useful."
