With 11 games left in the season, Newcastle are last on the ladder with 10 points, three points adrift of their despised nearest neighbours.

A loss on Sunday would leave the Jets six points behind second-last and in need of a miracle to avoid finishing in the competition cellar.

A win, however, would lift them level with the Mariners and leave Central Coast facing the embarrassing prospect of collecting the spoon for a third consecutive season.

Caretaker Jets coach Craig Deans pulled no punches on Monday when asked for his thoughts about what shapes as one of the most fiercely contested derbies since the two clubs first did battle more than 14 years ago.

"Any time we play the Mariners, I certainly don't want to lose to them and I would hope all the players are the same," Deans said.

"I don't have much time for them, at all. I don't want to lose to them. I don't want to be below them on the ladder, so that will be the same for the players.

"It doesn't matter whether we're first, second, third or last, we don't want to lose to them. So that will be the mentality all week, and if we have another performance like we did on the weekend, I'm sure that will be enough and we'll win the game."

Adding to the emotional build-up, striker Roy O'Donovan is poised to make his return for Newcastle against the Mariners, for whom he played 45 games between 2015 and 2017.

In O'Donovan's debut for Newcastle three seasons ago, Mariners fans unfurled a banner portraying him as a snake. He responded by scoring a hat-trick in Newcastle's 5-1 victory.

O'Donovan's overall record against Central Coast is five wins and seven goals in six games.

The Irishman, who was released on Friday after a 12-game stint with Brisbane Roar, trained strongly with the Jets on Monday morning but was still awaiting a medical clearance, which would appear a formality.

Deans left little doubt about his plans for O'Donovan when he declared: "Hopefully he's straight in."

"He's had some game time up in Brisbane the last couple of weeks, I think with the second team," he said.

"He's obviously been training up there, so he's going to be fit enough to be involved in the game. We'll see him later in the week at training at see how he fits in ... he's obviously got a good goalscoring record and he'll probably fancy playing the Mariners first-up as well.

"So it'll be a nice little introduction for him."

Deans said he might switch formation to a front three so that O'Donovan could play alongside Panamanian international Abdiel Arroyo.

"It might take time for Roy to form a combination with Arroyo, but the other boys that are here, he's played with before, so I'm not really concerned too much about that," Deans said.

O'Donovan's countryman, Wes Hoolahan, also trained well and appears close to making his A-League debut, after pre-season ankle surgery.

"It will be our strongest squad, once Wes gets cleared ... then it's about picking the team that is going to do the job against the particular team that you're playing," Deans said.

"But I think the performances in the last two games. in particular, have been quite solid. Defensively we've looked better."