Both teams will not have played for a month, after a frustrating flurry of postponements right across the competition.

The Mariners' last appearance was a 2-0 win against Western Sydney on December 18, while the Jets have not taken to the field since their 2-1 loss to Macarthur United the following day.

The Jets have been COVID-free since reporting on December 15 that three players - Angus Thurgate, Noah James and Jordan Elsey - had tested positive.

The Mariners are one of several clubs to have encountered high numbers of the coronavirus, which presumably has impacted on their ability to train.

The Jets, on the other hand, have been pushing themselves as hard physically as they did during the pre-season, according to keeper Jack Duncan.

"We've all worked really hard over the last couple of weeks," Duncan said.

"We've prepared for games, but when those games haven't come around, we've all kept up our distances, in terms of all our GPS data that they want us to hit.

"So hopefully we haven't lost any fitness. We may have even gained a bit."

Asked if the Jets might have an edge in fitness over the Mariners, Duncan replied: "I don't really know.

"I'm obviously not in the Mariners camp. We just focus on ourselves.

"We aim to be the fittest team in the league."

Duncan was unconcerned that the Jets may be lacking match sharpness after the frustrating hiatus.

"I don't think so," Duncan said. "We've been playing some in-house games and they've been of really high quality. We've got such a good squad and there's no defined starting XI.

"So any game we play amongst ourselves is a really good step in ... so we're not losing anything on that side of things."

The Jets will be intent on squaring the ledger against their derby rivals after suffering a 2-1 loss at McDonald Jones Stadium in the season-opener.

"When we lost in round one, I think there is still a lot of motivation from that," defender Dane Ingham said.

"We'll look to make amends on Saturday."