Trading-places rivalry adds extra edge to Newcastle Jets' crucial clash with Perth Glory

O'Neill is one of five former Perth players in Newcastle's squad, alongside Dane Ingham, Daniel Stynes, Callum Timmins and Jack Duncan.

Perth, meanwhile, are coached by former Jets skipper and Broadmeadow Magic mentor Ruben Zadkovich, and their roster includes ex-Novocastrians Adam Taggart, Johnny Koutroumbis, Jacob Dowse, Jordan Elsey, Mitch Oxborrow and Liam Reddy.

O'Neill said it always adds an extra bit of rivalry when players came up against their old teammates.

"If you play devil's advocate, of course it does," he told the Newcastle Herald.

"You look at their side and you look at our side, there are quite a lot of former players and that should just add to the spectacle of what should be a good football game on Saturday.

"But I know from our end, we've been preparing this week with one thing in mind - we want to perform well and we want to win.

"That's all that matters. And I have no doubt that come Saturday night, we'll apply ourselves in the right way to get the right result."

Of Perth's ex-Newcastle contingent, only Taggart, Koutroumbis, Elsey and Dowse were in their squad for last week's 1-0 win against Western Sydney, and Elsey will miss Saturday's game through suspension, after being sent off in the second minute.

Elsey was also red-carded and banned while playing for Newcastle against Perth in round two, before making a mid-season transfer to the Glory when he signed a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Both Newcastle and Perth remain in finals contention but neither can afford to drop any further off the pace.

After three consecutive defeats, the Jets (24 points) are still only three points adrift of sixth-placed Sydney, with Perth on 23 points and still a slim chance of qualifying for the post-season.

"We're still in a great position," O'Neill said.

"If someone had've said to us before the season we'd be three points outside the top six with six rounds to play, I think the lads would have said we'd take that.

"That's the position that we're in. We've got six games now and we want to win as many as we can and be the form team heading into the finals. We've got a great opportunity on the weekend to start our run into the finals. We've already done it once this year - when we were able to go unbeaten for a good run of games - and I think it's time we did it again."

O'Neill is three games back from a knee injury that sidelined him for two months and feels ready to start putting his best foot forward.

"I'm back now and I'm only getting fitter and fitter with each game I play," he said.

"I've missed basically half the season with injuries, but I've got six games ahead of me to look forward to, plus the finals after that.

"That's what we're going for, so there's a lot to be excited about."

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