Muscat: Mariners upheaval has no impact

The Mariners lost Trent Sainsbury and Daniel McBreen late in the mid-season transfer window, having already waved goodbye to Michael McGlinchey and coach Graham Arnold earlier in the campaign, not to mention the numerous members of the title-winning squad who exited Bluetongue Stadium after the 2012-13 championship success.

Eddy Bosnar, Kim Seung-Yong, Isaka Cernak, Matt Sim and Glen Trifiro have all arrived at the Gosford club as reinforcements, but Muscat claimed the revolving door at Central Coast will not affect his team's planning for the game.

"We've probably been disrupted ourselves over the last six or seven weeks, just as much as anyone," he said.

"The preparations have been good to be honest. They've brought quite a few bodies in ... so who starts at this point of time is irrelevant. We've just got to get ourselves and our structure right."

Victory captain Mark Milligan is back in full training after recovering from minor knee surgery, although it remains to be seen what part he will play on Saturday.

"Milligan's travelling, whether or not he's coming off the bench or not I don't know but he's in the squad to travel," Muscat said.

"He's a very determined boy, he's got a lot going on and he's been disappointed that he hasn't been able to help his team-mates over the last three or four weeks. But he's done very well with his rehab and worked very hard to put himself in a position (to play).

"Whether or not it's a week too soon for him, time will tell. He's been put through a gruelling session today so we'll see how he pulls up in the morning."

James Troisi is likely to replace Andrew Nabbout in the starting XI, which will otherwise be unchanged from a 1-1 draw away to Perth Glory last Friday.

Adrian Leijer is available again after serving a one-match ban, but Muscat confirmed a back four of Adama Traore, Pablo Contreras, Nick Ansell and Scott Galloway will remain in place.