WITH our finals chances now resting on the final game against Adelaide this weekend, looking back over the season, it has been generally disappointing.

I am posting earlier than usual this week, as I am about to travel to Lae on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, and I will likely have difficulty accessing basic communications for the next few days.

I have passed the half way mark of my month long ‘loan’ stint here in this country of the unexpected, and unpredictable. Life in Papua New Guinea is, in many ways, a metaphor for the Mariners performance over the A-League season to date.

Like Port Moresby’s power supply, the Mariners performance has been at best an intermittent affair.

Sporadic quality, and lapses in concentration that culminated in a gut wrenching seven odd minutes at Telstra Dome last weekend. Seven minutes that, in many ways, define the season so far. So much promise, so much endeavour, carelessly squandered in yet another inexplicable collapse.

I am not going to single out players, because the Mariners should defend as a team, and when you play 4-3-3, you must defend from the front to have any chance.

However, on many occasions this year, the team has just not been able to muster the composure and intensity to play out a full game. Yes, they are known for being able to switch back on, and fight back, but how is it that they managed to find themselves so far behind on so many occasions?

Fighting back when you are down is an admirable trait to be sure, but champion teams do not find themselves in that position more often than not.

I sincerely hope that our last home game this season will provide the mental incentive to produce a performance over 90 minutes that truly reflects the potential of the team, and consequently see us through into the finals series. Adelaide are a good team, but hardly a league above the Mariners, nor Roar.

Melbourne were outplayed by a three man midfield last week for the bulk of the game, however, apart from Hernandez, who is a clever, but overrated, player in my opinion, the keys to the game last week were Muscat and Thompson. They are the big game players, with the quality and ability to turn a game. Thompson is the best player in the league, possibly not the best out and out striker, just the best player. The Mariners look like deer caught in the headlights when he has the ball. Muscat is simply the best leader in the league.

Melbourne will win the Premier's Plate this weekend, and are my favourites for the double because of these two players.

Adelaide have Ognenovski, and Dodd, Roar have Moore, and Van Dijk, and the Mariners... well we need to ask ourselves who in our squad can step up to perform at this sort of level, week in week out.

So far, our only success story is Matt Simon, now a proven goal scorer at this level, despite his terrible miss last weekend. He may not have the technical qualities of Van Dijk, or Thompson, but he has a big heart, and physicality to make an impact on any defense.

Porter has clearly taken it up a level and Bojic has been a find, but was at fault last weekend.

Wilkinson, has not had a great season, in which he has stepped up from last season, nor has Hutchinson or Vukovic, and Macallister, has played well, and shown his quality, and potential, without really making a huge impact on the season overall.

The others have been bit part players, Caceres has been in and out of the starting lineup, and sometimes hot and sometimes not. Petrovski is a quality striker, but seems to have struggled with the way in which he has been played.

Mrdja still has great potential, but has spent most of the season working towards starting. Gumprecht is motivated and useful, but not a game changer.

On balance, it has been a season of what could have been. Although not over, and with hope still alive, the Mariners have one last chance to lift their game and demonstrate what they are capable of.

They should know that they can win this Championship, but they need to be able to match it psychologically with the likes of Muscat and Thompson in order to do that.