To see Aloisi in action at training...

Sydney chairman Andrew Kemeny added fuel to the fire at John Kosmina’s unveiling when he accused Aloisi of being greedy in the wage negotiations between the club and player.

And he claimed Aloisi would have a get-out clause in his Mariners contract that could see him flee the club in January if he gets a better offer from overseas.

Now the Mariners are set to ignore the sour grapes outburst and do their talking on the pitch at Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday.

“Sydney games are always hard but we’ll be up for it at the weekend,” said Mariners manager, Lawrie McKinna.

“They’ll be up for it – stats show what happens after a new coach comes in but we’ve got John Aloisi coming in. Him being about the squad just lifts everybody.”

And he shrugged off fears Aloisi could be the target of some heavy tackles in the game in a bid to put him out of action.

“I don’t think you get any heavy tackles here,” he said with a straight face. “It’s all fair and square. It’s a physical game. I’m sure John will be putting his own tackles in.

“I don’t think John will be having any hassles.”

Aloisi said he was ready for whatever was thrown at him and was aware the impact a new coach like Kosmina can have on a team.

“I know what to expect,” he said. “As a Mariners player, I have to say it’s going to be dangerous for us.

“Sydney haven’t been getting great results but I know when they get a new coach in, the atmosphere changes within a team. Everyone is excited that they’ve got a new coach.

“It’s going to be tough for us this week and we have to be careful of a Sydney backlash.”

Mariners fullback Dean Heffernan said he didn’t expect Aloisi to be getting any favours from Sydney and doesn’t expect any tackles to be pulled by his Socceroo colleagues, Mark Rudan, Tony Popovic and Mark Milligan.

“It’s Australia, it happens,” he said. “He’ll be up against Rudan and Poppa and Millsy who he knows. Football is football – there’s always hard tackles.

"It’s going to be a tight game but I don't care what the score is so long as we win at the end."

Aloisi will carry on training for the rest of this week before a final decision on how ready he is for the game.

“John is desperate to play which is great,” added McKinna. “Some boys come in and want two or three weeks to settle in but he wants to play straight away.

“We’ll make a decision on Friday on whether or not he starts.”

To see Aloisi in action at training...