With regular right-back Pedj Bojic suspended after picking up two yellow cards in last week's draw with Brisbane, Mariners coach Graham Arnold is considering giving Sainsbury a start in the preliminary final against Gold Coast at Bluetongue Stadium.

Sainsbury has been used in the A-League several times by Arnold this season and has delivered some assured performances, despite his lack of experience at the top level.

While Arnold is not expected to confirm his starting side until late Friday or even on game day, he admitted Sainsbury was in contention for a start.

"Trent has done a good job when he's been in the side this year," Arnold said. "He's well and truly in the mix for a start."

Mariners captain Alex Wilkinson is in no doubt Sainsbury could handle the pressure against Gold Coast.

"If he starts I'm confident the occasion won't get the better of him," Wilkinson said. "He's shown already this season what a good player he is."

While Sainsbury would be a straight swap for Bojic, Arnold has other options.

Rostyn Griffiths has been a dominant force in a defensive midfield position throughout the season but could easily make the switch to the heart of defence.

If Arnold opts to go that way it would mean Wilkinson would revert to right back, a position he has played this year, but not his preferred choice.

"Whatever way we go I'm confident we can get the job done," Wilkinson said.

Arnold added the focus this week has been on keeping everything as normal as possible.
 
"It’s been business as usual,” said Arnold. “We have had a good week of training and the boys are happy and upbeat, so its been a good week overall.
 
"Straight after the Brisbane game we moved on. We put in two very good performances against Brisbane and we are good for it.

"We dominated, I feel, for periods against Brisbane. As I said to the boys, that’s football, at the end of the day I don’t look at the result in Brisbane that much, because we were chasing the game for 3-1.
 
“Overall, the boys are in really good spirits and we’re not mentioning Brisbane at all, because the Grand Final is a long way away, we’re not even thinking about it, all we’re thinking about is tomorrow night, and we’ve had a very good preparation for the game tomorrow night after the two tough games we’ve had against Brisbane.”

The Mariners can take some heart out of a 3-1 victory over Gold Coast the last time the two sides met less than a month ago at Skilled Park, where youngsters Bernie Ibini Isei, Mustafa Amini and Mitchell Duke all scored debut goals for the club.
 
"They (Gold Coast) were at the end of a heavy period as well so on that night I felt we could use the younger players with some fresh legs, and it was a great night," Arnold said.

"Gold Coast don’t change the way they play, we know their system, we know their strengths and weaknesses and it will get down to who is better on the night and the individual quality.
 
“We’re up against a very difficult, resilient team. Miron (Bleiberg) has openly said they have had to change the way they play, not to be so open and be more defensive, and they work extremely hard and have had two great results in the finals series.
 
“It’s going to be a very difficult game but this is our home game, this is our fortress and our form here has been very good all year so there is no reason for us not to go into the game feeling confident.
 
“We ended up 11 points ahead of them in the normal competition so we must be doing something right during the competition, and that’s what I’ve said to the boys, it’s about us, it’s not about what Gold Coast do."