Youth teams for both clubs will go head to head at Bluetongue Stadium in the Round 18 NYL decider, with the teams locked on 36 points at the top of the table, and Victory edging it on goal difference alone.

For the Mariners, it’s a chance to cement their development credentials with back-to-back youth titles while the visitors will be hoping to return in triumph after the disappointment of last season’s wooden spoon.

But coaches for both sides say it’s not about the 90 minutes on the park but the window it opens on the game for the next 10 to 15 years.

Victory mentor Darren Davies has already seen five of his nine players poached for the first team at various times throughout the season. Andrew Nabbout, Nick Ansell, Luke O’Dea, Connor Pain and Christopher Cristaldo have tasted senior team action.

All of them have made an impact, Davies said.

Nabbout heralded his arrival on the big stage with a match-winning brace against Sydney FC. Ansell, 19, has been a revelation in defence until injury crueled his season. Pain, a substitute for Victory last weekend, scored late in their 2-1 loss to Wanderers. 

If Davies had his way, head coach Ange Postecoglou would raid his entire youth roster for the A-League clash.

“Hopefully I won’t have a couple of players because they’ll be playing in the first team,” Davies said.

“Our program and philosophy as a football club is not based on results, it’s about how we play and develop players for the first team.

“We try and play the same way as the first team. We like to pass the ball, play from the back. It obviously helps when the boys step up from the youth league to the first team, they’re prepared and it makes the transition easier.

“Hopefully the boss will take a lot more off me and I won’t have anyone to play – I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

FFA’s decision to move the clash forward a day, weather permitting, and run it as an appetiser to a mouthwatering A-League fixture puts an unexpected spotlight on the youth comp.

Both Davies and Mariners youth coach John McLafferty hope it will give the players a sense of the pressure accompanying professional football.

Not that it has been an easy trot for the Victory squad. When 34-year-old Welshman Davies took over 18-months ago, the football revolution produced some early casualties.

“We came in and tried to implement playing out from the back and to be honest we lost probably the first eight games of last season and we were getting beaten heavily,” Davies said.

“Obviously the boys weren’t used to trying to play out from the back and we were conceding goals and losing games because of it.

“But we stuck with it and we worked with them throughout the off-season and the boys have obviously got a little bit better.

“And ultimately the boss has rewarded them and played them in the first team. It’s been a great transition and a good learning curve for everybody concerned not just the players but the coaching staff and all.”

The Mariners have a proud record of promoting promising youngsters – Tom Rogic now with Celtic and goalkeeper and European target Mat Ryan have all served in the youth team – and this season defenders Hayden Morton and Michael Neill have been rewarded with two-year seniors contracts.

First team injuries and the looming Asian Champions League campaign, which kicks off next week, adds up to more opportunities for the Gosford club’s up-and-comers to grab train-on time with the first team.

McLafferty also owns up to an element of pragmatism in nurturing promising talent rather than dipping into an inflated player market.

“We’re a team that promotes firstly because when we go to the bank account, there’s never much money in it,” he said.

“But it’s all about development – we’ve always tried to get some players signed for the first team by the end of the season, that’s our goal.

“And it’s easier to get players into good positions where they can get contracts if you’re winning some games.

“You win a fair per cent of your games, the players get recognised and at the end of the season there’s a few people promoted.”

McLafferty will be reminding his boys of that when they run onto the pitch on Saturday. They are coming off a morale-boosting 4-0 demolition of Sydney FC and the coach is confident they can back-up with another disciplined performance.

He added: “In the dressing room before the match, I’ll tell them what I always say - It’s another game and another window of opportunity for someone to see you.”

Kick-off is at 4:45pm with gates on either side of the ground opening at 4:30pm.