Djite was this week spared a dash to Adelaide following the Olyroos match against Lebanon on Wednesday night. Instead, the striker waited for his team in Newcastle ahead of tonight's clash at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

Before Adelaide’s round one clash against Queensland Roar, both Djite and Nathan Burns flew directly into Brisbane from the Middle East following international duty.

And with a busier international schedule within the Asian Football Confederation, Australia’s top players are in greater demand than ever.

“I’ve been away since after the Sydney game and it feels like I’ve been away for months,” he said.

“It seems like I’m always already there and I’m sleeping or something when they rock up. But I get up and go training when they arrive.

"I like to sleep a lot but it’s changed a bit with this schedule and the Asian Champions League and the Olympic qualifiers. I haven’t had much time to rest and my sleep is back to zero!”

Like Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory, Adelaide have drawn all three matches so far. Against Newcastle, Djite believes his side’s fortunes may finally change.

“It’ll be good to get back because it was unfortunate to miss the Melbourne game but it‘ll be good great Newcastle and hopefully we’ll get our first win," he said.

“I watched Newcastle play Wellington and they’ll fight really hard. They worked really hard in that match and worked fairly well together.

"They’re a good team and their new players have to be watched. Denni looks pretty sharp and with Mark Bridge and Stu Musialik back it’ll be a tough task but we’ll be ready.”

Djite says the loss of skipper Michael Valkanis to injury is significant but he’ll minimise the damage - with goals.

“Michael’s injury is very unfortunate so we’ll obviously have to try and replace him. But we’ve got defenders there," he said.

“We’ve got Robert Cornthwaite and he’ll have to step up and Ange Costanzo can go back and play there. But as long as we’re scoring goals we can worry less about the defence.”

Adelaide’s match against Newcastle will also represent a milestone for Reds defender Richie Alagich. The match will be his 250th appearance in national league appearances - which includes matches in both the Hyundai A-League and the NSL.