North Queensland Fury have made a habit of battling back from a deficit to rescue a point and as much as the coach admires such determination he wants to take a lead and hold it.

"We've got to stop putting ourselves behind the eight ball and that's the biggest disappointment," Ferguson said.

"I'd love to be in a position where we are one or two nil up at half time instead of saying to the boys: 'we're still in this, we've got to keep going and do this and do that'.

"We're getting a reputation being competitive and workman like but they can play as well as we saw in the second half against the Mariners."

Meanwhile, midfielder Chris Grossman is also looking for the team to blast out of the blocks this weekend.

Grossman, who scored a last-gasp leveller against Phoenix earlier in the season, said: "It was only a few weeks ago we were in Wellington and we came away with a draw so this time at home we'll be looking to push for all three points and move further up the table.

"We'll definitely be looking for a better start this time. Our last few starts have been fairly disappointing and we kind of dug a bit of a hole for ourselves so if we can get off to a good start this weekend I think it would be quite a good outcome for the boys."

Grossman said the Mariners opening goal from Matt Simon in the first 14 seconds of last Sunday's match hadn't been the focus of conversation but players were aware there needed to be a change.

He added: "It's not really something that's been talked about but I suppose we've had a few slow starts and we've been brave enough to come back and get a draw, especially away from home.  At home if we can start a lot more positive better things  will come from that."

Fury are chasing an injury replacement for Shane Stefanutto with their original marquee man Jade North rumoured to be a loan target.