Gold Coast defeated Melbourne Victory 1-0 last Sunday and produced an encouraging performance against one of this season’s title favourites.

But the United head coach is keen to test more of his new-look side against A-League opposition.

“We’re not going to Adelaide with just winning the game in mind; it’s pre-season and the objective is to give a chance to as many players as possible to play against Hyundai A-League opposition,” said Bleiberg.

“After performing well last week against Melbourne Victory, it is of course a little tempting to go with the same players, but there will definitely be changes for this game so we can have a look at a few others and see where they are at in terms of their preparation.

“Hopefully, even with a few changes, we can perform as well as we did against Victory and the players who have come in for this game can make it hard for me to pick the best XI.

“Hindmarsh Stadium is renowned for its good surface and Adelaide are a good side, so we should be able to play some decent football.

"We don’t know much about this season’s Adelaide team and they probably don’t know much about us either, so we are both going into the match with an open mind.”

With the extra-long pre-season campaign now drawing to a close, Bleiberg says he is comfortable with the development of his squad and the way the new group of players have come together as a unit both on and off the field.

A lengthy list of trial games and friendlies is now behind them and the Gold Coast boss believes all the hard work is beginning to pay off, especially after the encouraging display last weekend.

“Every week we are progressing in training and progressing in matches," he said. "There has been a purpose and a plan to everything we have done so far and we are reasonably happy with where we stand at the moment.

“We won’t deny that the game against Victory was a relief in some ways because it gave us a realistic sense of where we are.

"As coaches of course we always have a good idea of how good the team is and what we need to work on, but you never really know for certain until you come up against teams from your own competition and level.

“Only one regular first team outfield player from last season was in the side (Adama Traore) so there were a lot of newcomers, but now we know for sure that we will be competitive once again and we can spend the next few weeks fine-tuning. The good news for us and our supporters is that we are on the right path.”

Gold Coast will take a 15-man squad to South Australia, but will also have two new signings on the bench.

Eritrean refugees Samuel Tesfagbr and Ambes Yosief have finalised their local club commitments in Adelaide and will join up with United tomorrow. The pair will travel back to the Gold Coast with the rest of the team and begin training next week.

Following the Adelaide friendly, United will enter the final stages of pre-season and begin to focus hard on their opening Hyundai A-League match on Sunday October 9 when Wellington Phoenix are the visitors to Skilled Park. 

“When we get back from Adelaide we have a match the following week against the winners of the local Premier League Grand Final, which hopefully become a tradition over the next few years and form a big part of our community activity,” Bleiberg said.

“After that we will have three weeks to prepare for the first match of the new campaign and there will be lots of internal matches, which will be just as good as playing any outside opposition as the intensity and competition for places will definitely be high.”