Zane joined the Jets in the early days of the Tinkler ownership. He admits things started off well under the controversial mining boss.

"It’s a tough one," he said.

"There was a lot of good intentions. It wasn’t all doom and gloom. It was a pretty exciting time at the beginning. When I came back Branko was in charge and it was only recently they’d been in the finals. It was a club that expected to be in the finals.

"Everything seemed normal when I came back. When Tinkler came it was like – wow, now the club can really kick on. At the time with the healthy cash injection from a wealthy individual the town was buzzing. He’s put money into surfing events, into rugby league, into soccer.

"I think every thought we’d go to the next level and start bringing in big players. And then he matched it, he put his money where his mouth was. To be fair, he did invest a lot and lost a lot of money along the way trying to find it.

"He brought in people like Jason Culina, Michael Bridges and Heskey along the way. If you look at it now, the big thing we’ve done now is recruitment. Although we spent a lot of money back then I don’t think much due diligence was going into who we were recruiting or what style we were going to play.

"It was money, probably in hindsight, that ended up being wasted. It wasn’t Gary’s decisions. A lot of money, but also a lot of confusion on who was actually in control of things. It proved to be the downfall in the end."

Chinese businessman Martin Lee took over the Jets in 2016 after Tinkler went bust. Former Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick was appointed last year and has quickly transformed the fortunes of the team in just a season.

"An experienced manager can bind a team," Zane said.

"We’ve had moments this year where games have been in the balance and a half-time talk… he’s experienced and he doesn’t get flustered. He’s not focused on individual games, the focus is on the performance so we were prepared for the finals.

"It was a clear message that we don’t need to win every game, but we need to win enough games to get to the finals and every game we do play is preparation for the finals. It’s been a process so the players aren’t under pressure for a specific match.

"He’s just a calm manager and he’s very good across all aspects all the way through to delivering sessions on the field. He finds the right words to say, whether it be a harsh word or a friendly word. I think he’s worked out how life works."

"I don’t think many people thought he could come to a regional club and play like he did with Victory. We just play on the front foot, but he’s convinced people that’s how we’re going to play and the players have bought into it. It’s been great to watch the style evolve over the season."