Nigel Boogaard (possible concussion), Ben Kantarovski (back injury) and John Koutroumbis (groin strain) could be the latest no shows for the already depleted Jets who lost 2-1 to a resurgent Melbourne Victory last night.

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Ivan Vujica will be suspended after picking up his fifth yellow while Nick Cowburn and new recruit Riley McGree will be on national duty with the U23s.

The second-placed Hunter outfit is already missing a host of starting XI players including strike ace Roy O’Donovan, Ronnie Vargas, Daniel Georgievski and Jack Duncan.

But Merrick bristled at any suggestion his lads had already thrown in the towel ahead of the Sky Blues clash at Allianz on Wednesday.

“There’s no one more competitive than myself and the rest of the team,” he said. “No we’re not giving it away I’m just going to be very light on in numbers.

“It’s going to be pretty tough playing against Sydney with half a team. I don’t know if we can even put a team out.”

He added, with a heavy dose of sarcasm: “It’s going to be tough and I’ve got to be realistic. Away from home against Sydney, we could probably only win one-nothing, two-nil, three-nil. We can’t expect more than that.”

Jets lost 2-1 to Victory on Friday night

Merrick said the Hunter outfit had “overachieved” but expected the points banked to tide them over until they were back to full strength in February - a frightening prospect for rival teams.

Despite the injuries, the Jets are the league’s leading goal scorers and have a seven point buffer on the third placed Victory and Melbourne City.

“I’m talking about starting XI players coming in – five outfield players and a goalkeeper as well,” Merrick said.

“The good thing about having a successful run for the first 12 games is you’ve got points in the bank so you can afford to lose a game here or there and stay in the top three or four.

“I think we’ve overachieved for a while now. We’ve only lost two games. I just keep thinking mid-February we should have everyone back and hopefully two overseas signings we’ve made.

“We’re going to be a very much stronger team in the last third of the league and that’s a crucial time.”

The current predicament could also work in the Jets favour long-term.

“The experience the youngsters are getting will stand them in good stead when they’re coming off the bench,” he said.

“So we’ll have greater depth all round and a rock solid squad and I think it the first time Newcastle’s had that for a long time.”