Wilkinson suffered a fractured arm during the club's short pre-season trip to New Zealand and missed the round one defeat against Brisbane last week.

Arnold originally hoped his inspirational leader would be fit to take on Gold Coast in the Mariners long awaited return to Gosford.

But the club has opted to give Wilkinson at least another week on the sidelines.

Versatile Brad Porter will again partner stand-in skipper Patrick Zwaanswijk in the centre of defence on Saturday night with Wilkinson hoping to return for the round three showdown against Newcastle next week.

"I've just got to be patient with it,'' Wilkinson said of his injury. "It's a long season; I don't want to come back too early and then hurt it again and miss more matches.

"I'm hoping for Newcastle. At this stage it's a week to week thing. After such a long off-season it's very frustrating missing the first games of the year.''

Despite the round one 1-0 loss to Brisbane the Mariners will head into the Gold Coast match with confidence.

They showed plenty of good signs against Roar and are eager to perform well in front of their own fans.

The last time the Mariners played at Gosford they secured a spot in the grand final following a defeat of Gold Coast in the final.

"We did pretty well last week,'' Arnold said. "We just need to be better with the ball.''

The Mariners defensive structure was outstanding during their loss to a rampant Brisbane last week but what concerned Arnold about was his team's inability to keep the ball.

"The players were a bit hard on themselves after the Brisbane game," Arnold said. "We set pretty high standards last season and they were disappointed with aspects of the performance.

"Our defence was outstanding. They had a lot of ball and we kept them out for a long time. We just can't turn over possession as much as we did."

Meanwhile, Arnold and the players hope the success of last season will convince Central Coast fans to come out in force and support the team on Saturday night and throughout the campaign.

The Mariners enjoyed huge success on the field last season but one of the few disappointments was the lack of consistent crowd support.