The Mariners could also be boosted by the return of Nigel Boogaard and Tom Pondeljak.

The club hopes they will be passed fit to take their places in the Mariners squad bound for Brisbane on Sunday, for what shapes as one of the blockbuster matches of season three.

Former youth international Boogaard suffered a concussion away to Newcastle Jets in Round 14, while Pondeljak has completed only light training since tearing his hamstring away to the Perth Glory in Round 13.

Aside from Boogaard and Pondeljak’s possible absence, the Mariners will certainly be without suspended pair John Hutchinson and Sasho Petrovski, who collected their fourth yellow cards of the season when the Mariners played the Jets at EnergyAustralia Stadium a fortnight ago.

Otherwise, Central Coast are at virtual full strength for a fixture that will go some way to deciding which side is best placed to challenge for the Hyundai A-League Premiership with a little over one month left to play in season three.

"Last week we did look a little bit tired, so we’ve used the opportunity to freshen the boys up, which I think has made the boys even keener then they were," said McKinna.

"We’re looking forward to going to Queensland and trying to get three points – we had a great result up there last time and we felt as though we were very unfortunate at Bluetongue when we went down to ten men."

The Mariners will face Roar this Sunday in the latest match of a bizarre continuation of facing opponents that are looking to bounce back from either a draw or loss.

Including last Saturday’s postponed fixture against Sydney FC, Mariners have faced opponents coming off a draw or loss in every round this season, save for their Round 8 meeting with Roar and their Round 13 clash away to Perth Glory.

Following Roar’s 1-0 loss to the Mariners’ northern rivals, Newcastle Jets, at their Suncorp Stadium home last Friday, Central Coast will again be facing a line up desperate for win.

Sunday’s match will mark the thirteenth occasion the two sides have met in a competitive fixture.

In terms of matches won, Roar are the opponent Central Coast have struggled against most since their inception, having won just two of twelve previous meetings.

Although, draws between the two sides have dominated results in the past, with seven previous matches ending all square, including an unprecedented streak of six consecutive matches between October 2006 and December 2007.

At Suncorp Stadium, the Mariners have had some success, having won once and drawn three times from four previous visits.

In total, Mariners have posted 14 goals against Roar, with Adam Kwasnik and Nik Mrdja each netting three of those goals.

Queensland have responded with 15 goals of their own, with Brazilian marksman Reinaldo contributing three to that total.

"Queensland have had a great run, they were probably unfortunate last week that Newcastle scored the late goal, but they’ve had a great run," said McKinna.

"It’s never easy going to Queensland, they just come at you and keep coming so we’re expecting a very tough game but we have to keep the ball better than how we did last time up there where we gave them the ball back way to easily – if we can do that and produce our normal performance we’ll do well.

"If we can get three points up there, it’d be a huge result for the team and for the next six games after that, it’s a very important game for us, as it is for Queensland as well."