On the eve of the sides' bitter local derby in Gosford on Sunday, the 25-year-old says Adelaide deserve that tag.

“I don't think the Mariners are the best side. I personally think Adelaide have been hard done by,” he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"I could be modest and say us but we're not playing that well yet. Adelaide are playing quite well at the moment."

The Jets currently sit in second spot on the ladder behind the Mariners.

However, Thompson is a fan of some of the Mariners he's likely to meet in the derby. “I like John Hutchinson. He's one of those players who make it look so easy. He's a good player and got a good passing game.

"And obviously Kwasnik's come out of his skin a bit this year with a couple of goals. So they've got a few dangerous players."

Another such player is new Socceroo Dean Heffernan. “He's a mate of mine,” says Thompson. “He's grown in confidence massively this season.

“He's done really really well in the first season in the A-League and gone over to Germany and maybe the goals didn't come over there but you can see he's a lot more confident on the ball now and all the best for him.”

Jets coach Gary Van Egmond said that the Mariners have been playing well to date and have caught a couple of teams off guard but they are without some key players this weekend.
“With the likes of Mrdja, Wilkinson and Vidmar out this weekend, it could be difficult to replace players of such high calibre, as we [the Jets] saw last week against Sydney.
“The Mariners play with a lot of intensity and have a very good work ethic and we will need to match that on Sunday” said van Egmond today.
“With each round the bar is being raised and we need to raise our intensity.”