Merrick’s team is winless after two weeks into the A-League season, succumbing to a 2-1 loss to Wellington Phoenix in the first round and then a 1-1 draw to Adelaide United last week.

The Jets finished second last season and lost the Grand Final to Melbourne Victory 1-0 at home in May.

Today, the Scotsman hinted first or second isn’t necessarily the best place to finish on the table.

“Personally I’d love to finish third,” Merrick said. “If you finish third, then you get a home final, you don’t have to have a weekend off and you can then go all the way through.

“I think the way the league is set up, third would be a good position for us.

“The top two teams, all they get is a weekend off and I don’t always think that’s a good thing because you lose momentum.

“Finishing third is a good position to finish and we have 27 rounds to do that, but it’s about picking up points now.”

Merrick’s side take on Victory on Saturday night at home, but the Newcastle manager wasn’t buying into the idea of getting revenge.

He said his side is full of confidence, despite failing to register a win so far this season.

“We’re playing better in many ways than last year, but it’s all about collecting three points,” he said. “You can talk as much as you like, but it’s all about winning games and that’s what we’re keen to do.

“We’ve had a horrendous (fixture) draw and the first six games have been very tough, given two away games, two home games against Melbourne and Sydney and then two more away games.

“It is what it is and I think we’ve got a fairly good picture of where we’re at after those six games, albeit after the difficult circumstances.”

The 65-year-old fielded the same starting XI against Wellington and Adelaide and said it was unlikely he would make any changes this weekend.

“Mitch Austin and Kaine Sheppard are pretty keen to get a run up front,” the Scotsman said.

“We brought in Nick Cowburn and Ben Kantarovski, so we’ve got four or five players really pushing for a starting team role.

“I was so happy with our starting XI, I can’t see many changes if any, but it’s good to see there are boys on the bench keen to get into the starting line-up.”