The Central Coast central defender, 24, points to history, saying the Mariners know how to come back from the brink in the cut-throat atmosphere of A-League finals this Friday night.

"It's tricky because last year we went down 2-0 in the first leg of the minor semi and still got through the tie [against the Jets] and made the grand final," he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

Asensio's Screamer Vs FC Barcelona
Asensio's Screamer Vs FC Barcelona
In one of Real Madrid's most outstanding performances at the Camp Nou, Los Blancos beat FC Barcelona 3-1 in the Spanish Supercup. Real were leading 2-1 after Cristiano Ronaldo's 80th minute goal, but just before the final whistle, we sealed the win with this beautiful Marco Asensio strike.
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"So if you lose it's not the be all and end all. Obviously being a home game we want a positive result. The main focus for us is to keep them from not scoring.

"And we've had some decent results up there [in Queensland] but they've had some good results at our ground so it should make for an interesting tie."

Wilkinson acknowledged he would have his hands full containing in-form Roar striker Sergio Van Dijk - who's scored freely over recent weeks - but says there is a solution to the threat.

"They look to hit him early and they look to the ball into him all the time," he said. "So we've got to cut off the supply line to players like Sergio."

And the talented stopper says finishing outside the top two is not the death knell many say it is for winning the golden toilet seat.

Wilkinson points to having a week off last year prior to the grand final as being more of a hindrance.

"It didn't do us any favours," he said. "I would've preferred to have been playing like we did in the first year when we beat Adelaide in the preliminary final."

Roar have been based in Terrigal on the Central Coast this week after a number of players flew down on Monday for the A-League awards night.

The rest of the squad flew in on Tuesday as preparations ramp up for the clash at what could be a sold out Bluetongue stadium.

On the representative front, Wilkinson was not one of the A-League players named in Pim Verbeek's Asian Cup squad for Indonesia last week and the former Young Socceroo says he was disappointed.

But he added: "You've got to take it with a pinch of salt. Hopefully, with the Kuwait game coming up, I might get a sniff then."