The Gosford club will join F3 rivals the Newcastle Jets in the ACL at the end of next season but, in a week where the current group stage heads towards its climax, the Mariners defender wants to see the rules changed to ditch the current delay.

He feels it unfairly penalises Australian clubs and also the players who may have helped the team get to the competition in the first place.

There is also an argument about striking while the iron is hot and a side going into a competition still on a high after a recent success.

He points to Melbourne Victory’s struggle in its ACL group and wonders what might have been had Ernie Merrick’s side entered on the back of its A-League double-winning season?

He told au.fourfourtwo.com: “We’re obviously excited and delighted that we’ll be playing in the Asian Champions League but I really think something needs to be done about the situation.

“All the boys last season played their part in helping us qualify but then you are left to wonder if some of them will miss out because circumstances will have changed by the time we get to play in it?

“I think something should be done sooner rather than later. To me, it makes sense as the way to go.”

Melbourne have failed to set their ACL group alight and Wilkinson said: “If you look at Melbourne’s second A-League season, they won both the premiership and the championship.

“If they’d been going straight into Champions League football from there, you would imagine they’d have been full of confidence. Also it would have been the players performing that got them there in the first place.

“But at the moment, we have to accept things as they are and we have to get ourselves prepared for the A-League season before we think about Asia.”

Wilkinson and his colleagues were due for their first pre-season training session under Lawrie McKinna today, the coach having returned from a month abroad.

McKinna has visited several Asian and European countries over the course of the past four weeks, including a stay at the Mariners’ partner club, English Championship side Sheffield United.

The coach has not ruled out a loan or two from Bramall Lane with the potential for Mariners players to go in the opposite direction.