CARL Robinson was born to be a coach.
"It was in my DNA," the Jets tactician professes.
Robinson "wasn't so sure" about his former Wolverhampton Wanderers teammate Steve Corica.
Fast forward 20 years and Robinson's Newcastle Jets will be out to prevent Corica's Sydney FC from receiving the premiers plate at Jubilee Stadium on Tuesday night.
Sydney enter the clash needing just a point from their last five matches to secure a record fourth premiership. Itwill be the first time the mates have coached against each other, since Welshman Robinson took the Jets reins mid-season.
"He will want to get it done sooner, rather than later," Robinson said. "The likelihood is that they will get it done but we have to make sure it is not against us.
"We will go into the match full of confidence, full of positivity and with a set way of playing.
"Sydney have numerous wins on the board and have got really good players in certain areas. But there are areas where I think we can exploit and hurt them based upon my players' strengths and that's what we will be focusing on."
Robinson and Corica spent five years together at Wolverhampton.
"Bimbi played in midfield, the same as me, but he was more attacking and creative," Robinson said. "He was that little No.10. I was more defensive orientated, an organiser and things like that.
"It was in my DNA to coach, I wasn't sure whether he would. Obviously, he had a really smart football brain. He thought about the game, but he was very quiet.
"Obviously, now he's a manager and you can't be very quiet. He has to get his messages across. He has done a great job since taking over."
The clash against the leaders is the Jets' first in four months after the league was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the shutdown, the Jets had won three of their past four matches, the most recent a 2-1 defeat over second-place Melbourne City.
Joe Ledley, who has only had 12 days of training since ending 14 days in quarantine, will be on the bench in the only likely change to the starting side.
A fit and firing Bernie Ibini is set to be promoted with Nick Fitzgerald possibly to drop into midfield.
"The players who deserve to play and are most ready physically will play," Robinson said. "In the last game we played, Fitzy was arguably our best player. He scored a goal and could have scored two or three. He has come back in terrific shape and is in a good vein of form.
"I know when Bernie is fit and when Bernie is not fit. His levels are high and he looks strong, which is important."
Robinson, who has only had 11 days on the ground with the players, also wants the Jets to play a similar brand of football to pre-COVID-19, when they recorded four wins, two draws and one loss.
"It was a case of reintroducing the ideas on how I want to play," he said. "It's a process and it's not going to happen overnight. Getting them to go back to doing things so we create overload scenarios in certain areas of the field and the reasons we are doing it.
"There were some positive things in the friendly game (0-0 against Western Sydney)but there are still certain areas we have to work on. I have to identify which are the most important in the short term."
Sydney opened their account with a controversial 3-1 win over Wellington on Friday. VAR is not being used in the final stage of the regular season and Phoenix had a goal disallowed for offside which appeared incorrect.
Robinson was surprised by the FFA's decision to halt the use of the VAR mid-campaign.
"I'm not sure how or who decided that," Robinson said. "I'm sure there is a good reason. I just thought three-quarters of the season you do it one way and the last quarter you do it the other way - that is probably not the way I would have gone. You look at that point of view - am I' sure Wellington will - you can ask how is that fair."
