Advice from Central Coast coach Graham Arnold has helped Western Sydney ... - The Daily Telegraph

A-League coaches Graham Arnold (Central Coast Mariners) and Tony Popovic (Western Sydney Wanderers). Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: The Daily Telegraph

GRAHAM Arnold might not be familiar with the law of unintended consequences, but he sees proof of it in action every time he looks at the A-League ladder.

The first piece of advice he gave a close friend making his first steps into management was, it turned out, both the sagest and the most damaging - for Arnold himself.

When Tony Popovic took the Western Sydney job he called Arnold, whose message was simple - sort your defence out first. Get that right, and everything else follows.

It was the formula Arnold himself followed from July 2010 when he switched from the national team back to a club role, and the core of his advice to Popovic. The best form of defence, in other words, starts with attack, in the sense of defending from the front.

The result could be seen in so many ways - of the first seven players who Popovic signed, four were defenders. You could see it in the way that his team was instantly hard to beat by dint of being so well-structured in defence.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

You could see it in the way a team created in a matter of months conceded just three goals in its first five games, never conceded more than two in a single game all year, and ultimately proved the meanest in the league.

Worse, it meant Arnold having to accept the team managed by his mate shouldering the Mariners aside in the home run, and taking out the Premier's Plate.

So you imagine that Arnold's tactical work on the training ground at Tuggerah this week has been specifically targeted at turning and moving around that rock-like defence - while ensuring that his own rearguard is briefed on the dangers of Shinji Ono et al.

But for Arnold and the Mariners, as with Popovic and the Wanderers, the other issue to address for the past few days has been the distractions of grand final week - the open days for supporters, the incessant media requests, the commercial and merchandise requirements.

There is almost a law of science to be coined regarding the competing polarities of a club trying to maximise the exposure and expectations of the build-up to the game, and the coaches increasingly in lockdown to avert their players' eyes from anything other than the game.

It is a special day in all their careers, and yet both leaders are desperate to keep everything familiar.

Maybe that's why both Arnold and Popovic are treating the game as a full away fixture despite the proximity of the "neutral" ground - both teams will travel today, a day early, on specially liveried buses to have a "familiarisation" session on a ground they already know so well.

There will be the usual game-morning walk tomorrow, and a refresher session at the team hotel on the game plan for the day.

Many coaches believe you can talk to players' hearts but not their heads once they are at the ground. The tactics are largely done before then, and the final addresses are more about rousing - or calming - the emotion and adrenalin. Both men will surely offer a variant on the Latin motto, carpe diem - seize the day.

For the Mariners it comes from needing to take the final step and go beyond simply qualifying for a grand final. Only winners are grinners, and Central Coast know the bitter taste of coming second too well.

For the Wanderers, Popovic must make his side believe there is no pressure upon them, despite the expectations created by their unbeaten run, their silverware and what will be an overwhelming bias in the make-up of the crowd.

Who will be the hero or villain of the day? The anticipation of finding out is what makes this final day of the season so undeniably grand.