Perth Glory interim coach Ruben Zadkovich will leave past loyalties at the door when he attempts to send the Newcastle Jets packing in Wednesday's A-League Men clash at HBF Park.
Zadkovich spent four seasons at the Jets from 2010-2014, but he was thrust into the Glory coaching hot seat last week following the sacking of Richard Garcia.
The new tenure started with a last-gasp 2-1 A-League Men loss to Wellington Phoenix, with 10-man Glory brought undone by a heartbreaking 97th minute winner.
Glory's finals hopes are already dead and buried given they sit on the bottom of the ladder with just 13 points to show from 17 matches.
But ninth-placed Newcastle, who are just three points adrift of the top six, are still in the hunt for a finals berth.
A 4-0 win over Wellington and a 2-0 victory over Sydney have left the Jets brimming with confidence.
Zadkovich treasured his time at the Jets and still has a soft spot for the club he captained.
But he will be going all out to get Glory the victory come Wednesday night.
"When I cross the white line as a player or as a coach it's always been the same - you play football to win irrespective of the circumstances," Zadkovich said.
"Newcastle is a fantastic place, I have a lot of really close friends and family there. It's a great club, it's a club that's close to my heart.
"But certainly not closer than Perth Glory is to my heart right now, because I always take a lot of pride in the jersey and the badge that I'm wearing.
"I hope that we send them (the Jets) home unhappy on a long flight."
Jets defender Taylor Regan played alongside Zadkovich for four years at Newcastle, and he knows first-hand the fighting spirit of his former teammate.
"If I know anything about Ruben Zadkovich I know that they'll be up for the fight," Regan said.
"He was a motivator as a player, he'd get the best out of you as a teammate and he made sure that when there was a battle, you didn't take a backward step.
"That's one thing that you can expect from Perth Glory, it's going to be a battle."
Zadkovich said Glory's playing stocks are so thin at the moment that he might have to call up some youth players for the game against Newcastle.
Former Liverpool star Daniel Sturridge, captain Brandon O'Neill, striker Bruno Fornaroli, veteran Osama Malik, goalkeeper Brad Jones, and former Japanese international Kosuke Ota are among the players unavailable.
