surrounding their arrival has reverberated all week.

The A-League champions’ game against the inaugural winners of the competition, Sydney FC, will be played in front of a packed Port Macquarie Regional Stadium on Sunday.

There was only a handful of seated tickets left yesterday afternoon.

But don’t despair: More than 1000 general admission tickets will be made available on the day.

There is some history between the teams, with Jets new coach Branko Culina unceremoniously dumped by Sydney FC and Jets striker Sasho Petrovski making the move up the freeway last year.

“It’s very exciting for me to be playing against Sydney FC, who I used to play for, with my new club of Newcastle, and I think it should be a great game,” Petrovski said.

“I’m definitely looking forward to heading up to Port Macquarie and playing there this weekend.

“Hopefully we can put on a good performance for everyone up there, and we hope that all the fans turn up in numbers to support us.”

The two teams have had vastly different preparations for the pre-season friendly.

The Jets Rob Brooke said the Novocastrians are refreshed from a short break after the Asian Football Confederations round of 16 game against South Korean side the Pohang Steelers.

“The club has a new head coach in Branko Culina and it really is a fresh start for everyone keen to impress the new boss and earn their place in the squad,” Brooke said.

“Sunday’s game against Sydney FC is our first pre-season match, whereas Sydney have now played nine, so they’ll be quite sharp and the match will give us a good indication of where we’re at leading into the new Hyundai A-League season.”

Their metro-opponent is bringing its entire first grade squad, including stars John Aloisi, Alex Brosque, Simon Colosimo, Steve Corica and new signing Slovakian international Karol Kisel.