If the Gold Coast don't take maximum points at North Queensland, Sydney too will also finish top two (barring an unlikely six-goal shellacking), and will play the final match with the freedom afforded by top-two security. A free spin if you like.

Imagine for a minute if John Aloisi hadn't scored that precious winner against Perth, and Sydney entered the final round a point behind Gold Coast rather than a point in front.

Depending on the result between North Queensland and the Gold Coast, Sydney would have known whether they needed to go flat out for a win, collect a cautious point, or know they couldn't finish higher than third and rest some players carrying injury or those one card away from suspension.

I understand the A-League is a fledgling competition and its relationship with TV broadcaster Fox is important, but one day soon the scenario where all teams start final-round matches simultaneously, like in all the major leagues, will become a huge talking point.

Let's say from the Jets' perspective, that Aloisi hadn't scored, Gold Coast had won against Wellington, Sydney were assured of finishing third, and heaven forbid, the Jets have lost to the Mariners last night.

Coach Branko Culina would then know his team couldn't finish fourth and might fancy the trip to Sydney for the knockout semi rather than the trek to Perth or Wellington.

Realistically, Culina will know by kick-off on Friday against Adelaide whether his team can still finish in fourth place.

Even if the Jets win their final two matches, if Wellington beat the Mariners in the early game on Friday, the Jets' poor goal differential will mean fourth spot is beyond them.

Now Culina won't know whether the sixth-placed team will play Sydney or the Gold Coast, but bear with me here; what if he fancied playing them more than the trip across the ditch?

Would it be immoral and unprofessional for him to then rest some key players for the Adelaide clash and virtually ensure his team finished sixth?

I don't think he would, but my point is that the fixture schedule does give him that option.

Given the Jets' poor travelling record to both Perth and Wellington, and their good performances against Sydney and Gold Coast this year, he'd be only human to consider it.

If I can take you back to the dim dark past, I can tell you that honesty and ego may have cost the Marconi side of the late '80s-early '90s their third consecutive championship in somewhat similar circumstances.

Sydney Olympic, who we played in the grand final the previous year and who had a good head-to-head record against us that season, were four points out of the last play-off spot with two rounds to go.

The team standing between them and a possible semi-final berth were Apia-Leichardt, Marconi's bitter Italian-based rivals, and Marconi played them in the penultimate round.

If we lost to Apia, Olympic couldn't qualify for the semi-finals. Apia had to play Marconi and then the very strong Melbourne Croatia (Knights) away in the last round. Their chances of victory in Melbourne, we estimated, were slim.

There were some senior players, myself included, who felt we could beat Apia comfortably when we needed to, whereas Sydney Olympic's physicality and pace made them a more dangerous proposition.

We were four points ahead in the race for the minor premiership and thought Melbourne Croatia could possibly pick up six points, thus meaning if we lost to Apia, we would have to win the last game to take the premiership.

The quietly and half-jokingly mooted plan to exterminate Olympic was quickly squashed in a sea of ego (we can beat anyone), pride between the two Italian rivals, and a sense of professionalism (doing your best at all times).

Marconi beat Apia, and the champagne corks popped. Apia lost to Melbourne Croatia after Melbourne were beaten in the penultimate round, and Olympic limped into the semi-finals with a scrappy 1-1 draw against lowly Blacktown in the last game of the regular season.

The rest is ugly history. Marconi won the minor premiership by seven or eight points, Olympic got on a massive roll and beat Marconi 2-0 in the grand final.

The thought has always stayed with me that we could have put Olympic out with one game to go if we had lost to Apia.

Would that have been immoral or unprofessional? Or would it have been pragmatic and giving ourselves the best chance of grand final success?

Some match-ups work better than others, and though it hasn't quite happened this season, the staggered last-round match schedule will leave someone playing for a suitable or convenient result sooner rather than later.

The game between Sydney and Melbourne to decide the minor premiership on Sunday should be a cracker. Let's hope the mad Scotsmen, their horses and cabers involved in last weekend's Military Tattoo, haven't left the SFS in substandard condition for such an important occasion.