Sitting in eighth place on the ladder with two games remaining, Deans is realistic about what's in front of them but remains positive for the time ahead.

"Obviously we're all disappointed that we are in the situation we're in and we just need to keep working with sort of one eye on next year, especially for the fringe players who are getting opportunities now," Deans said. 

"It's good for them to show me and everyone else what they've got and make sure that they're back here next year and they can contribute to hopefully a better season next year.

"We still, I think, have a 0.1% of a chance of making it. It is highly unlikely but we'll just go and try and be a bit more positive than we were I think on Sunday against City.

"We were just a little bit, not negative, but just a bit worried about losing I think and that's probably not the best thing for us and we just need to make sure we don't do that again and go out and play with as much freedom as we can and be as aggressive as we can.

"We'll play Larissa up front from the start which would be nice for us to have a recognized striker back up there.

"Her future now is a little bit different maybe with everything that's happening with the Matildas so you want to give her a chance to make sure whoever is coming in as coach knows that she can do a job up front.

"There's still lots of little things to play for, for individuals and obviously within the club we want to finish the season on a good note so we will make every effort to win.

When questioned on Gema Simon's fitness, Deans commented as follows.

"Gema has probably battled through the last couple of games and you know if we had the opportunity to give her a rest, we would have done it, but just with the way the injuries and everything worked out, we haven't had that opportunity.

"It's a good chance to give some young players a chance and opportunity to show what they've got and I think we need to be mindful of giving Gema the best chance to put a hand up for when a new Matildas coach comes in and be fit and ready to play and push for a World Cup spot so we'll give her a rest this week and see how she how she feels next week.

Whilst Deans continues to ensure the Jets play their best football, he's also mindful of chances for his players to be part of the Matildas squad.

"We've got enough experienced people in the club to make sure that when there's a [Matildas] squad picked, whenever that happens to be, that you know, we want to put Emily [van Egmond] and Larissa and definitely Gema, and there's a couple other girls in there that could put their hand up and a new coach looks at players differently and we'll try and get everyone as fit and ready as possible."

As for the terrible run of injuries for the Jets, there are no excuses.

"Yeah, look, it's just that's sport. Last year we were lucky. You know nothing's changed from our end. The preparation and the gym work and the physio and the support staff is all the same. But it's sometimes you just have seasons where things don't work out as planned. And obviously this has been one.

"We lost three of our starting players from last year for half the season or more which is, difficult but we won games without them. So it's not as simple as saying we didn't have those players and we can't win without them.

"It's just the confidence that those sort of players bring to other people and their experience in the game which you can't replicate with a younger player."

The squad for the upcoming fixture against Adelaide looks depleted but the Jets are still up for the test.

"Gema is out. Courtney Vine is out of the squad altogether with tonsillitis and we'll just bring in some young ones. Sophie Nenadovic and Renee Pountney will come in and go onto the bench.

"Larissa can go up front and give us a bit of a different dimension. She did well in second half against Melbourne City up there. She's got good energy and speed and obviously ability to score goals which she has proved in the past in the W league so it's just another challenge for us.

"We just have to keep working hard and next year, come back with hopefully a good mentality and a good understanding of what we want to achieve.

"Our motivation is to keep working on ourselves and win as many games as we can between now and the end of the season and finish on a good note.

"We can still get to 16 points and that's our goal - to win the next two games, get the 16 points and then whatever happens with everyone else, that's out of our control, but we want to finish on a good note"