Western Sydney coach Marko Rudan makes his return to the A-League Men bench in time to face off with bitter rivals Sydney FC.
Rudan was out of action for two matches after being slapped with the longest A-League Men coaching suspension in eight years by Football Australia for his attack on referees.
Now having served his sentence, Rudan will march out with his charges at CommBank Stadium on Saturday night when they host the second Sydney derby of the season.
The embattled coach was sidelined for the Wanderers' 1-0 loss to competition heavyweights Central Coast Mariners and 2-1 victory against Adelaide United.
Assistant coach Jean-Paul De Marigny did a good job taking the reins but Dutch import Jorrit Hendrix insists Rudan's influence will be felt on the pitch.
"He was quite involved in those games," Hendrix said.
"He was not able to be on the bench during the games but it didn't change anything about the way we played."
Ufuk Talay’s side suffered a 1-0 loss in the first derby of the season in what was just his second game at the helm of the club.
But three months on the Sky Blues are on a hot six-game undefeated streak and sit sixth under the Wanderers by one point.
The Wanderers have had mixed results with two wins, two losses and one draw in their last five games.
Though Sydney will be without influential skipper Luke Brattan, after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign, star midfielder Anthony Caceres believes his team will maintain their full-throttle philosophy.
"He's a big loss for us ... but we do have a lot of capable players to fill in in his absence," said Caceres.
"We've come a long way since then (the last derby).
"What gives us the most confidence is a belief in our system and the way we're playing at the moment.
"Every week we're showing that we're capable of dictating a game."
