Newcastle Jets coach Branko Culina is wary of heading to Adelaide to meet and in-form Reds side in their Hyundai A-League clash on Saturday night.

The Jets forced a draw in the opening round of the season in Adelaide but since that time the Newcastle side has endured hardships on and off the field and are still yet to register a win this campaign. Conversely, United are unbeaten in five matches.

"Since the last time we have played them they have got some good results and are sitting at the top of the table where we have gone the other way albeit playing a game less," Culina told the media on Thursday.

"You might be lucky enough to play teams at the right times or unlucky to play them at the wrong times. But I just think we have to go out there and get a win behind us and we can build on that."

In team news, Culina said Ben Kantarovski will fill the defensive midfield role of the suspended Ruben Zadkovich, leaving the prospect of starting with Ali Abbass in an attacking midfield position.

However, Culina indicated that he could play a semi-fit Sean Rooney as his wildcard up front or perhaps throw some more game time to Chinese import Zhang Shou, who looked decent in his 25-minute debut against Brisbane last start.

"He (Shou) showed enough in that 25 minutes that he could be an interesting player for us," Culina said.

"Getting his match fitness and adjusting to the tempo of the game in Australia is the biggest challenge for him, but we haven’t been scoring too many goals so we might have to take a punt."

"Sean (Rooney) gives us an option. He can hold the ball up, he is quite strong for his size, he has good feet and the confidence to take people on."

"Every club needs players like that - if you look at our opponents this week with Matthew Leckie. One of the reasons he is causing opposition defenses so many problems is because of his speed."

"While Sean may not have the same blistering speed and if you have a player like that in your team you will always ask questions of the opposition – not only do they have to watch what is in front of them but what is behind them as well."

"Unfortunately for us and Sean there has been more weeks when he has been unavailable the he has been available. At this moment in time, he is available, but that could change tomorrow."