Brattan, however, said his contractual situation was the furthest thing from his mind after recently encountering some family issues, and had no idea when his club destiny would be resolved.

"It's definitely on the backburner, I'm not thinking about it at all at the moment," he said. "I'm just concentrating on getting through the games at the moment, doing my job for the team and not letting anyone else down.

"Once everything off the field settles down - it could be a week, it could be two months, could be three months. I'm not sure. I haven't had a conversation with my family about that or with any other clubs."

Brattan is looking forward to seeing some old faces at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on Sunday for the visit of second-placed City, who were surprisingly lacklustre in a 2-1 defeat to Melbourne Victory on Saturday.

"I love the club. It's special to me, I made a lot of lifelong friends there - players and staff members and the fans as well. It's going to be good to see them but it's going to be a good test for us as well," he said.

City's derby slump is likely to lead to a response against the Sky Blues, who have their own issues to deal with. Sydney were lethargic on Saturday and probably lucky to nab a 2-2 draw with Wellington Phoenix, who outplayed them for most of the match but couldn't find the winning goal they deserved.

Brattan admitted they weren't their "usual selves" but was pleased with their improved second-half performance, which was sparked by the introduction of Milos Ninkovic off the bench.

Corica opted not to start Ninkovic because of a minor calf complaint he was carrying and said post-match that he didn't plan on using him unless he had to - and the circumstances of the match called for it.

"He's getting a little bit older now so we could have done him a bit of a favour and given him a rest. It just wasn't our greatest performance," Brattan said.

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Whether it will damage the veteran Serb's hopes of squaring off against second-placed City remains to be seen, but Brattan said he expected both him and utility Paulo Retre, who experienced hamstring cramp in the second half, to be fit to play.

But Sydney won't regain Brandon O'Neill (knee), who is expected to miss two to three more weeks, while left-back Michael Zullo (calf) is being handled cautiously after a series of soft-tissue problems this season.

"People underestimate Wellington. They're a good team, in good form and it's going to be hard for teams to go there and get points," Brattan said. "But it's the sign of a great team that when you're not at your best, you still pick up points, and I think we've proven that so far."