Phoenix and Sydney are fighting for the other top-two spot alongside Melbourne Victory, which - barring a miracle - will finish on top and can't possibly finish worse than second.
Sydney needs a draw or a win at Westpac Stadium to get second, while Wellington must win. Sydney can't finish lower than third, while Wellington can finish anywhere from second to fourth. Adelaide will finish third or fourth, Melbourne City fifth and Brisbane Roar sixth.
Making the top two is the key. Never in the previous nine seasons of the A-League has the grand final been won by a team that didn't finish the regular season in the top two - and only twice has a team from outside the top two even made the grand final.
That was in the inaugural season, 2005-2006, when Sydney beat Central Coast Mariners in the decider, and 2011-2012, when Brisbane beat Perth Glory.
The current, five-game finals format was introduced in the 2012-2013 season. The top two teams in the regular season met in the grand final then, and again last season.
The top two get the first week of the finals off and a home game in the second week, when they play for a place in the grand final.
That is a massive advantage.
How did that feel?
As far as late, late shows go, dawn was breaking in a metaphorical sense by the time Kenny Cunningham rolled in the winner for Wellington Phoenix against Central Coast Mariners.
The fourth official signalled there would be four minutes of added time and when Cunningham hit the winning shot the clock had reached four minutes and 37 seconds. But, you know how it is, the number that goes up at the end of normal time is the "minimum" amount of added time.
Good luck to those who keep going flat out until the referee says the game is over. How did Cunningham feel? No need to ask him on this occasion. He was ecstatic, ripping his jumper off and running towards the crowd with his arms outstretched.
Happy days!
Man of the hour (and a half)
It was a game in which the result was going to mean nothing to the competition table. Melbourne City already knew it would finish fifth regardless of its results in the last two rounds and Perth Glory had been condemned to finishing seventh after being found guilty of cheating the salary cap.
But once players get out there, instinct takes over, and Perth striker Jamie Maclaren's effort to score all of his team's goals in its 3-1 win was excellent. Maclaren has been frustrated by a lack of game-time this season, but was always ready to do a job when he came off the bench.
Recently, he has forced his way into the starting side alongside star striker Andy Keogh and is finishing the season with a flourish. It's too bad for Maclaren that because of the club's creative accounting he won't be able to show his wares in the finals.
"Bogey" and "Hutch"
It has been well documented that Nigel Boogaard finally broke the record he and Kevin Muscat shared for the most red cards ever in the A-League when he was dismissed against Western Sydney Wanderers.
They were previously on five apiece and unless "Musky" makes an unlikely comeback to the playing field "Bogey" is going to be stuck with the record on his own for a while at least. But what is not nearly so well-known is that John Hutchinson is going out in a blaze of . . . yellow!
The Central Coast captain has been booked three times in his last four games and now has the most yellow cards in A-League history - 55. He has one more game in which he can add to that tally before retirement. Will he go out with another yellow, just for old time's sake?
Come on, "Hutch", you can do it!
In honour of the great man leaving the playing field after a fine career that included an A-League championship with the Mariners in season 2012-2013, False 9 presents another Hutch who used to stamp his authority on the opposition with great results.
Unfortunately, there is no Bogey to go with him here. But there is a "Starsky" - and also a "Huggy Bear".
Tweet, tweet #1
If you don't know who this is, you don't know nearly enough about the rich history of salary cap rorting in Australian sport.
Tweet, tweet #2
Sydney FC striker Marc Janko, who is nearly as tall as the Blue Mountains, takes time out to visit them.
"Arnie" spreads the love
Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold said after the win over Newcastle Jets that the club's strength and conditioning coach, Andrew Clark, had done a great with Alex Brosque this season and would do a great job with Andrew Hoole next season.
Arnold said that after Brosque had returned from playing in the Middle East, "where they don't train very hard", Clark worked with him to restore his pace. The result is that Brosque is hitting top form at the business end of the season.
Hoole will join Sydney FC from the Jets next season and Arnold said Clark would make him faster and physically stronger. That will be something to look forward to, because Hoole is already scary good. Arnold said he planned to play Hoole in a very influential role.
"I think he's a very good number 10," Arnold said. "I think out on the left-hand side, at times he gets isolated, you know. Because he's predominantly right-footed, he always comes inside into the traffic, but as a 10 he has got great movement, great ball control and good weight of pass."
Power rankings (last week in brackets)
1 Melbourne Victory (2) Went to Brisbane for back-to-back games against Roar and got the job done each time to become a near-certainty for the Premiers' Plate.
2 Sydney FC (1) Beat Newcastle, but you must be off defensively for the Jets to score three goals against you - even if one is from a penalty.
3 Wellington Phoenix (5) Found itself in big trouble against Central Coast, trailing 2-0, but responded very well to end up winning 3-2.
4 Perth Glory (6) You must give the players credit for showing the character to win a game under the circumstances they face - even against 10 men.
5 Melbourne City (3) Had plenty of first-half chances but couldn't take any and after being reduced to 10 men just before halftime it got too hard.
6 Brisbane Roar (4) Competitive each time against Victory, but fell short of short of getting anything out of either game. Faces tough task in finals.
7 Adelaide United (7) Has paid the price for some disappointing performances since the AFC Asian Cup break. Needs to improve in a hurry for finals.
8 Western Sydney Wanderers (8) It wasn't pretty against Adelaide, but it was determined. Off the bottom of the table with one round to go.
9 Central Coast Mariners (9) Put itself in with a great chance of beating Wellington, but collapsed after halftime and finished with nothing.
10 Newcastle Jets (9) Led 1-0 against Sydney, trailed 3-1, got back to 3-3 and lost 4-3. All in all, a typically frustrating night for Newcastle fans.
Can't wait for . . .
The battle to avoid the wooden spoon to be played out.
False 9 is not-so-secretly hoping Newcastle Jets can upset Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Friday, forcing Western Sydney Wanderers to beat Perth Glory at Pirtek Stadium on Saturday to finish ninth instead of bottom.
After Wanderers CEO John Tsatsimas told The World Game on the weekend that he was angry Perth hadn't been penalised down to 10th instead of seventh for cheating the salary cap, it would set the scene for a very intense struggle.
Newcastle is only one point behind Wanderers at this stage, but a draw against Roar wouldn't be enough to keep its hopes of avoiding the wooden spoon alive because its goal difference is way inferior to that of the Wanderers.
