The Newcastle Jets have named an extended 18-man squad for Sunday’s clash with Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium.
The Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets have named an extended 18-man squad for Sunday-s clash with Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium.
Former England international Emile Heskey is set to make his return for the Jets after missing the past two matches with a back injury.
“Emile-s trained really well and he just needed that full week off to completely settle the back down,” Jets assistant coach Craig Deans said.
“He-s looked really sharp in training and enthusiastic. People like him bring a lot of confidence to the rest of the group and hopefully he gets through the week no problem and is available up in Brisbane.”
Socceroo David Carney has also been included in the extended squad for the match and will be given every opportunity to prove his fitness.
“David-s still finding his feet a little bit and he-s done some extra work with the conditioning staff,” Deans said.
“With David, we want to get him in there as quick as we can, but we need to make sure we don-t injure him and then have him out any longer.
“If we could get him in this week, that would be brilliant, but I think at this it is still a bit of a long shot.”
Mid-season recruit Nick Ward has been ruled out of the clash after scans confirmed the former Perth Glory man had sustained a medial ligament strain in his right knee, sidelining him out for four weeks.
Young Socceroo Andrew Hoole will also miss the fixture through suspension, after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Wellington Phoenix last weekend.
Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 3. Taylor REGAN, 4. Kew JALIENS, 6. Zenon CARAVELLA, 8. Ruben ZADKOVICH (c), 9. Emile HESKEY, 11. Craig GOODWIN, 12. Connor CHAPMAN, 13. Joey GIBBS, 15. Josh BRILLANTE, 16. Jacob PEPPER, 17. James VIRGILI, 19. Michael BRIDGES, 21. Sam GALLAWAY, 20. Ben KENNEDY (gk), 22. Adam TAGGART, 23. David CARNEY, 24. Mitch OXBORROW (two to be omitted).
Ins: 9. Emile HESKEY (returns from injury), 12. Connor CHAPMAN (promoted), 17. James VIRGILI (promoted), 23. David CARNEY (promoted).
Outs: 7. Andrew HOOLE, (suspension – one week), 27. Nick WARD (knee – short term)
Unavailable: 2. Scott NEVILLE (knee injury – long term) 5. Ben KANTAROVSKI (knee – short term), 25. Mitch COOPER (knee injury – long term), 29. Joel GRIFFITHS (suspension – one week).
