The Newcastle Jets have named an extended 19-man squad for Sunday’s match against Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium.
The Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets have named an extended 19-man squad for Sunday-s match against Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium.
New signing Zenon Caravella has been included in the squad after training with the Jets for the first time on Wednesday.
Head coach Gary van Egmond said he will assess Caravella-s fitness before making a decision on whether to include him in the final team for match day.
“We-ll just see how he pulls up and where he-s at. I-m trying to get him a bit of a screening with our physio and talking to him about where he is,” van Egmond said.
“Obviously match fitness is a bit of a concern because he hasn-t played as much for Adelaide.
“It-s about trying to ensure we get some match fitness into him and ensuring he-s going to be fine and that we don-t break him too early and he gets injured or what have you. We just have to be a little bit careful.”
Central defender Taylor Regan was also named in the extended squad after missing last Saturday-s 0-0 draw with the Central Coast Mariners due to a calf strain.
“Taylor did a controlled field session on Wednesday and I-ll know more from that once I-ve had a chat with him, but we-re really hopeful that he-ll be fine for this weekend,” van Egmond said.
Van Egmond also indicated that Jobe Wheelhouse will wear the captain-s armband for what he expects to be a difficult trip across the Tasman.
“The statistics don-t lie, we-ve got a terrible track record over there.
“It-s a case where they-ve just come off a pretty heavy defeat from Sydney and they-re going to be looking for a response, so we-ll have to be on our game.” van Egmond said.
Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Ben Kennedy (gk), 2. Scott Neville, 3. Zenon Caravella, 7. James Brown, 9. Emile Heskey, 11. Connor Chapman, 12. Josh Brillante, 13. Sam Gallaway, 14. Taylor Regan, 15. Craig Goodwin, 16. Jobe Wheelhouse, 17. James Virgili, 18. Jacob Pepper, 19. Michael Bridges, 20. Mark Birighitti (gk), 22. Adam Taggart, 23. Ryan Griffiths, 25. Mitch Cooper, 26. Andrew Hoole.
Ins: Zenon Caravella (new signing), Taylor Regan (returning from injury), Adam Taggart, Jacob Pepper, Michael Bridges, Mitch Cooper (all elevated).
Outs: Josh Mitchell (suspended), Ruben Zadkovich (suspended).
Unavailable: Ben Kantarovski (knee), Dominik Ritter (hamstring), Josh Mitchell (suspended), Ruben Zadkovich (suspended).
