With a second win of the season under our belts, the Jets will now take on an as-yet undefeated Perth Glory side this Sunday afternoon.
And after some enormous individual performances in the win over Roar last weekend, the Jets will be keen for and confident of another three points against the table-topping Glory.
REPORT: The win over Brisbane
Here are five things to watch ahead of this weekend’s mammoth clash.
Olyroos camp
There are three Jets who absent from first team training this week, but all for good reason.
Angus Thurgate, Ivan Vujica, and Johnny Koutroumbis are in Canberra until Wednesday, looking to put their best foot forward in front of national team coach Graham Arnold.
A spot in the squad which will attempt to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is something the trio will have been thinking hard about, and expect them to step up in training and on match-day to earn their place.
Mossy stands tall once more
The win last weekend was immense for the Jets at this early stage of the season and it wouldn’t have been possible without the last-ditch efforts of veteran goalkeeper, Glen Moss.
The Kiwi made three saves, including a snap reflex stop to deny Eric Bautheac early in the first half, earning Moss his second save of the week this season.
The Jets kept just their second clean sheet of the campaign on Sunday, and Moss will be hopeful this week can be three.
What a stop from 35-year-old Glen Moss!
He takes out Save of the Round đź’Ş pic.twitter.com/pqZgTScbE4
— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) December 10, 2018
Selection headaches
Ernie Merrick indicated in the post-match press conference after the Roar win that a number of players had given him plenty to think about heading into this weekend’s clash with Perth.
Ivan Vujica and Kaine Sheppard were in the squad in place of Lachlan Jackson and Jason Hoffman respectively, and both were immense in their performances.
It leaves Ernie with a number of choices to be made ahead of Sunday – especially when you consider the return of the Olyroos boys to the frame, who will be fired up and keen to put their best foot forward.
Nearing full strength
With the return to fitness of a swag of players in last weekend’s win over Brisbane, it means Newcastle are nearing ever closer to having a full contingent available.
Hoffman and Jackson, out with injury in Round 7, are back to full fitness which means only Joey Champness is the only Jet who remains sidelined through injury as he recovers from a foot complaint.
With Roy O’Donovan set to be back in the frame for selection after this Sunday’s clash with Perth, it means Newcastle are just weeks away from a full squad.
Passing on point
The performance against Brisbane Roar was slick, fast, and nice to watch, and the stats have offered up an explanation for just why that was the case.
Not one outfield player had a passing accuracy percentage under 70% on Sunday, with Dimi Petratos boasting the best stats of any Jet. He made 44 passes at an accuracy of 93.2%.
Along with those 44 passes, Dimi also created five chances and sent in ten crosses – a dangerous prospect ahead of Sunday.
