Born and bred Novocastrian, Jobe Wheelhouse, has kept his feet on the ground after his stunning goal last weekend.
Jobe Wheelhouse could be forgiven for having sat in front of his television over recent days reliving non-stop his Hyundai A-League round 18 rocket against Gold Coast United.
But while the tough-tackling central midfielder admits he-s never scored a goal as good, he hasn-t rushed to hit the replay button, and as of Tuesday morning had only seen the super strike once.
“We saw it late Sunday night and it looked quite good on TV but I haven-t watched it over since,” Wheelhouse told NewcastleJets.com.au from the team-s Tuesday morning training session.
“It was one those goals that even at training doesn-t happen very often, so I-ll take it!”
While Wheelhouse-s spectacular effort was remarkable in itself, a study of his performances over recent weeks renders the in-swinging bomb just reward for a number of tradesmen like turnouts in the Newcastle Jets- engine room.
Indeed, it is no coincidence that the ball-winning pivot-s strong run of form has coincided with the Jets record of four wins from their past five fixtures.
“I think every individual adds something different to the team and a bit of my leadership and aggression has probably helped out,” Wheelhouse said.
“I think I am at an age now where I can help the younger boys.”
In a show of his growing maturity as a player, 24-year-old Wheelhouse says one of his priorities is to now ensure he adds to his first goal for Newcastle this campaign by chipping in with more strikes from midfielder in order to keep the Jets- momentum going.
“I-m hopeful I can start scoring some more goals because [when I was] younger I was a goal scorer more than anything else,” Wheelhouse said.
“Hopefully I can get back to those days because that-ll help the team hopefully produce more wins.”
And, this maturity extends to aiding younger brother Abe (15), in his quest to take his game to new levels.
“He-s doing quite well at the moment, making regional teams and the National U17-s,” Wheelhouse said.
“I try to give him as much advice as I can and if we could play together in the future [for the Jets] that-d be great.”
No matter whether Jobe and Abe eventual don the gold jersey of the Jets together, both can be sure their family name is well and truly inscribed in Newcastle Jets folklore thanks to Jobe-s wonder goal that helped the Jets keep their rampant Hyundai A-League revival running, and the hopes of the Hunter high.
