The Newcastle Jets are gearing up for another big Westfield W-League season and will be aiming high following last season’s third-place finish, and first the finals series appearance in nearly ten years.
With the Westfield W-League draw now released, we know exactly where and when our Newcastle Jets will be fighting for their spot in consecutive Finals Series’ for the first time.
We’ll help you get across everything you need to know ahead of the new season from start to finish, with more standalone matches and every game available LIVE.
The Lowdon
We begin the Westfield W-League season with a bye, with another to follow in Round 8 – occurring just prior to Christmas.
Our first fixture in Round 2 is away to Melbourne Victory at Lakeside Stadium and it will be LIVE on Fox Sports on Thursday 1 November at 7:30pm.
There will be two Westfield W-League and Hyundai A-League double-headers at McDonald Jones Stadium, with four home matches to be played out of Newcastle’s No.2 Sportsground.
It’ll be ten rounds in until we come up against last season’s semi-final opponents, Sydney FC with a fixture locked in for Friday January 4 at Jubilee Stadium.
No.2 Sportsground
The 2018/19 Westfield W-League season will see your Jets play FOUR matches out of Newcastle’s No.2 Sportsground, up from just the one game last season.
The move was prompted by a desire from the side to play more standalone matches at the ground, which means that each match day will be built around our Westfield W-League team!
Our first match at No.2 Sportsground will be on Saturday 17 November at 7:30pm against Canberra United.
There’s just the one broadcast home match pencilled in for the Newcastle Jets this season; Thursday 29 November against Brisbane Roar, but more about broadcast matches later.
We’ll also finish the season at No.2 Sportsground at the beginning of February and it’s another one under lights; Saturday 2 February at 7:30pm against the Western Sydney Wanderers.
Newcastle Jets CEO, Lawrie McKinna said that the move to No.2 Sportsground had been thanks to the support the Club had received from Newcastle City Council.
“The Council have been fantastic in allowing us to train, and now host four (Westfield) W-League matches at No.2 Sportsground,” McKinna said.
“It’s exciting for the W-League to be able to play standalone home matches now, and continue to carve out their own identity and advance the women’s game in the region.
“I’d encourage everyone to get out to No.2 Sportsground this season, it was a tremendous atmosphere when we played there last year and we’re looking to build on that in 2018/19.”
Double headers
We’ll play three double headers in total this season, with two of those at McDonald Jones Stadium and both in December.
The first is Sunday 9 December at 2:30pm against Melbourne City, with the Hyundai A-League to follow against the Brisbane Roar at 5:30pm.
It’s a slightly later kick-off for our second double header; 4:30pm on Sunday 30 December against Adelaide United. The men will face off with the Reds at 7pm that evening.
How to watch on the road
This season, a Westfield W-League game will be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports every Thursday night. The remainder will be live-streamed via Fox Sports, similar to the way in which FFA Cup matches were live-streamed this season.
With two Thursday night broadcast games and three Westfield W-League and Hyundai A-League double-headers pencilled in for this season, it means there will be five Newcastle Jets games broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports.
Live-streaming will allow fans to not miss a minute of the action this season, and means you can watch EVERY Newcastle Jets Westfield W-League match live this season!