He’s the young, cool, calm and collected defender with the iconic afro in the backline who has become a fan favourite this season. Newcastle Jets Defender Mark Natta runs us through a day in his life.
What do you do before you come into training?
“I try and sleep in as much as possible, I love my sleep, I get up around 6:45 am and cook breakfast, I enjoy a bacon and egg sandwich in the morning.”
What’s your pre-training routine?
“We normally have 45 minutes to an hour before training starts. I get in, talk to the lads, get changed and get ready. If I didn’t eat my bacon and eggs in the morning, sometimes, I’ll go and get some more breakfast.”
What’s on your playlist on the way to training?
“I’m enjoying house music, electronic, and EDM music at the moment, both me and Rory Jordan live together, so we’ll come to training together. We both enjoy similar music, so normally we’ll blast a bit of EDM music on the way to training to get us in the mood a bit, and to wake us up so we don’t fall back asleep.”
What is your favourite drill in training?
“My favourites are definitely the cage games, five v five’s or seven v seven’s. They are hard work but they’re the most fun, we’re scoring goals and defending, all the fun parts of the game.”
Who catches your eye on the training field?
“I’d say Reno Piscopo, he can be the best player on the pitch, I’d say Reno is definitely the flashiest on the pitch, great player.”
What’s your favourite post-training meal?
“I actually go to Harry’s Schnitzel’s at Thornton a lot, my go-to at the moment is a Caesar wrap.”
Away from the training field, what do you like to do in Newcastle?
“I like to chill out at home, play video games or chill and do nothing, I like to enjoy my downtime, sleeping in is my favourite thing to do on my days off. We don’t have much downtime so when we do I like to make the most of it, I’ll go to the beach sometimes, maybe Merewether baths.
I also like to play a few games on my computer, I play Pro Clubs on Fifa quite a bit and it’s a great way to keep in touch with some of my mates who aren’t with me in Newcastle.”