They might be without their marquee player Jason Culina for the whole season, but the Newcastle Jets remain bullish about their chances in year seven of the A-League.
Around 100 people attended the Jets corporate season launch at the Honeysuckle Hotel last night, which featured Fox Sports’ football pundit Mel McLaughlin as master of ceremonies.
A mixture of sponsors, Hunter Sports Group staff, media, Jets players and officials were on hand as the club’s first full season under the ownership of Nathan Tinkler was officially launched.
The Jets have been largely written off since the news of Jason Culina’s season-ending injury broke last week, but coach Branko Culina is quietly confident.
“It’s not the football critics who determine our outcome, but ourselves,” Culina told me.
“Critics only go by what happened last year, but critics should also remember – when we had our best squad available, we were right up there. We didn’t lose against any of the top teams. So we know what we’re capable of, but we’ll let our football do the talking.”
Injury has been a thorny issue of the club in recent times, and it was worrying to see Marko Jesic hobbling up to the stage last night as the squad was announced to the crowd.
Jesic rolled his ankle in a club trial yesterday, and is doubt for the Jets opener against the Melbourne Heart next weekend.
Kasey Wehrman and Chris Payne are both coming back from injuries, the same as Ruben Zadkovich, Ryan Griffiths and Jeremy Brockie, but all are expected to be available for the Heart game.
Culina said it is hard to nominate a front-runner for the A-League title this season, but he expects the likes of Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory to be among the top six.
“It’s hard to say at this stage because at the start of the season everyone thinks they’ve got a show, and rightly so,” he said.
“It’ll take four to six rounds maybe, before you can settle in and say yeah those teams will be… You’d think the usual suspects will be there and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be. It’s getting tougher and tougher for smaller clubs to be there, but you can’t really rule out anyone.”
“I think its going to be a much closer competition than many people think.”
Ray Baartz is one of several former Socceroos now involved with the Jets, along with fellow Newcaslte products Clayton Zane, Joe Senkalski and David Lowe. Ex-Socceroo Marshall Soper is the special skills coach, while Baartz is the Jets football advisory board chairman.
Baartz, capped 48 times by Australia, is also confident about the Jets chances this season following Tinkler’s takeover.
“This is the first season ever, in Newcastle football, that we’ve been able to retain every player we wanted to retain,” Baartz said.
“We’re quite happy to fly in under the radar because we know with our best team on the park we’re capable of beating anyone in the competition.
“No-one can control injuries, we had a horrific run of injuries last year where we had up to 12 of our first-team squad out at one stage, and that’s where we struggled a bit, but if we can keep the nucleus of our first team on the park week-in-week-out we’re going to be more than competitive.”
“And I think that goes across the whole of the A-League, everybody’s going to be capable of beating everybody else, on any given day.
“I don’t think you can say any team is going to canter away with the competition, I think its going to be very even.”
With the Jets employing full-time physios for the first time in its history, Newcastle fans will be hoping that the club finally receives some luck on the injury front. Cue people in the Hunter searching for four leaf clovers and horse-shoes.
The Jets may have to do without Ben Kantarovski, Jesic and possibly Chris Payne for potentially nine A-League games if they are selected on Olyroos duty.
When asked about this, Culina said: “It is a concern for is, because our squad is not too deep.”
Some comfort for Jets supporters may come in the return of another Griffiths to the club – former A-League title-winner Joel Griffiths. The Daily Telegraph is reporting today that the Beijing Guoan striker is looking to come back to Australia for a guest-stint, with both the Jets and Sydney FC in the hunt.
With the Jets current striking ranks looking a little meagre, I think most Newcastle fans would applaud Griffiths’ return.
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