Departing Newcastle coach Craig Deans is bullish about his battling club’s talented youngsters and wants A-League rivals to develop their own players rather than poach the Jets’ emerging stars.
The attacking trio of Archie Goodwin, who is just 16, and 19-year-olds Lucas Mauragis and Blake Archbold all performed well in Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with Perth.
Goodwin belied his age by being the most dangerous forward on the field, forcing Perth goalkeeper Tando Velaphi into making four saves.
Mauragis and substitute Archbold combined to create the Jets’ equaliser.
“I’m happy for Lucas and Archie and Blake as well,” Deans said.
“They are all hopefully on a path of a football career for many years.”
The late-season form of Goodwin and Mauragis in particular is bound to attract the attention of other A-League clubs.
“They signed a contract at the start of the year for another two years so they will hopefully be here for longer than that,” Deans said.
“But other clubs have got their own academies as well, so they can use their own academy and find their own players.”
Deans acknowledged Newcastle would need to supplement their own strike force as the Jets have scored a league-low 22 goals, less than one a game.
“Roy (O’Donovan) has scored seven goals. He’s our top goalscorer. But he hasn’t had a huge amount of service this year to be fair to him,” Deans said
“We’ve already started three, four months ago looking to strengthen the team in the final third and I’m sure when the coach for next year gets here, he’ll continue that search.”
Newcastle moved off the bottom of the ladder above Melbourne Victory on goal difference with Saturday’s draw.
Both clubs face Premier’s Plate winners Melbourne City in their final A-League games, although the Jets don’t yet have a date for their fixture.
Newcastle have to face another team in the bottom four of the ladder in a playoff for a place in the round of 32 of the FFA Cup.
Deans, who was appointed head coach back in February after three stints as an interim coach, announced on Thursday he was stepping down.
“I still want the best for the club and I still want to win this last (A-League) game and our FFA (Cup game) because I will be living in Newcastle for hopefully a long time,” Deans said.
“I want to come and watch the team play and I want to see them be successful.
“I want to see the kids that have come in this year and see them develop and turn into legends of the club.”
Will
Guest
Archie Goodwin is a talent and only 16 too.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
If you have a 9 like Donovan dont expect many goals from elsewhere because Donovan does nothing but poach goals and he is not even any good at that anymore. He cant hold the ball up, he isnt any good in the air, he cant play a pass, he cant beat a player and even his ability to hack defenders and cause turnovers is gone. Having a striker who is limited poacher is not a problem if the rest of the team is very good, like Melbourne City with McLaren. If Odonovan was front man for City he would have got 15-20 goals. Matt Simon is one of the few specialist strikers in the A-league who does do a lot of other stuff and helps others score. Barbarouses if he plays as a striker or wing he still mainly goes wide and produces heaps of assists. Fornaroli can also do a job but this is sabotaged by Castro , and notice Armiento scoring a lot early in the season with Fornaroli as the main option in the attacking third and doesnt score at all with Castro. Juric is a funny one because he doesn't go into the best goal scoring positions other players will go and score goals.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
Everyone knew they would finish bottom this year, there's no relegation; he had zero excuse not to play more youth. Topors, biogs, Hoff, o dosnovan all played way too much this season
Micko
Roar Rookie
Yep, seems ironic he's praising youth, but doesn't want to coach these "exciting youth"????
Micko
Roar Rookie
Based off Australian or Saudi concerns?
pete4
Roar Rookie
Papas being mentioned atm https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/papas-in-line-to-replace-deans-and-spearhead-newcastle-rebuild
NoMates
Roar Rookie
So whos up for the Jets gig?
Nick Symonds
Guest
NEWS: Australia’s U23 men’s national team were scheduled to play against Saudi Arabia on Saturday, but the match was cancelled over covid concerns. Australia’s selection will remain in Marbella and at this stage, further matches against Romania and Mexico will proceed in the coming days as planned. - Australia U23 v Romania U23 Kick-off: 8:00pm local; 4:00am AEST Wednesday, 9 June Live Stream: www.socceroos.com.au, MyFootball YouTube Channel Australia U23 v Mexico U23 Kick-off: 8:00pm local; 4:00am AEST Sunday, 13 June Live Stream: www.socceroos.com.au, MyFootball YouTube Channel
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
The youngsters he refused to play all season? Instead relying on the OAPS? He deserved the sack for that
Grem
Roar Rookie
Deans is definitely a club man who should be kept somewhere in the Jets organisation. Hopefully this talent can develop and the club can attract new owners. It was also good to see they didn't get the spoon. And hopefully Victory learn a lot from this season, too.