The Newcastle Jets will welcome back their inspirational skipper Jade North for Friday night’s second-round Hyundai A-League clash against the Glory in Perth.
The Newcastle Jets will welcome back their inspirational skipper Jade North for Friday night’s second-round Hyundai A-League clash against the Glory in Perth.
North was forced to watch last week’s opening round 1-1 draw with the Central Coast Mariners from the sidelines after being rushed back to Newcastle from Australia’s Olympic football campaign.
But the workman-like defender is expected to take his place in the starting side and regain the captain’s arm-band, much to the delight of coach Gary van Egmond.
“I’m sure the boys will be buoyed by that,” van Egmond said.
“Any quality player coming back is great to have in any team and obviously Jade being a Socceroo and being the captain of the Newcastle Jets football team is a huge bonus, not just on the quality of the player but also what he brings as far as leadership of the group.”
Jets CEO John Tsatsimas said there he had any news on the rumours North was being courted by European clubs for a possible transfer this season and for the moment ‘Jade is still part of the Jets line-up’.
In the meantime, van Egmond admitted Perth was a ‘bogey’ side for the Jets but denied his side felt any pressure in that regard in the lead-up to Friday night-s match.
“I suppose you can look at it that way,” he said.
“It depends which cliche you want to use, ‘you’re only as good as your last game’ I suppose, but we feel very confident coming up against Perth this weekend.”
“The boys felt that we lost two points last weekend, which is a good indication that they’re disappointed with getting a point. The spirit has been good in the camp this week and we’re all very eager to play.
“They’ve got a few to come back in. So I think they’ll be definitely quite difficult and they’re always a threat from set-pieces with (Dino) Djulbic, (David) Tarka, (Jamie) Coyne, (Nikolai) Topor-Stanley, (Eugene) Dadi, and (Nikita) Rukavytsya. So we’ll have to be very much on our toes at set-pieces.”
North and Kaz Patafta are the only extra inclusions to Newcastle’s 16-man squad for this weekend’s game.
