The Newcastle Jets will be looking to add more silverware to their trophy cabinet this season as they compete in both the A-League Men and the AFC Champions League Elite. Ahead of the new campaign, aleagues.com.au caught up with Jets midfielder Zach Clough.
Participating in the AFC Champions League Elite is both an exciting and lucrative experience for any Australian club fortunate enough to qualify. The flipside to that is that it can also be a pretty bruising affair, especially when you factor in the financial muscle that many of Asia’s top clubs can flex.
That said, not many people expected the A-League Premiers to get thumped 7-1 by J1 League side Kashima Antlers in their opening league match, even if the financial gap between the two sides is akin to that of a canyon.
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For Jets midfielder Zach Clough, though there’s no point in sugarcoating the loss. They were well beaten.
“I think it’s an eye-opening experience,” Clough said when speaking to aleagues.com.au Senior Reporter James Dodd.
“To see how other countries treat and how seriously they treat football, how competitive it is and how hard it is to play against the best players from these countries where the leagues are really good.
“It was eye-opening for me. I’ve never played a Japanese team and they were really up for it for the first 20 minutes, which is where we probably lost the game, in the first 20 minutes.
“We probably weren’t quite at the level physically because we’ve not really started the season yet, which is tough.
“But yeah, we’ll be ready for it now. I think that’s a great lesson for us from the first game, and training’s been brilliant since that result.
“We’ve really kicked ourselves up the arse, and we’re trying to get ourselves going.”
While the result in Japan was no doubt a chastening experience for all involved, there’s nothing to be gained from dwelling on it, especially when there’s a home game against fellow Japanese side Gamba Osaka to come before they kick off their A-League Men Premiership defence away to the Mariners on October 17.
The Jets squad that travels to polytec Stadium in Matchweek 1 of the new season will look remarkably different to the one which clinched both the Australia Cup and Premiers Plate last season before having their 2025/26 season cruelly ended by Sydney FC on penalties in the semi-finals.
Milligan’s side ultimately paid the price for having a successful season as clubs both domestic and overseas raided the Jets, picking off first team stars like Lachie Rose, Mark Natta, Clayton Taylor, Lachlan Bayliss and Eli Adams.
However, despite some of the big-name departures, Clough insists the Jets’ mindset and goals remain the same: they’re expecting to be challenging again.
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“I think as a playing group and the demand we put on ourselves every day, we’re just kind of like we’re going to go again and be as good as last year.
“We want to kick on and be more successful if we can.
“We know the league, it’s always a tough league, and you don’t know who’s going to be the team that’s going to be at the top.
“But we want to be competing with whoever is at the top, and that’s the expectation of the playing group and of the club and the coaches.
“And Millsy, he’s expecting us to be pushing right at the top.”
So while there’s clearly been the need for revolution at the Jets, they’re also keen to evolve things heading into the new season.
“You can’t be too similar because teams will work you out,” Clough says when asked if the Jets feel the need to change.
“Teams will see how you played last year, and if you stay the same, it might be easier for other teams to work out and make plans against you.
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“I think we’re evolving really well. We’ve got some really good young players. We’ve brought in some really good senior players as well.
“So yeah, Millsy and the coaches have got a great plan ahead for the season. I think we’ll change throughout the year to see (how) we can get the best out of our players.”
In total, 13 players have left the Jets squad that won two trophies last season but Milligan and his football department have recruited seven new players to refresh the squad.
Greek striker Nikos Vergos will lead the line after joining from Melbourne Victory, Zane Schreiber brings Championship-winning experience with him from Melbourne City whilst Patrick Wood and Alex Grant were two of three players to join the club from Sydney FC.
No doubt central to any tactical plan Milligan and his staff have though is the third of those players to arrive from the Sky Blues: Englishman Joe Lolley.
One of the most sought after free agents in the market this off-season, the Jets persuaded the former Premier League attacker to move north following four impressive seasons with Sydney FC, and Clough is expecting big things from the former Nottingham Forest man.
“Yeah, brilliant,” Clough says when asked about the signing of Lolley.
“The moments he has in games, like, he’s just dangerous, man. He’s lethal. If he gets on his left foot he can just produce something out of nothing.
“If we’re having a poor game and he gets the ball, he can just produce something for us, and it’s great to have players like that in your squad.
“So I’m really excited to start playing with him. We were together at Forest, but I wasn’t playing at the time.”
For Clough, the new season represents a chance to finally establish himself in the Jets side and recapture the sort of form that saw him widely regarded as being one of the most creative midfielders in the competition.
In July 2025, after an excellent three-year stint at Adelaide United, Reds fans were disappointed to find out the no.10 was on his way to Malaysian Super League side Selangor after a fee was agreed between the two clubs. However, fast forward six months and the playmaker was on the lookout for a new club.
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“We lived in Kuala Lumpur, so it was an amazing city to live in. It was just a little bit of a shock, the level of the professionalism and stuff compared to here, and the culture was difficult to adjust to at the club.
“But I really enjoyed the experience. I got to play in ACL Two, which was good, and that was a big plus for me to go and play there. But we didn’t make it through the group, so in January I was ready to come back.”
And Selangor’s loss was Newcastle Jets’ gain, even if his first four months in the Hunter were heavily impacted by injury.
Now though he’s fit and firing ahead of the new season, and that spells trouble for opposition defences.
“After having a pre-season, it’s kind of what you need when you come back to the A-League. It’s always difficult coming in injured, as I found when I first came to the league four years ago.
“It was tough at the start, and you do have to slowly build your way into the games in the heat and stuff. It’s not easy to come and play in January, February, March.
“But yeah, I feel really good again, and having a pre-season always helps me to get back to my best.
“So I’m feeling pretty much there and really ready, raring to go and show the Jets fans what they’ve hopefully been expecting from me.”
The Jets kick off their Premiership defence with an away trip to rivals Central Coast Mariners on Saturday, October 17.
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