If there is one thing Newcastle Jets fans love, it is a Novacastrian playing for the club. Archie Goodwin is highly rated at McDonald Jones Stadium but he has been a peripheral figure this season.
The teenager was spotted back on the bench on Saturday night; the third youngest goalscorer in A-League Men history, Goodwin – who signed a new contract before the 2022-23 campaign – has been limited to just 80 minutes of action across seven appearances.
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Despite his lack of minutes, he has managed to score twice as Jets fans call to see more of the 18-year-old Australia youth international, who was part of the Young Socceroos’ run to the AFC Under-20 Asian Cup quarter-finals.
He was back in the Newcastle squad for the 3-1 loss at home to Central Coast Mariners – the first appearance on the bench since February. He was even warming up in the second half, however he was an unused substitute as the Jets’ finals hopes vanished.
Jets head coach Arthur Papas was asked about his absence afterwards and he provided three key reasons, highlighting a lingering fitness issue.
“The first reason is because he hasn’t played for us for two and a half months,” Papas told reporters in the news conference.
“Second reason is there is a pending surgery coming so today was a risk to put him on the bench. But he trained well, he completed a full week for the first time this week and that’s since coming back from the U20s.
“The third reason was, he probably has 15-20 minutes of real high intensity football in him. So there was always a plan that if we were chasing the game and not without a number less, we would put him on and hopefully he could make a difference for us. We believe in him a lot but we’re also mindful of where he is at at the moment.
“But like I keep saying, I know everyone is desperate to see him on the field every time and I want to see him on the field every time. But to be on the field every time, you have to train every week too.
“I want to make sure as this season wraps up, the reality is he is going in for surgery straight away. It was always going to be a risk and we were willing to take that risk based on his feedback of how he was feeling.
“But the game circumstances changed considerably and that meant he would have to press a lot and work hard without the ball. He wouldn’t probably have the engine to do that for longer than 15-20 minutes.”
When asked of the injury could prove problematic long-term, Papas replied: “It is if I’m negligent with him. It’s pretty simple.
“If I decide not to be educated in the way we think about his career, I think that’s a possibility because the reality was that’s what was inherited.
“We work so hard and he works hard. He is a top pro. He works so hard. He always has good energy about him but he has had some limitations. Up until the Australian U20s we basically kept him on the field basically the whole time. He went away, the load increased very quickly from how we manage the loads here and he came back here.
“We just want to make sure that he gets everything right over the course of the off-season so he can become even more pivotal for us next season.”
