Alex Badolato hat-trick fires Jets to 5-2 win over Victory

Newcastle Jets rising star Alex Badolato scored the first hat-trick of his professional career to guide his new side to a 5-2 win over Melbourne Victory on Friday night.

The 20-year-old CommBank Young Socceroos talent came into his second league appearance as a Jet buoyed by scoring the Isuzu UTE Goal of the Week in Round 1 and added two fresh contenders for the weekly award to his name in a stunning individual performance, scoring from outside the box twice in spectacular fashion.

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Badolato became the sixth-youngest hat-trick scorer in Isuzu UTE A-League history as the Jets recorded their first win of the season.

Youngest-ever Isuzu UTE A-League hat-trick scorers

Nestory Irankunda (2024): 18 years, 49 days
Nathan Burns (2007): 18 years, 259 days
Riley McGree (2018): 19 years, 163 days
Adam Taggart (2013): 20 years, 175 days
Adrian Segecic (2025): 20 years, 224 days
Alex Badolato (2025) 20 years, 243 days

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22-year-old striker Ben Gibson opened the scoring for the Jets before Badolato’s first wondergoal of the night; Victory then struck back through Denis Genreau but Badolato restored Newcastle’s two-goal lead just before the break, making it 3-1 to the Jets.

After half-time, Keegan Jelacic brought Victory back to within one goal before Badolato sealed all three points for the Jets with a bullet strike from distance.

Late in the game, teenage forward Oscar Fryer came off the bench to score his first Isuzu UTE A-League goal for the Jets in a special ending to the 5-2 win.

Key moments

A wondergoal from a man in form

Alex Badolato’s opening goal was the standout moment of an absolutely superb performance from the 20-year-old, who can do no wrong in a Newcastle Jets kit thus far.

Badolato scored the Isuzu UTE Goal of the Week in Round 1, and he did it again to put the Jets two goals in front – this time with a swerving strike from range after a perfectly-timed challenge to win the ball off Victory midfielder Xavier Stella.

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Badolato scores again – but don’t miss the assist!

It was the Alex Badolato show in the first half in Newcastle – but Will Dobson’s impact on the Jets’ fortunes can’t be ignored.

Dobson missed Round 1 through illness but was picked to start in his first appearance of 2025-26 and had a big impact on his return.

His assist for Badolato’s second goal of the night was the definition of silk; after faking to cross first-time, Dobson played a neat touch through the legs of Joshua Inserra to collect possession on the byline and pick out Badolato, who did the rest.

Ben Gibson played his part in Newcastle’s third goal, having set Dobson down toward the byline to pick out Badolato in the box. The 22-year-old scored the opening goal of the night after a combination between Dobson (17) and Badolato (20) as the Jets showed the full might of their young brigade.

Badolato’s freakish night ends with a hat-trick goal to savour

With CommBank Socceroos head coach Tony Popovic in the stands, Badolato put the exclamation mark on his remarkable performance with yet another long-range spectacular to seal his hat-trick.

After the 20-year-old’s third goal of the night rippled the back of the net, the Network 10 broadcast cut to the onlooking Popovic – and with the international head coach watching on, Badolato had picked the perfect moment to put together the best performance of his young career to date.

“What more superlatives can you say about this young man after tonight?” Asked Network 10 co-commentator Daniel McBreen.

“This young man is all class…this guy is full of confidence, full of quality. Everybody sit back and watch his trajectory – that man in particular (Popovic), must be taking some notes in that little black book we see him have.