'I don't know, maybe being American helps': attacking duo fire Jets to first win in 11 months

It’s been a long time between drinks for Newcastle Jets’ Liberty A-League side, who finally, after almost 11 months have tasted the sweet elixir of victory, coming away with a convincing 4-2 win over Western Sydney Wanderers.

The Jets were sensational on Saturday afternoon in Tamworth, putting the Wanderers to the sword off the back of some cracking attacking work and a little bit of individual brilliance.

Sarah Griffith was the match-winner, firing home a hat-trick, including a stunning second goal which gave the Jets the lead, before adding her third after the interval.

Tara Andrews helped round out the result, firing home Newcastle’s fourth, which gives the Jets their first win since a 1-0 victory over Wellington Phoenix on December 27 2021.

A big part of the victory came off the back of the work of not only Griffith, but fellow new signing and American attacker Murphy Agnew who was instrumental on Saturday afternoon.

“I think we (Griffith) just really worked well together,” Agnew said on Dub Zone after the game.

“I mean I always know where she’s going to be in. She knows where I’m going to be. It’s just nice to have that instant connection with a player and I don’t know maybe being American helps too.”

“She’s one of my housemates so we spend a lot of time together. I think it’s just been good to hit the ground running.”

After a tight 2-1 loss against Brisbane a week ago, the win provides some much needed confidence for the Jets, who have been tipped by many to be a finals outsider this season.

However, their performance against the Wanderers has turned plenty of heads, particularly with their attacking work, with Agnew describing the result as “huge”.

“It was just nice to come out and get three points,” Agnew said.

“Especially since we were visiting Tamworth so it was a bit of a trip and a nice win for the community.”

Agnew has been brilliant to start the season and has proven to be a shrewd off-season pick-up for in the early going.

The American forward backed up her solid first outing last week with another stunning performance, which saw her play a role in a number of the Jets’ goals.

“I’m just coming off of a season in Iceland so I don’t think I really lost too much game fitness,” Agnew said.

“It was just nice to hit the ground running in this league and it’s incredibly intense, fast paced, but I think Ash (Wilson) has done a really good job of getting us ready for it in pre-season and the team has just been great and we are ready to go again next week.”

But what drew Agnew to join the club this past off-season?

“I played with a girl who lived in Newcastle in Iceland and so she really recommended Newcastle,” Agnew said.

“Ash just had a great vision for the club and really drew me to Newcastle, and talked about hard work, resilience and I was just really excited to come out and I’ve loved it. It’s been so fun. It’s such a great place to live and such a great team to play with.”

‘Winning’s just great!’ Sydney FC get their Grand Final revenge

Sydney FC have claimed bragging rights over Melbourne Victory after coming away with a 2-0 win in the Grand Final rematch at Cromer Park.

Madison Haley fired the Sky Blues into the lead before an unfortunate own goal from Victory shot-stopper Casey Dumont doubled their lead before half-time – which ultimately proved to be the difference.

As a result, the champions, Victory, remain rooted to the bottom of the table while Sydney are off the mark in the new season.

Attacker Cortnee Vine was one of the players to be part of last season’s heartbreaking loss and couldn’t hide her happiness after the game.

“Obviously, fantastic isn’t it? Winning is great!” Vine told Dub Zone.

“I can’t complain it’s always nice playing Victory, it brings back a lot of emotions from the past few years. But yeah, good start for the girls against them and I’m sure we will see them again in the future.”

Vine linked up brilliantly with Haley in the front-line all afternoon, providing plenty of havoc for Victory’s defence who struggled to curtail their influence – while also playing alongside Remy Siemsen who returned to the club this week.

“It’s great to have Rem (Siemsen) back,” Vine said.

“We missed her energy around the squad and having Maddie as a new import has definitely helped us. I think she brings something different to Rem. She’s very strong on the ball, very clinical with her turns and we work well.”

The 24-year-old attacker had two great opportunities to increase Sydney’s lead throughout the contest, but was unable to make the most of the one-on-ones that fell her way.

Vine felt she overthought those moments, which ultimately came back to bite her when she tried to put the ball past Dumont.

“Obviously it’s not a nice feeling was a striker when you miss those one on ones. They should be the easy ones but I find them probably the most difficult to be honest,” Vine said.

“I do think it’s a bit of a situation where you need to decide what you want to do early and those two times I was definitely overthinking: ‘what do I do in this situation?’, ‘do I kick early?’, ‘do I go towards the keeper?’, ‘do I take her on?’, ‘do I chip her?’ like what do I do here?

“I self reflect on that obviously after this game… I tried to get out of my head a bit but there were other factors that came into my mind.”