Jets recruits Kew Jaliens and Nathan Burns will feature for the club for the first time against Sydney Olympic tonight.
Newcastle Jets recruits Kew Jaliens and Nathan Burns will feature for the club for the first time when the Jets take on Sydney Olympic in a pre-season trial match at Belmore Sports Ground tonight.
The match was originally scheduled to take place this Wednesday night at 6.30pm, but was brought forward to Tuesday night due to ground availability. The match will now kick-off at 7pm.
Jets assistant coach Craig Deans indicated Jaliens and Burns will play their first minutes in Jets colours, while former England international Emile Heskey will also make his first appearance of the pre-season.
“It will be good to get Kew, Nathan and Emile, as well as a couple other players who haven-t had a lot of game time this pre-season, on the field at the same time and we-re looking forward to seeing them all in action together,” Deans said.
Deans said both Jaliens and Burns had made a smooth transition into the Jets- squad.
“Kew has been really good and I think he-s settled in very quickly,” Deans explained.
“He-s an experienced player and has played at a high level in a couple of different countries around the world so he-s used to coming into a new environment and fitting straight in.
“I think all the players have got a lot of respect for him already and he-s setting high standards, which is really important.
“Nathan-s been with the squad for a little bit longer.
“He-s a very creative player and is quality on the ball in the front third, so we-re looking forward to seeing him against some strong opposition.”
Although Sydney Olympic-s NSW NPL 1 campaign wrapped-up recently, Deans said he expected the former National Soccer League side to provide the Jets with a stern test.
“Anytime an A-League Club plays a State League team it-s a good incentive for the State League Club to show what they-ve got,” Deans said.
“Their players will want to make sure they put in a good effort and test themselves against the best.
“There-s no doubt about what we can expect from the match as far as the intensity is concerned and it will be a good test for us.”
Deans said the Jets- coaching staff will have one eye on Satrurday-s pre-season trial match against Hyundai A-League opponents Sydney FC when determining how much game time each player gets against Sydney Olympic.
“We-ve got nearly a full squad of fit and available players, so it-s just a matter of seeing where people are at with fitness, how long they-ve been training for and how many minutes they-re capable of playing,” Deans said.
“Most of the players that play tonight will player a smaller amount against Sydney, but we plan on putting out competitive teams for both matches.”
Newcastle Jets v Sydney Olympic
Tuesday, September 10
Belmore Sports Ground
Kick-off 7pm
