2022-23 Season Preview – Newcastle United Jets

With a mix of exciting imports, local legends and promising youngsters, Newcastle United Jets are looking to end a finals drought stretching back to 2018.

Last season

After six games, there was cause for quiet optimism amongst Jets fans. The Hunter Valley side had earned nine points from those games, with their only defeat in this period coming against Sydney, the eventual Premiership winners.

However, the goals and points then dried up in alarming fashion. Newcastle earned just the solitary point in the remainder of the campaign (a 2-2 draw against Western Sydney Wanderers), and finished the season by scoring only three goals in their final eight games.

In the end, Newcastle’s eighth place finish could have been worse – a misfiring Wanderers attack and Wellington’s slow start kept the Jets away from the wooden spoon.

Key facts

Lineup

The Coach

Ash Wilson returns for her third season in charge of the Jets. Very few people know the local landscape better than Wilson, who has a great deal of experience working with the Emerging Jets academy and is also a teacher at Hunter Sports High School. This background means Wilson is the right person to mentor the next generation of local talent.

Ins and Outs

INS

OUTS

Key players

Dubbed “The Tallest Woman In Newcastle” by our friends at The Far Post Pod, Tara Andrews will once again be the focal point of the Jets attack. Winger Ashlee Brodigan is coming off an excellent NPL NSW season with Northern Tigers and her aptitude from set pieces could come in handy.

We’ll see the best of feelgood stories in the Jets midfield – Sophie Stapleford is set for her debut A-League Women campaign, seven years after a brain cancer diagnosis.

Tessa Tamplin is back at the club after a Swiss sojourn and now she brings valuable UEFA Champions League experience to the squad. Expect her to make plenty of overlapping runs from fullback this season.

Once again, Claire Coelho is expected to take a spot between the sticks, and she doesn’t just bring shot-stopping and cat-like reflexes to the table: her booming kicks can set up counter attacks for speedsters like Lauren Allan and Adriana Konjarski (née Jones).

One to watch

There has been a lot of turnover in the defensive ranks at Newcastle, so building cohesion at the back will be key if the Jets are to sustain a finals challenge.

Emily Garnier will take on a lot of responsibility this season. The American defender has spent time in the NWSL, and this is far from her first time playing abroad: she has also plied her trade in Italy (Empoli, Napoli) and Denmark (the Aussie home-away-from-home otherwise known as Fortuna Hjørring).

Apart from the usual central defensive attributes, Garnier also comes with a reputation for having a great passing range, so the Colorado School of Mines graduate could be just as useful to the Jets in an attacking sense.

Prediction

If the Jets are to finish in the top four, they will need to improve their record when playing outside New South Wales. You have to go all the way back to 8th March 2021 for Newcastle’s last points and goals earned on an interstate trip (a 4-0 away victory against Perth Glory).

Newcastle is always at best a tricky away trip for opponents – if the Jets can maintain or even strengthen their reputation as a tough place to play, and also resolve their interstate travel blues, then a probable mid-table finish beckons.

Fixture

Newcastle will live up to their nickname in Round 1 by jetting off to Queensland for a game against Brisbane Roar.