Australia Cup 2025/26 | Semi Final | Avondale FC v Newcastle Jets | 31/08/25

[Jeterpool]

2025/26 SEASON STATISTICS

NumberNameAppearancesStartsSubbed OnSubbed offMinutes PlayedGoalsAssistsYellow CardsRed Cards
1James Delianov33002700000
5Joe Shaughnessy000000000
7Eli Adams1010320110
8Lachlan Bayliss32121320000
9Lachlan Rose2020380000
11Ben Gibson33032042100
13Clayton Taylor000000000
14Max Burgess33032261200
15Aleksandar Susnjar33002700030
17Kosta Grozos31201510110
18Kota Mizunuma33022542100
19Alexander Badolato33012491110
21Noah James000000000
23Daniel Wilmering33002702110
25Oscar Fryer1010210000
28Will Dobson3030801000
33Mark Natta000000000
24Alex Nunes2020240000
39Thomas Aquilina21101220000
41Lucas Scicluna101030000
42Max Cooper33002700000
43Xavier Bertoncello33031781000
45Christian Bracco22011480000
46Ethan Debono1010280000
60Garang Arou000000000

[Jeterpool]

I have a feeling Susnjar will be suspended for the match having received 3 yellow cards. I predict Natta will come in as we are yet to even see Shaugnessy on the bench.

Hopefully Bayliss has recovered from the knock that forced him off at Half time last week.

[plague]

4-1 loss

[My2BobsWorth]

At the risk of sounding like the Member, I think a little prayer might come in handy

[Couscous]

This is great and all, but there's no way we can beat Heidelberg.

[Mark325]

So far so good

Feeling a little less polished without Susjnar and Bayliss, Cooper needs someone with a little more presence besides him to keep it all composed and Bayliss is much better suited to the style of football we play

[plague]

Burgess and Kota are smart footballers.

We don't often have one smart footballer, let alone 2 at the same time.


Sadly, we also have some not so smart footballers.

[ForeverRed]

Bodalato struggles defensively, I noticed it last week but it?s happening again,

[Bremsstrahlung]

I like that we are trying to play some nice football.
Hopefully results reward that during the season.

[My2BobsWorth]

It was my praying that got us over the line

[Mark325]

Can't be overstated how good it is to see the young newy-born players getting in there and making it happen.

Felt a little more lackluster this game, like I said prior I feel like Susjnar was really helpful in the backline to keep everything in shape and a little more defensively sound, and even though he's a more defensively minded player, we have more composure with Bayliss in the midfield which makes up for Badolato's defensive struggles

[baldrick]

Que sera sera, Whatever will be will be, We're going to Wembley Que sera sera

:lulz:

[Buddha]

I am just happy that we no longer park the bus after going a goal up.

[Jetmaster]

I am just happy that we no longer park the bus after going a goal up.

Indeed, final on 4th October means four weeks more fitness fir us and wind down for them.

[Jeterpool]

Was doing a bit of research into potential locations for the Final and I've come to the conclusion I think it will be held at Newcastle.

I started by looking up the Competition Regulations, as I'd read people suggesting Heidelberg will host it because of the rule in the earlier rounds that the Member Federation clubs host when drawn against an A-League club. And it's a fair assumption. However, in clause 8.5 (b) it states:


The Hahn Australia Cup Final will be overseen and regulated by FA and FA has full control of all event and match day operations. FA will determine the selection of the city and Venue for the Hahn Australia Cup Final in its sole and absolute discretion. Such a decision to allocate the Venue will be made based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, venue availability, security, commercial, marketing and financial considerations. Furthermore, FA will incur all applicable Venue hosting costs and receive all related match day revenue.

I then explored the capacity of Heidelberg's ground, which is around 12000 but with Australia Cup crowds of 2800 v Auckland, 1547 v Nix, 1103 v WSW and 525 v Weston do they have the fans to pack it? If we look at their attendance for A-League competition only (ex Weston match) they've drawn an average crowd of 1817. By comparison, the previous 3 years of Cup Finals had crowds of 13289 (2024 @ AAMI Park), 15482 (2023 @ Allianz) and 16641 (2022 @ Commbank).

So what venues could they use? AAMI Park is the most likely, however on the 4th October (date already confirmed) there is a Monster Truck show booked at AAMI Park. The league haven't used Marvel (but it is free, with a 53000 capacity) or the MCG for club competitions for quite some time. So Melbourne don't immediately appear to have capacity unless they go to Marvel but I think that would be a cavernous, empty match experience because it's simply too big for, let's assume even triple the Heidelberg fans attending, of 6000 "home" fans. The FA want a spectacle for their showpiece match to meet their "commercial and marketing" outcomes.

But MJS is available. There isn't an event booked from the middle of September - an NRLW match. And the FA have used MJS for Matilda's games in the past so know have existing knowledge of operations, match production and security not to mention the Grand Final we hosted a few years back.

Therefore, the only reasonable options are a neutral venue or MJS. We've seen how unpopular and poorly attended the neutral venue grand final and it's in the best interests of FA to get a big crowd because they get all the match day revenue! So my conclusion is that MJS will host the Australia Cup final.

[Jeterpool]

Indeed, final on 4th October means four weeks more fitness fir us and wind down for them.

Bayliss will be back, Taylor becomes an option on the bench (hopefully), Susnjar has served his suspension and Gibson will have returned from u23's duty.

[northern_swan]

Was doing a bit of research into potential locations for the Final and I've come to the conclusion I think it will be held at Newcastle.

I started by looking up the Competition Regulations, as I'd read people suggesting Heidelberg will host it because of the rule in the earlier rounds that the Member Federation clubs host when drawn against an A-League club. And it's a fair assumption. However, in clause 8.5 (b) it states:



I then explored the capacity of Heidelberg's ground, which is around 12000 but with Australia Cup crowds of 2800 v Auckland, 1547 v Nix, 1103 v WSW and 525 v Weston do they have the fans to pack it? If we look at their attendance for A-League competition only (ex Weston match) they've drawn an average crowd of 1817. By comparison, the previous 3 years of Cup Finals had crowds of 13289 (2024 @ AAMI Park), 15482 (2023 @ Allianz) and 16641 (2022 @ Commbank).

So what venues could they use? AAMI Park is the most likely, however on the 4th October (date already confirmed) there is a Monster Truck show booked at AAMI Park. The league haven't used Marvel (but it is free, with a 53000 capacity) or the MCG for club competitions for quite some time. So Melbourne don't immediately appear to have capacity unless they go to Marvel but I think that would be a cavernous, empty match experience because it's simply too big for, let's assume even triple the Heidelberg fans attending, of 6000 "home" fans. The FA want a spectacle for their showpiece match to meet their "commercial and marketing" outcomes.

But MJS is available. There isn't an event booked from the middle of September - an NRLW match. And the FA have used MJS for Matilda's games in the past so know have existing knowledge of operations, match production and security not to mention the Grand Final we hosted a few years back.

Therefore, the only reasonable options are a neutral venue or MJS. We've seen how unpopular and poorly attended the neutral venue grand final and it's in the best interests of FA to get a big crowd because they get all the match day revenue! So my conclusion is that MJS will host the Australia Cup final.



Good post. Makes sense. We all know Newy loves a bandwagon. You could almost nail on 15k+ attendance at MJS

[Jeterpool]

Good post. Makes sense. We all know Newy loves a bandwagon. You could almost nail on 15k+ attendance at MJS

I think we'd get 15K too, with some good strong marketing.

It's been suggested that there was mention on the broadcast that Heidelberg are already agreed to be hosting it. I watched it and if that was said, I missed it. The end of the broadcast Zappone clearly said the FA would be making the decision in the coming days.

You'd imagine that plans have already commenced for all options.

If it is to be Heidelberg, what to the FA need to consider to make it as well attended as possible? The ground record is a touch over 11000 in a match 10 years ago. I think they'd need to install portable grandstands at a minimum, plus amenities (i.e. toilets). How will parking be handled? I looked into it and you can get a tram out there and walk to the ground, but would the surrounding area cope with a match of 10000+ people? How about getting away from the ground at the end?

The more you think about it, the more it makes commercial and financial sense to put it in Newcastle. I wouldn't have been as confident if AAMI Park was available, but it's not.

[Jeterpool]

I mentioned it in the previous match thread but with Nunes scoring on the weekend we've now had 11 different players contribute to a goal via scoring or assisting.

Burgess has contributed every match so far and Mizunuma has scored in 3 consecutive matches.

[mic22]

Was doing a bit of research into potential locations for the Final and I've come to the conclusion I think it will be held at Newcastle.

I started by looking up the Competition Regulations, as I'd read people suggesting Heidelberg will host it because of the rule in the earlier rounds that the Member Federation clubs host when drawn against an A-League club. And it's a fair assumption. However, in clause 8.5 (b) it states:



I then explored the capacity of Heidelberg's ground, which is around 12000 but with Australia Cup crowds of 2800 v Auckland, 1547 v Nix, 1103 v WSW and 525 v Weston do they have the fans to pack it? If we look at their attendance for A-League competition only (ex Weston match) they've drawn an average crowd of 1817. By comparison, the previous 3 years of Cup Finals had crowds of 13289 (2024 @ AAMI Park), 15482 (2023 @ Allianz) and 16641 (2022 @ Commbank).

So what venues could they use? AAMI Park is the most likely, however on the 4th October (date already confirmed) there is a Monster Truck show booked at AAMI Park. The league haven't used Marvel (but it is free, with a 53000 capacity) or the MCG for club competitions for quite some time. So Melbourne don't immediately appear to have capacity unless they go to Marvel but I think that would be a cavernous, empty match experience because it's simply too big for, let's assume even triple the Heidelberg fans attending, of 6000 "home" fans. The FA want a spectacle for their showpiece match to meet their "commercial and marketing" outcomes.

But MJS is available. There isn't an event booked from the middle of September - an NRLW match. And the FA have used MJS for Matilda's games in the past so know have existing knowledge of operations, match production and security not to mention the Grand Final we hosted a few years back.

Therefore, the only reasonable options are a neutral venue or MJS. We've seen how unpopular and poorly attended the neutral venue grand final and it's in the best interests of FA to get a big crowd because they get all the match day revenue! So my conclusion is that MJS will host the Australia Cup final.

Everything you wrote makes perfect sense... that's why they will do it in Melbourne.

[plague]

Double eff aye know full well no Melbourne casuals are turning up to watch jets v berg.

That's why playing it in Sydney will be fairest.

[My2BobsWorth]

Nah Mexicans will watch a snail race.
Has to be Newcastle or Melbourne