2023/24 Newcastle Jets Men's Squad

[Jeterpool]

Updated 10/7/23 following Apostolos Stamatelopoulos signing

Expiring at conclusion of NPL season
30 Noah James - signed until 2023 ^

Expiring 23/24
xx Ryan Scott - signed until 23/24* (assumed)
03 Jason Hoffman - signed until 23/24
06 Brandon O'Neill - signed until 23/24
07 Trent Buhagiar - signed until 23/24
10 Reno Piscopo - signed until 23/24
16 Kosta Grozos - signed until 23/24
18 Daniel Stynes - signed until 23/24
19 Callum Timmins - signed until 23/24
20 Michael Weier - signed until 23/24
22 Phillip Cancar - signed until 23/24
23 Mark Natta - signed until 23/24
xx Lucas Mauragis - signed until 23/24
25 Carl Jenkinson - signed until 23/24
xx Rory Jordan - signed until 23/24 - Loaned to APIA Leichardt
29 Thomas Aquilina - signed until 23/24
xx Lachlan Bayliss - signed until 23/24*
xx Clayton Taylor - signed until 23/24*
xx Daniel Wilmering - signed until 23/24 *

Expiring 24/25
02 Dane Ingham - signed until 24/25
26 Archie Goodwin - signed until 24/25
xx Jacob Dowse - signed until 24/25
xx Apostolos Stamatelopoulos - signed until 24/25

22 players signed for season
- 21 A-League squad players from possible 23

- # = 1 Visa spot (Jenkinson) from possible 5
- ^ = 1 Scholarships from possible 3

- 1 Player loaned out (Jordan at APIA Leichardt)
- * contract length has not been disclosed and it is believed this is the deal length
- Noah James youth contract signed until conclusion of 2023 NPL season. (https://twitter.com/JamesGardiner42/...37071083044865)

Rumoured Incoming Players
None active

Rumoured Outgoing Players
None active

[MFKS]

How the **** did we give some of these posers multi year deals ??

[mic22]

I'd try to retain:
04 Manabu Saito
06 Matthew Jurman
18 Daniel Stynes
19 Callum Timmins
32 Angus Thurgate (only with a creative midfielder, which could be Piscopo or someone a la Penha)

Please please don't renew Ingham and Hoffman: top blokes, but we've seen enough.

[Frodo]

I'd try to retain:
04 Manabu Saito
06 Matthew Jurman
18 Daniel Stynes
19 Callum Timmins
32 Angus Thurgate (only with a creative midfielder, which could be Piscopo or someone a la Penha)

Please please don't renew Ingham and Hoffman: top blokes, but we've seen enough.

Think I heard Saito wasn't in the last squad because he already had his bags packed to head back home. That one didn't work out it seems.


Also, Thurgate is already gone too. Tho, it will just be interesting to see who he ended up signing for. WU were the strong favorites, but I still think Sydney have signed him already.

[Frodo]

I was hoping Jenkinson's deal was already up this year, that's a large chunk of money going to waste next season now.

Same with Duncan, although he's ok value as a backup GK at least. Either Weier needs to step up next season or we really need to find a decent starter and move one of those two on instead




Of the off contracts, there's nobody unreplaceable. Although personally I'd be ok with another deal for any of Al Taay, Grozos, Timmins and Stynes if we think we can get more out of them next season. They all weren't ever honkingly bad from memory and are young, cheap and keen to impress. Gives us more time to focus on fixing other areas without needing to replace half a squad.

[380]

Gus off to WU so he can enjoy huge crowds and the wonderful home ground facilities LOL.

[belchardo]

Gus off to WU so he can enjoy huge crowds and the wonderful home ground facilities LOL.

You have seen our crowds recently and home ground facilities right?

[Frodo]

Just read a piece about player retention and supposedly we offered deals to some of the key players leaving but couldn't match those from other clubs. He specifically said that the uncertainty over the clubs ownership was a factor in us losing out.

Not surprising. By I wanted to note it down so when we start signing all the rejects again, people will think it's down to poor scouting when in fact it's down to a weakened ability to negotiate as well as poor scouting.

[Mark325]

I wouldn’t be surprised if we resign a lot of our lower tier, cheap players with the goal to avoid another significant overhaul of the team. So your Grozos, Al-Taays etc are most likely nailed on for next year

[StannyCFCJET]

I wouldn’t be surprised if we resign a lot of our lower tier, cheap players with the goal to avoid another significant overhaul of the team. So your Grozos, Al-Taays etc are most likely nailed on for next year

Grozos and Al-Taay have earned new deals imo

[MFKS]

Grozos and Al-Taay have earned new deals imo

Based on what ??

None of them can hold down a spot in a side as shit as ours currently

Exactly what is it they have done to earn a new deal

[StannyCFCJET]

Based on what ??

None of them can hold down a spot in a side as shit as ours currently

Exactly what is it they have done to earn a new deal

Played well this season. Not their fault Papas is an idiot and favours crap senior played

[Jeterpool]

Based on what ??

None of them can hold down a spot in a side as shit as ours currently

Exactly what is it they have done to earn a new deal

Our best run came with Al-Taay at CDM. Things turned once O'Neill took his place.
Grozos was a consistent starter this year and can be a reasonable fill in for Piscopo.
I'd offer them a contract. They both aren't even 23 yet... plenty of room to grow

[Frodo]

Al Taay is the only midfielder we have that can comfortably play as a single pivot IMO. He's not the greatest player we've ever seen, but his ability to hold that middle of park meant Thurgate and Grozos/Beka 2.0 could actually help our with the attack for sustained periods. O'Neil can't play that role specifically as well. O'Neil is probably the better player overall but he limits our ability to play a certain system, one that worked for us over a short period.

It honestly seems like Pappas is trying to squeeze the 11 players that train the best/have the best abilities in his eyes/have playing minutes clauses in their contracts (lol if true) instead of finding the best fit for his system regardless of who ends up on the bench.


Hence why Jenkinson kept playing instead of Natta/Cancar, who are actual CBs by trade.

[Frodo]

People are going to hate me even more for this, but I would also be ok if we resigned Ingham, and wait to blow up until after you've read the whole thing, lol.



I think Ingham has a lot of positives, he also has lots of negatives tho, and could be utilized well in a better defence. He has good pace, so can cover mistakes by others by at least getting back in front and holding them up. He also has a terrific engine so there's no worries about a fresh winger coming on and outpacing him late in the game.

His negatives look so much worse when the CBs are basically traffic cones, because his eagerness to constantly get involved means his mistakes are always punished and always clearly visible. The amount of times this season Ingham has missed a ball (but one that a decent CB should have dealt with on some occasions I might add) and we've had nobody in the backline making sure attackers are marked up was way too many. Whenever we lose the ball close to our backline neither Jurman or Jenkinson were in the correct position to either mark an attacker or cover the space left open. Jenkinson in particular was completely useless in transition because he doesn't understand the role.


If we can get a partner for Natta that can talk and cope with the high ball, I genuinely think Ingham's issues could be dealt with and his ability to push up into midfield and help control the ball/attack will be worth it. Plus, he can do a job on either wing/wingback to help close out a game.

[StannyCFCJET]

People are going to hate me even more for this, but I would also be ok if we resigned Ingham, and wait to blow up until after you've read the whole thing, lol.



I think Ingham has a lot of positives, he also has lots of negatives tho, and could be utilized well in a better defence. He has good pace, so can cover mistakes by others by at least getting back in front and holding them up. He also has a terrific engine so there's no worries about a fresh winger coming on and outpacing him late in the game.

His negatives look so much worse when the CBs are basically traffic cones, because his eagerness to constantly get involved means his mistakes are always punished and always clearly visible. The amount of times this season Ingham has missed a ball (but one that a decent CB should have dealt with on some occasions I might add) and we've had nobody in the backline making sure attackers are marked up was way too many. Whenever we lose the ball close to our backline neither Jurman or Jenkinson were in the correct position to either mark an attacker or cover the space left open. Jenkinson in particular was completely useless in transition because he doesn't understand the role.


If we can get a partner for Natta that can talk and cope with the high ball, I genuinely think Ingham's issues could be dealt with and his ability to push up into midfield and help control the ball/attack will be worth it. Plus, he can do a job on either wing/wingback to help close out a game.

Ingham's problem is his none existent football IQ on and off the ball and his technique is one of the worst i've ever seen in a jets shirt, Basically your saying he has pace and thats it which if that is all were looking in a player then lets just move the Jets to an all age league

[380]

Ingham's problem is his none existent football IQ on and off the ball and his technique is one of the worst i've ever seen in a jets shirt, Basically your saying he has pace and thats it which if that is all were looking in a player then lets just move the Jets to an all age league

Nah, If you want blokes who are fast but can't play football just find another 9 Trent Buhagiars.

[Frodo]

Ingham's problem is his none existent football IQ on and off the ball and his technique is one of the worst i've ever seen in a jets shirt, Basically your saying he has pace and thats it which if that is all were looking in a player then lets just move the Jets to an all age league

I'm not saying he's a world beater, but he must have at least a little Football IQ because he was actually a very important part of Pappas ball when we were in good form, the problem is that he was also an important part of the problem when we were in bad form as well.

He is great as pushing inside, bedside the DM, which gives us a passing channel from GK straight past the press and on the attack quickly. Instead of going long or just wide, which are both easy to defend, your B2B mids take the opposition CMs towards their goal, which leaves Ingham free to receive a pass, he can then either pass to the CDM if needed or dribble the ball through open space and start the attack.



For all of our problems (and to put them into context we have moved from like 20 points away from finals before Pappas to 5 or 6 now) the one constantly great thing has been our ability to transition quickly and bypass whichever midfield setup an opponent uses against us. Ingham has been a part of that, and if we can find some way to limit his need to constantly try to win the ball in front of the backline (when usually a switched on CDM or CB should be dealing with it) he can be at absolute worst a good backup to both sides of defence AND an option on the wings if we don't need a goal.

Let's not forget we still need to replace 3 very key positions (CB, CM, ST) in our spine plus we have to start again with Visa players, all while the club should still be focused on finding buyers if possible. I don't trust the club to find a better replacement for everyone we let go unfortunately, Pappas is going to have to coach a few of them up a little instead.

Resigning a few of the players that have gotten us closer to finals football than last year should be ok so long as they aren't declining because of age or blocking the club from signing anybody better.

[Jeterpool]

People are going to hate me even more for this, but I would also be ok if we resigned Ingham, and wait to blow up until after you've read the whole thing, lol.



I think Ingham has a lot of positives, he also has lots of negatives tho, and could be utilized well in a better defence. He has good pace, so can cover mistakes by others by at least getting back in front and holding them up. He also has a terrific engine so there's no worries about a fresh winger coming on and outpacing him late in the game.

His negatives look so much worse when the CBs are basically traffic cones, because his eagerness to constantly get involved means his mistakes are always punished and always clearly visible. The amount of times this season Ingham has missed a ball (but one that a decent CB should have dealt with on some occasions I might add) and we've had nobody in the backline making sure attackers are marked up was way too many. Whenever we lose the ball close to our backline neither Jurman or Jenkinson were in the correct position to either mark an attacker or cover the space left open. Jenkinson in particular was completely useless in transition because he doesn't understand the role.


If we can get a partner for Natta that can talk and cope with the high ball, I genuinely think Ingham's issues could be dealt with and his ability to push up into midfield and help control the ball/attack will be worth it. Plus, he can do a job on either wing/wingback to help close out a game.

Ingham looked better further forward than he did as a left back. I think he will have earned another contract with us...if he isn't being pursued by other clubs.

The left back issue will/should be solved by Mauragis returning and the potential/reported signing of Dowse.

That begs the question - do we have Ingham there over say a Sotirio or Stynes (who is completely different to those two)? I think Jaush is better suited on the right personally.

[Jeterpool]

Thoughts on Aquilina so far? I haven't been overly impressed and had a much higher opinion of him watching him sporadically than I have every other week.

Certainly the initiator of us conceding a few of the end of season goals. Defensively he is getting done 1 on 1 a fair bit. But he can deliver a decent cross into the box.