FORMER England international Emile Heskey expects to be a marked man when he lines up for the Newcastle Jets – it has been happening all his career.
Heskey is on course to make his much anticipated debut against Adelaide United at Hunter Stadium on Sunday.
The A-League is renowned for its physicality. A hustle and bustle league, featuring big strong defenders.
The striker was one of the star attractions alongside Alessandro Del Piero (Sydney FC) and Shinji Ono (Western Sydney) on hand to help launch the 2012-13 A-League season at Parramatta Stadium yesterday.
Fellow big names Robbie Fowler, Juninho and Harry Kewell all took time to adjust to the robust nature of the A-League.
But Heskey said dealing with defenders trying to assert their authority was nothing new for him.
"I have managed to get through that throughout my career," he said.
"I don't see why I can't do that now."
Heskey made his debut for Leicester City at age 17 and went on to play more than 500 games in the Premier League for the Foxes, Liverpool, Birmingham, Wigan and Aston Villa.
The 34-year-old, who has 64 caps for England and played at two World Cups, is renowned more as a provider than a scorer of goals.
He is yet to discuss his role with Jets coach Gary van Egmond but doubted if that would change.
"That's the way I've grown up playing," he said.
"I've managed to win cups and managed to go to two World Cups, two European championships doing that same thing, so why change now?
"Everyone wants to be a goal scorer but not everyone can be. Everyone thinks they're a goal scorer as well.
"I'll carry on doing that, being a provider.
"Obviously we will sit down and talk about that.
"We have some good young players, plenty of legs around me - it's good."
Heskey, who was joined at the launch by strike partner Ryan Griffiths and coach Gary van Egmond, rushed back to Newcastle for training yesterday afternoon.
It was his third session since arriving on Friday, which included 30 minutes in an intraclub hit-out on Saturday.
"I felt OK," he said.
"Obviously looking at the fitness of the other players, I am a little bit behind.
"It won't take long to get back up to speed."
The striker is still getting used to his teammates and working on combinations but the initial impressions have been good.
"I didn't know much about the actual team players going into the training, but most of them have impressed me," he said.
When asked what he knew about Sunday's opponents, the Reds, he replied: "Nothing," quickly adding, "I know the manager will put on a video soon, that is what I am used to anyway, watching videos of opponents."
