Respected Jones fits bill with rebuilding Jets
By JOSH LEESON
June 29, 2015, 10 p.m
MARK Jones earned high praise among Newcastle Jets insiders during the shambolic final months of coach Phil Stubbins’ reign for coming in and providing defensive structure to keep the club competitive.
The former A-League championship-winning assistant coach will have a full season to offer his expertise to the club after he was appointed head of performance on Monday.
The announcement follows the appointment of former Fulham assistant Scott Miller as head coach and ex-Melbourne Victory assistant Jean-Paul de Marigny as his right-hand man.
Jones begins the new role next Monday, the same day Miller returns from England to take over his first training session.
As head of performance, Jones will oversee strength and conditioning and work closely with head physiotherapist Justin Dougherty. He will also assist de Marigny with video analysis and scouting.
‘‘We had a good meeting where he demonstrated not only his knowledge of his profession, but of Newcastle Jets and Australian football to me,’’ Miller said. ‘‘From that point on he became a leading candidate to join our team. Mark obviously has a vast background in strength and conditioning, but as importantly he understands the technical and tactical aspects of the game. This will enable him to function in between the two schools of the football department.”
A born and bred Novocastrian, Jones played for Newcastle Rosebud and the Breakers and later served as Gary van Egmond’s assistant coach when the club won its only A-League title in 2007-08.
In 2010 Jones was moved on, but he returned in January following former owner Nathan Tinkler’s controversial sacking of Clayton Zane (assistant), Neil Young (goalkeeping coach) and Andrew Packer (strength and conditioning coach). Jones, along with fellow assistant James Pascoe, were credited with making the Jets more defensively sound and harder to break down in the final months of last season.
He is one of 12 FIFA fitness instructors worldwide, is an Asian Football Confederation elite conditioning instructor, and is Sportscode accredited. He is also currently completing his FFA Pro Diploma.
“I’m a Newcastle person, and for me I just want to help secure a better result for the team and a better outcome for the club,” Jones said of his appointment. “I have a responsibility to do the strength and conditioning, the video analysis and assist with the technical side of the delivery of the football program, but I will help in any way I can to ensure that we get a better result,” Jones said.
De Marigny has never worked directly with Jones, but has always admired his football brain.
‘‘I’ve known Jonesy a long time and he comes highly qualified and with really good credentials,’’ de Marigny said. ‘‘He’s a real student of the game, which is good because he’s always up-skilling himself.
‘‘I think he’ll be a massive addition for us and he knows the way of Australian football, as I do, and he obviously has a soft spot for Newcastle, his home town, and wants to do well here.
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/31...g-jets/?cs=306
Originally Posted by Grimario
