The Newcastle Jets are “quietly confident” of conquering the toughest road trip in the A-Leagues this weekend.

Both the women’s (ALW) and men’s (ALM) outfits travel to Western Australian for an important showdown with the Perth Glory at HBF Park on Sunday 22 October.

For Gary van Egmond’s girls, they’re aiming for two wins on the trot after accounting for the Central Coast Mariners 1-0 in round one.

A brilliant goal to Melina Ayres, following some fantastic individual work by Lara Gooch, proved to be the difference in the inaugural F3 Derby.

“We knew it was going to be a physical game, and an emotional one as well, since the Mariners were joining the competition in 2023/24,” van Egmond said.

“But, the players hung tough.

“They stayed in the fight until the end… and came away with the points.

“It was a great way to start the season, however we’re still a work in progress.”

Unfortunately, Newcastle will have do it without experienced campaigner Alex Huynh, who received a red card in the fiery clash.

Thankfully, the Jets boast a classy roster.

“I’m more than happy with the squad we’ve assembled,” van Egmond said.

“This will be another tough test for us.

“We’ll scout the opposition, have a look and see where we feel we can take advantage of Perth.

“Then they’ve obviously got some threats as well, so we’ll need to nullify them.”

Rob Stanton’s men kick off their campaign against a new-look Glory.

However, they’ll be missing a couple of key stars, with captain Brandon O’Neill suspended and striker Archie Goodwin injured.

So, the coach will rely heavily on the likes of stalwart Jason Hoffman, Carl Jenkinson, Dane Ingham and Jason Berthomier.

“We’re ready,” Stanton said.

“The 16 or 17 weeks we’ve been training has enabled us to prepare well and have a really good understanding of what the things we need to improve on and things we’re doing well.

“Changing our mentality and our attitude towards raising the bar, and maintaining those standards, are something we push for every day.

“Even though we haven’t beaten Perth over there since 2017 means nothing.

“Our main aim is to make the city of Newcastle proud of the team and believe in the boys.

“So, for me personally, that will be the most rewarding part about this journey.”

Matches begin from 5pm.

Liberty A-League Women’s

(Sunday 22 October, 5pm)

• Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Izzy Nino, 2. Josie Wilson, 3. Claudia Cicco, 4. Natasha Prior, 6. Cass Davis (c), 7. Gema Simon, 8. Rebecca Burrows, 9. Mindy Barbieri, 10. Libby Copus-Brown, 13. Lauren Allan, 14. Melina Ayres, 18. Sophie Hoban, 19. Bonnie Davies, 21. Kiara Rochaix, 22. Lorena Baumann, 23. Zoe Karapidis, 24. Milan Hammond, 25. Lara Gooch, 26. Josie Allan, 28. Emma Dundas
• Perth Glory squad: 1. Morgan Aquino, 3. Jessika Cowart, 4. Natasha Rigby (c), 7. Liz Anton, 8. Hana Lowry, 9. Millie Farrow, 10. Susan Phonsongkham, 11. Grace Jale, 12. Sofia Sakalis, 13. Sarah Cain, 14. Tia Stonehill, 17. Abbey Green, 18. Sadie Lawrence, 19. Izzy Foletta, 20. Quinley Quezada, 22. Claudia Mihocic, 23. Isobel Dalton, 24. Sally James, 25. Grace Johnston, 27. Georgia Cassidy (four to be omitted)

Isuzu UTE A-League Men’s

(Sunday 22 October, 7.45pm)

• Newcastle Jets squad: Carl Jenkinson, Jason Hoffman (c), Kosta Grozos, Mark Natta, Michael Weier, Dane Ingham, Trent Buhagiar, Daniel Stynes, Phillip Cancar, Daniel Wilmering, Lucas Mauragis, Clayton Taylor, Jason Berthomier, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, Ryan Scott, Thomas Aquilina, Lachlan Bayliss, Jacob Dowse, Justin Vidic, Callum Timmins
• Perth Glory squad: 1. Oli Sail, 2. Johnny Koutroumbis, 3. Jacob Muir, 5. Mark Beevers (co-c), 6. Aaron Mceneff, 7. Stefan Colakovski, 9. David Williams, 10. Salim Khelifi, 12. Luke Ivanovic, 13. Cameron Cook, 14. Riley Warland, 15. Aleksandar Susnjar, 17. Jarrod Carluccio, 19. Trent Ostler, 20. Giordano Colli, 22. Adam Taggart (co-c), 23. Daniel Bennie, 24. Oliver Bozanic, 29. Darryl Lachman, 77. Bruce Kamau

For more sports stories:

• Woolnough keen to make every post a winner
• Supercars not ruling out Newcastle return
• ALM: Stanton excited by Jets’ challenge

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