Gary van Egmond has named an extended 18-man squad to take on Melbourne Heart.
Coach Gary van Egmond has today announced an extended 18-man squad ahead of the Newcastle Jets week 6 game against Melbourne Heart to be played at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.
The good news keeps coming this week for striker Marko Jesic who today was not only named in the Australian Under 23s squad but has also earned a recall to the squad this week.
“Marko has done well and for that he gets a recall,” van Egmond said.
After two games on the sideline due to injury, Brazilian striker Tiago Calvano has been included in the squad, alongside Ben Kantarovski who missed last week-s win against Perth Glory due to a calf injury.
“We have some good news in the fact that Tiago has got through the last two sessions and Ben got through today-s session,” the coach explained.
“It is great having Tiago and Ben back in the mix, they are quality players.”
Ruben Zadkovich was ruled out earlier in the week with a hamstring strain and Matthew Nash was ruled out today due to a groin strain. Both should be sidelined for just this week. Whilst the replacement for Zadkovich is uncertain, Jack Duncan will be the back-up goalkeeper for Saturday’s game.
“With Ruben out with have a few options,” he said.
“We can bring Ryan Griffiths a little more central with Ali Abbas on the left or we can play Marko and Labinot Haliti in there.
“Tomorrow we will have a closer look at the squad and make our final decision on the team.”
The Jets latest signing Michael Bridges will not make his return this week after picking up a virus.
“Bridgey is not feeling great at the moment and he has a bit of a flu and is run down,” van Egmond explained.
“He didn-t train today and he will give this weekend a miss but I am hopeful we will have him back on deck soon.”
The 18-man squad for Sunday-s game against Melbourne Heart is: Ben Kennedy, Taylor Regan, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Tiago Calvano, Ben Kantarovski, Kasey Wehrman, Jeremy Brockie, Tarek Elrich, Jobe Wheelhouse, Sung-Hwan Byun, Labinot Haliti, James Virgili, Marko Jesic, Ali Abbas, Ryan Griffiths, Francis Jeffers, Jacob Pepper and Jack Duncan.
