Jobe Wheelhouse is confident the Jets can break their hoodoo and secure a rare win against Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets captain Jobe Wheelhouse is confident the Jets can break their hoodoo and secure a rare win against Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday.
Since the start of the A-League, Newcastle have only notched one win from 10 attempts against the Glory in Perth, but Wheelhouse said he and his teammates are determined to set that record straight this weekend.
“We find it hard to travel to Perth and Wellington and get results, but that-s just another challenge for us,” Wheelhouse said.
“It-s said every year, but we-ve got to go over there and break the hoodoo and I think we-re definitely good enough to do that.”
While A-League Clubs have traditionally found it difficult to head over to Perth and return home with three points, Wheelhouse said the quality of the Glory as a football side had as much to do with that as any of the long distance travel factors.
“I don-t think you can put your finger on one thing, I think obviously the travel is quite hard,” he said.
“Mentally, we haven-t won there in a long time and even though you don-t like talking about it, stats are stats.
“They-re a really good side, in the last two years they-ve improved out of sight as a team and they-re probably one of the better teams in the competition and that-s why it-s very hard to win there.
“We-ll be going over two nights before, so we-ll be acclimatised and there-ll be no excuses.
“I think the main thing is mentally getting our head around the results in the past because we-re a better football side than they suggest and I think we can go over there and get the win.”
Now is as good a time as any for Newcastle to face the Glory in Perth, with the Jets sure to be full of confidence after getting off to their best start to an A-League season in the Club-s history.
“Three wins on the bounce is quite good. We went on a pretty good run last year in the middle of the year, but I don-t think we-ve started a season this well since I-ve been here, so it-s been good,” Wheelhouse said.
“I don-t think we-re anywhere near hitting our straps yet in terms of our passing game and keeping the ball but we-re showing glimpses of that.
“We-re getting the results even though we-re not playing our best and that-s the
sign of a good team.”
Josh Brillante, Connor Chapman, Jack Duncan, Mitch Oxborrow and Adam Taggart will all miss the Perth clash due to being away on Young Socceroos duty.
Wheelhouse said the Jets have enough depth within their squad to cover for any absentees.
“I-ve known Gary long enough now to know that he likes to tinker with things,” Wheelhouse said.
“If he thinks a certain player will come in and do a job for him, he-s not afraid to change the team. It-s worked so far, so you can-t really knock him for that.
“I think we-ve got a really good squad. If we-ve got injuries or suspensions we-ve got players that can come in and do a job straight away.
“Scott Neville has been out for a couple of weeks at right back and the two boys who have come in, Taylor Regan and Josh Brillante have done brilliantly.
“James Brown hasn-t even played a game yet so he-s going to be a big bonus for us as well.”
