Last season’s cellar-dwellers have undergone a major off-season clean-out with more than a dozen players leaving, along with coach Mark Jones.

Ernie Merrick has arrived with close to 250 games of Hyundai A-League coaching experience under his belt and has been charged with returning the glory days to McDonald Jones Stadium.

Ins and outs

Ins: Daniel Georgievski, Mario Shabow, Roy O’Donovan, Kosta Petratos, Glen Moss, Dimi Petratos, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Jake Adelson, Ronald Vargas.

Outs: Andrew Hoole, Iain Fyfe, Morten Nordstrand, Joel Allwright, Labinot Haliti, Ben Kennedy, Ma Lei Lei, Daniel Mullen, Prio Nielsen, Mateo Poljak, Tomislav Arcaba, Kristian Brymora, Aleksandr Kokko.

The burning questions

-Can Ronald Vargas provide the spark the Jets need to challenge for the finals?
-Will Roy O’Donovan remain a prolific Hyundai A-League goalscorer after his move up the F3?
-Can Nikolai Topor-Stanley help shore up a leaking Jets defence?

Lesson learnt from last season

Don’t let the wheels fall off: An Andrew Nabbout brace against Melbourne Victory took the Jets into the finals spots at the end of January and things looked rosy.
Instead, they capitulated, earning just two points in their last ten matches and not scoring at all from open play in the last six.

The road ahead

The F3 derbies are always highly anticipated and Newcastle open and close their season in that fashion, both times in Gosford, with the Jets’ home derby scheduled for round 15.

In the season’s first month, Newcastle host Perth Glory and Western Sydney while also paying a visit to Brisbane Roar.

Expected strengths

The Jets should certainly be better at the back than they were last season. The arrival of Nikolai Topor-Stanley – and his partnership in central defence with Nigel Boogaard – will be key to that, as will other new additions Glen Moss, Daniel Georgievski and Jake Adelson.

Potential weakness

The only out-and-out strikers in the squad are Roy O’Donovan and the unproven Kosta Petratos and while Vargas looks to be a potentially superb signing, time is short to integrate him effectively before the season starts.
If last season’s top-scorer Andrew Nabbout fails to fire and O’Donovan doesn’t score the goals, who does?

Tactical approach

There’s no secret about the way Ernie Merrick encourages his teams to play. He likes possession-based, front-half football with players creating as many opportunities as possible and midfielders getting into goalscoring positions. Sturdy defence isn’t always as highly treasured though.

Breakout star

Steven Ugarkovic: The talented midfielder started 24 of Newcastle’s 27 games last season and won the club’s
Player of the Year award. He scored just one goal, but it was a cracker against Brisbane, and the 23-year-old is set to take his game to another level in what is a big season for him in the Jets engine-room.

Best-case scenario

Simple, really – a return to finals football for long-suffering Jets fans, who have been starved of post-season action since 2009/10.

Read more at http://www.a-league.com.au/article/hyundai-a-league-season-preview-newcastle-jets/1t8clh3qw23nb1fpw8zhm085z3#cmiB204g7yMMyPz3.99

The Jets give a bit of excitement  so it would be good for them to get into the six this year. Unfortunately, I don't think they'll make it.

I think its possible for a top 4 finish.

If things go right I think they could sneak anywhere from 4th to 6th, could very easily go very wrong though. 

To be honest they haven't really lost any key players. Starting 11 yes, but last season poljak, hoole, nordtsrand, Mullen etc didn't overly add too much.

From that note I think they are in a fantastic position as Vargas, o'donovan, topor, petratos, georgevski etc are all proven (with the exception of Vargas - who looks fantastic on paper) - only way is up.

Good luck to them, I think they've recruited really well.

I think the weak link might be Ernie himself tbh

I would disagree with your assessment that Poljak & Hoole didn't add too much last season. 

I do agree that on paper our recruitment looks good. Definitely better looking than most offseasons in the last 9 or so years. 

They have to make the top 6, I can think of two Scotsman that'll be on the dole queue if they fail, thankfully they still have Wellington to weigh down 10th spot, so only need to beat 3 other teams, doable I reckon.

Recon a 6 place finish on the cards. 

More for the fact that I think a few other teams with struggle more like brisbane, adelaide, phoenix. Might be between ccm and jets for the last finals spot. 

8-10. 

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