The Newcastle Jets begin the defence of their first-ever Premiers Plate against old enemies, the Central Coast Mariners, on the road this Saturday, and for the first time in a long time, Newy is the hunted.
Things begin at Polytec Stadium at 7.40pm on Saturday 17 October, an F3 Derby to christen the new season for the second year running. Last year’s version finished 3-2 to the Mariners with the last kick of the game, but it started a story that ended 25 rounds later with the Jets blowing Central Coast away 4–0 and lifting the Premiers Plate in front of 20,930 at home at McDonald Jones Stadium.
So, what should the gold and navy fans expect from the sequel, and beyond? A very different-looking squad, for one, as well as a far lumpier draw, and a hard-earned Asian Champions League adventure that’s been rocky already, and a target on Newcastle’s back that hasn’t been there since 2018.
Before we tuck into what 2026-27 holds, it’s worth just looking back at the season that was through 2025 and 2026, because it truly was a special run.
Mark Milligan’s first season in charge was special, to put it simply. He delivered on promises to challenge for silverware immediately, guiding the club to a first Australia Cup victory, lifted in Melbourne in October 2025, and then continued that success with a maiden Premiers Plate off 15 wins and 48 points.
Through all this, crowds poured back in at McDonald Jones Stadium, and Novocastrians tuned in to 10Play and Paramount Plus to watch the revived Jets battle at the pointy end of the season. Milligan, as well as young guns Eli Adams and Daniel Wilmering, were big winners at the A-League awards, too.
Then came the heartbreak. Over 25,000 at Newcastle’s home stadium on 16 May when Adams dragged the semi-final second leg against Sydney to extra time with a spectacular 96th-minute equaliser, only for Harrison Devenish-Meares to deny Kosta Grozos and Xavier Bertoncello in the 2–4 shootout.
The treble dream died minutes from the big dance (which Auckland FC then ended up winning over Sydney anyway, in a gritty 1–0 battle the very next weekend).
That’s where we end up on the eve of the next campaign: a premiership, a cup, and the most painful finals loss at home since 2018’s VAR-stained decider.
There’s been an exodus
Unfortunately, success can be brutally expensive in the A-League, and the offseason kept the heartbreak rolling. Newcastle has spent the last few months flagging major departures, including Clayton Taylor (who scored eleven goals last season), Lachlan Bayliss, Mark Natta, Kota Mizunuma, and Ben Gibson.
There were others that hurt even more, too, including captain Kosta Grozos — who has since been replaced as skipper by Max Burgess — joining Macarthur and Eli Adams, the breakout star of the year, taking up a deal with J1 League heavyweights Gamba Osaka to try his hand in Japan’s top league.
And Lachie Rose, the cult hero who often led the Jets line through the season, has moved to the Scottish Premiership to play for Dundee United.
The departures are so sweeping that eight of the 18 players in the semi-final squad that lost to Sydney won’t be in Gosford on Saturday. Exodus indeed.
The new-look squad
Milligan has plenty of new A-League troops to call on, though — it may just take some time for the Novocastrian squadrons to fall in love with them.
Three have come from Sydney FC, including the winter’s headline arrival: winger Joe Lolley, who has signed a two-year deal. He’s followed by striker Patrick Wood and experienced centre-back Alex Grant. Greek striker Nikos Vergos has also arrived from Melbourne Victory, as has Zane Schreiber from Melbourne City.
Plenty to get excited about here. The Jets recruitment team must have been looking for experience to pile into a young squad, because that’s exactly what they’ve got. Lolley is the club’s biggest signing in almost a decade, a winger with Premier League miles at Huddersfield and 36 goals in 115 games for Sydney, and the Jets reportedly beat Perth Glory to his signature.
Elsewhere on the incoming list, Grant played 31 games in a Sydney side that reached an Asian Champions League Two semi-final last season. Vergos was on the scoresheet within a game of arriving, while Wood gives Milligan another body up front, and Schreiber adds midfield depth schooled at Melbourne City.
Some may say the squad has aged up a little, and that could be a bad thing, but adding proven winners and experienced heads to a young team is never bad.
There are still old faces at the club as well, ranging from James Delianov, Joe Shaughnessy, Daniel Wilmering, Joel Bertolissio, Will Dobson, Zach Clough, and local young gun Bertoncello, to Alex Badolato and Oscar Fryer, both of whom are back from the injuries that kept them out during the finals.
As noted, the armband has passed to Burgess, with Shaughnessy his deputy. (Burgess wore it plenty last season anyway, filling in while Grozos battled injury.)
Where the season could be won
The A-League draw is a puzzle this year, and a little harder than what Newcastle was handed in 25–26. It is more lopsided scheduling-wise, too, with a five-week mid-season break that could slow momentum somewhat.
The flip side is that it sets up a seven-game home stand from mid-January through to late February, and two of the three F3 Derbies at McDonald Jones (23 January and Anzac Day). Newcastle won seven of 13 at home last season. If the team defends the plate, that January-February block is where it happens.
Here are the first fixtures in the A-League (and ACL) to the break:
- Sat 17 Oct – Central Coast Mariners (A), Polytec Stadium – 7.40pm
- Sat 24 Oct – Macarthur FC (H), McDonald Jones Stadium – 3pm
- Tue 27 Oct – Kyoto Sanga (A), Japan – 10pm
- Sat 31 Oct – Wellington Phoenix (H), McDonald Jones Stadium – 3pm
- Tue 3 Nov – Shanghai Port (H) – 7.45pm
- Sat 7 Nov – Perth Glory (A), Perth – 9.45pm
So, what should we expect?
It’s going to be a bumpier ride than last year, and anyone promising otherwise hasn’t watched the Jets lately. The team’s Australia Cup defence has already ended in a dour “cupset,” and the AFC Champions League campaign has started 0–2, though Tuesday’s loss was a much better-looking outing.
A rebuilt squad juggling several competitions with a strange draw and every domestic opponent treating Newcastle as a scalp is not a recipe for 15 wins again.
But, it’s OK to keep believing. Milligan is still in charge, and he’s been insisting through the preseason that the standards which drove 25–26 won’t drop. Delianov, Shaughnessy, Wilmering, and Burgess are still around in the spine of the team, and hopefully the Newcastle crowds keep turning out in droves.
Expect the Jets to be more hunted and teams to aim up more against them now they know they’re threats. They’ll be occasionally bloodied, they’ll run rampant a few times, and they’ll very much stay in the finals picture.
First, though, Gosford on Saturday. A year ago, everyone was writing the Jets off, and that ended with two trophies. Don’t write them off this time either.
You can see Newcastle’s full A-League Men fixtures on the club website.
– Isaac McIntyre
