JETS COACH STRUGGLING TO FIELD A TEAM
by Peter Kogoy 2/1/09
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24863530-5000940,00.html?from=public_rss
NEWCASTLE Jets are down to their bones with coach Gary van Egmond lucky to field 11 fit players against Wellington on Sunday.
There's no Jade North, James Holland, Marko Jesic, Spencer Prior or Dez Giraldi as the Jets' season of woe lurches from one crisis to another.
Van Egmond has also lost the services of Jason Hoffman, Ben Kennedy, Jason Naidovski and Noel Spencer to long-term injury.
The coach's week got off to the worst possible start when North, who at one point had agreed to terms with North Queensland Fury for next season, opted instead for South Korea in the K-League.
Holland, nurtured in his youth at Budgewoi before attending the Parramatta Eagles Academy, formerly aligned with Manchester United, is off to AZ Alkmaar in The Netherlands to further his football education.
As he's wanted by AZ by next Monday, he too has played his last game for Newcastle.
The desperate club then turned to Prior, 31, and Giraldi, 22, in the hope their arrival in the former steel city would plug holes both up front and down back.
The pair actually trained with the Jets on New Year's eve with the view to playing out the final month of the season in the Hunter and this year's Asian Champions League.
But it was a case of "thanks for coming, but no thanks".
The Jets did a u-turn. Not even a call to director of football Remo Nogarotto, whom The Australian tracked down to a hotel in Rome, could shed any light on why the club got cold feet with the pair.
Prior hadn't played a competitive game of football since leaving English Championship club Southend United more than 18 months ago.
He had started pre-season training in late November with NSW premier league club Manly, but as an assistant coach to Phil Moss.
Prior's previous stops before settling in Australia included Norwich, Manchester City, Leicester, Derby County and Cardiff.
Giraldi had just come off a short spell at Sydney FC as an injury replacement for Brendon Santalab, having previously played for John Kosmina at Adelaide United.
Hoffman, Kennedy, Naidovski and Spencer all succumbed to season-ending knee or ankle injuries. Jesic is scheduled to see a knee specialist on Monday, but the early signs are that he has torn cartilage and will be out for six weeks.
Van Egmond has handed the captain's armband, previously worn by North, to Joel Griffiths.
The Newcastle mentor will be hoping Griffiths goes better than the last occasion he ran out against Phoenix when he was handed a two-match suspension for kicking Wellington defender Karl Dodd in an act of petulance.
The loss of key players either to overseas transfers or to long-term injury opens the door for van Egmond to blood the very talented Kaz Patafta, Shaun Ontong and Antun Kovacic
you should be a designer celery.
