A year after finishing rock-bottom Newcastle Jets ended up contesting the Grand Final for the first time in 10 years, with the second spot at the end of the regular season bringing them their first post-season appearance in 8 years.
Appointing Erne Merrick in charge during the summer proved the right move for Jets and using his knowledge and connections he built a really strong team in Newcastle that showed great potential straight away after hammering their local rivals Mariners 5:1 in the season-opener. Jets went on to achieve 4 wins and 2 draws in the opening 6 rounds and even the horrific injury to the impressive Vargas in round 3 didn’t disrupt the displays much.
O’Donovan was leading the attack well, although he also had two long spells out, but the true engines in attack were the explosive wide players Nabbout and Petratos. The former played so well this campaign that after scoring the winner over Sydney FC in round 22 he was signed by one of the best Japanese clubs.
Jets tried to be aggressive and very entertaining to watch all campaign and even when they were losing they managed to score goals. However, three 2:2 draws and a shocking 2:3 home defeat against strugglers Phoenix between rounds 14 and 20 saw Jets losing touch with leaders Sydney and they had to settle for second place at the end of the regular season, with their last match before the play-offs another F3 derby against Mariners, which Jets won this time 8:2 to set new A-League record for largest win.
By the time it got to play-off time Jets were already without Nabbout, but Vargas was back fit and also McGree proved an inspiring January addition as it was his scorpion-kick in the semi-final vs. Melbourne City that turned the clash and saw Jets edging it 2:1.
Unfortunately for Jets they failed to repeat the same heroics a week later in the sold out Grand Final against Victory and after conceding inside 10 minutes they found it hard to respond, with the final score remaining 1:0 for the Royal Blues and leaving bitter taste in what was otherwise an excellent campaign for the Blue and Reds.
