Three games into the 2022-23 A-League Women's season and a new-look Jets are showing plenty of promise.
Four American imports - Sarah Griffith, Murphy Agnew, Emily Garnier and Cannon Clough - are already proving quality additions.
Their connections with home-grown talent are building and the Jets produced some passages of sheer attacking brilliance against Perth in a 2-2 draw at No.2 Sportsground on Saturday.
They have, however, leaked what coach Ash Wilson has described as "cheap goals" in all three games so far and must produce a no-mistakes defensive effort in a test of their top-four credentials against competition heavyweights Melbourne City this Saturday.
It is the first of back-to-back Melbourne trips in rounds four and five and there will be no room for error against a team who showed just how clinical they could be in a 3-0 win over Brisbane on Saturday.
"Some of the football was really nice," Wilson said after the Perth game.
"But pretty football doesn't get you points if you can't turn it into goals and then also protect your own goals. They're things we're still building. It's three games in.
"There's 12 new players but the connections that they're forming are coming along well. It's just about us continuing to build on that.
"You've got some positive signs but we need to turn them into results because we want to be up there around the top for as long as we can. We don't want to be waiting for results."
The Jets are fifth with four points while second-placed City are unbeaten on six points from two starts.
A victory against the four-time championship winners would not only be important points-wise, it would also be history-making.
The Jets have never beaten City in 11 encounters, and only once have they drawn.
Newcastle captain Cassidy Davis knows they will need to be at the top of their game to change that statistic but believes the group has the potential.
"This year everyone is super confident and has that belief and you can see it in everything we do," Davis said.
"We were down [twice against Perth] but always knew that we could push and we have people who can score goals and who can pull us out of those hard moments ... [but] we need to go back on the training pitch this week and fix those things that hurt us."
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