NEWCASTLE Jets coach Arthur Papas has no doubt his players will produce a special effort at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday night to ensure Jason Hoffman celebrates his record-breaking appearance for the club in style.
Newcastle's clash with Brisbane Roar will be Hoffman's 211th competition game for his home-town team - comprising 193 in the A-League, 11 in the Australia Cup (formerly FFA Cup), three in the Pre-Season Cup and four appearances in the Asian Champions League - taking him past Ben Kantarovski's benchmark.
The 33-year-old Mayfield United junior is one of the Jets' most popular clubman and Papas said his teammates have spoken about paying due respect.
"You're talking about someone who has grown up in Newcastle, started his career playing for the Jets, and has still got a lot left for sure," Papas said.
"He's the epitome of consistency and hard work ... so for me it's very important and the players are aware of that.
"They're aware of how important it is, and hopefully that provides that extra motivation to ensure that he has a memorable day and his family have a memorable day."
Papas said it was fitting that Hoffman would break the record on home turf, in front of family and friends.
The only remaining player from Newcastle's 2007-08 grand final triumph, Hoffman said in the pre-season he still believes "I've got a few more years left in the tank", and Papas agreed that was a realistic goal.
"All I know is that he's someone who looks after himself extremely well," Papas said. "Physically he's always at the top, still, of everything we do. It's incredible.
"That's because of the way he prepares and looks after himself and also the type of person he is. He's constantly wanting to get better and work hard.
"Ultimately that will be up to him to decide as time progresses, but right now he's consistently always among the best when it comes to physically the way we train and play, so why not?"
Meanwhile, Papas was reluctant to comment about the planned boycott at Friday night's match by Jets fans, who have indicated they will exit the stadium mid-game as a protest over the decision to stage the next three A-League grand finals in Sydney, rather than allowing the top qualifier to host it.
"First of all, your goal is to get your team into a grand final," Papas said.
"The second part is you want to play it in front of your home supporters. I think every player and coach would say the same thing.
"The third thing is that there are some things that you control and others that you don't, so I don't lose too much time thinking about it.
"All I think about, to be honest, is tomorrow night's game and making sure that we represent this community the right way."
Newcastle are coming off a hard-fought 2-1 victory against arch-rivals Central Coast in Gosford last weekend, which Papas said was a reward for their intensive training program during the World Cup hiatus.
"We worked extremely hard in the break," he said.
"We're definitely fitter and a lot clearer on some key structures.
"And that supports the group to be able to achieve outcomes like we had on Sunday."
Papas added that "there's still a lot of work to do," starting with the Roar, who sit 10th on the A-League points table.
A win could potentially lift the Jets as high as fourth.
"That game [against the Mariners] finished and tomorrow is a different proposition," Papas said.
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