2 weeks Ago By Josh Callinan
KOSTA Grozos admits he felt shocked when first given the captain's armband six months ago. Login or signup to continue reading Now he's eyeing a second season leading the Newcastle Jets. Grozos, 24, remains contracted at the A-League club for 2025-2026 with a replacement for outgoing men's coach Rob Stanton not yet officially announced.
"Of course I'd love to have that [captaincy] next year, but that's not up to me," Grozos said ahead of training at Maitland Sportsground on Wednesday. "All I can do is just focus on my football and whoever comes in hopefully sees what other people can see." Grozos and his troops are now officially out of finals contention, following the weekend's narrow loss , but a different type of challenge awaits over the closing two rounds against Western Sydney (home, April 26) and Melbourne Victory (away, May 4) The Jets find themselves sitting ninth on the competition ladder, one rung above the cutline for Australia Cup play-offs.
Newcastle's 29 points, already one better than last campaign, could already be enough to see them avoid a trip to Darwin next month. A win or two draws guarantee that scenario, one point helps their cause while no results will keep the door slightly ajar for both Central Coast (10 th , 26) and Wellington (11 th , 24). The Mariners, with just the one fixture remaining against Brisbane in the last round, can at best level the Jets and would also need to overhaul a goal-difference margin of 21.
The Phoenix, on the other hand, presents a more genuine case for leapfrogging Newcastle if they post back-to-back wins against bottom sides Brisbane (15, 12th) and Perth (14, 13th). "We're not thinking about that," Grozos said. Grozos reflected on the finality of Sunday's 3-2 defeat by Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium but also trying to set a new points benchmark at the Jets since arriving from upcoming opponents Wanderers in 2021-2022.
Newcastle led 2-0 midway through the first half over Easter only to concede three unanswered goals, meaning they could no longer mathematically reach the top six. "Obviously it's disappointing that we can't make the six [anymore this season]," he said. "But I think we've tied now for the most points for as long as I've been here.
Looking forward to these two games and knowing we can beat that and beat it by quite a bit." The Jets last qualified for play-offs when hosting the title decider in 2017-2018, also the club's best ladder result (2nd) and points accumulation (50) most recently. Between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024, Newcastle have ranked anywhere from seventh (35 points) to 11 th (21 points).
They have hovered around the same mark across 2021-2022 (29 points), 2022-2023 (29 points), 2023-2024 (28 points) and now the almost completed 2024-2025 (29 points). "It's been an up and down campaign, but more so up," Grozos said. "We've been playing well and I think the group has gelled together.
" The Jets went down to Saturday's rivals Wanderers 4-1 at CommBank Stadium on November 8, the only time they have met so far during this campaign. Meanwhile, former Jets striker Archie Goodwin remains tied in the A-League's golden-boot race alongside Sydney FC's Adrian Segecic on 13 goals. Both teams sit on 37 competition points, either side of the top six.
Adelaide, who had a 1-all draw with Roar in Brisbane on Tuesday night, and the Sky Blues each face second-ranked Melbourne City on the run home. Sydney FC, with an extra game left to play, also tackles Western United on April 27. My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald.
I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury. My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald. I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury.
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