HIRED gun Abdiel Arroyo is back to full pace and barring a mishap will make his A-League debut for the Jets in the F3 derby against Central Coast Mariners at Gosford on Saturday night.
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The powerhouse striker trained strongly on Monday and showed no ill effects of a hamstring strain which forced him out of the Panama squad for a CONACAF Nation's League match with Mexico on Wednesday.
Jets coach Ernie Merrick confirmed that the 25-year-old was on track for Saturday's season opener but it's unclear if he will start or be used off the bench.
Regardless, Merrick is expecting goals from the Central American and the other players in the front four.
"Central strikers are finishers," Merrick said. "I don't want him doing what a wider player would do - beating the fullback, turn him inside-out etc. I'm sure he could do it. His main job is to get in the right areas quickly at the right time and make sure he gets on the end of things and puts them on target.
"I expect the front four all to score goals, preferably in double figures. End of story. If they don't score goals or at least get in goal-scoring positions or set up goals they will struggle to stay in the team."
With Dimi Petratos on Socceroos duty in Chinese Taipei and Johnny Koutroumbis is in Qatar at an Olyroos training camp, the Jets won't have a team run until Thursday.
Arroyo is not the only Jet in line for an A-League debut against Newcastle's fierce rivals, who opened their campaign with an unlucky 2-1 loss to Western Sydney.
Northern Ireland under-21 international Bobby Burns is the front runner to start at left back.
"It is difficult with a couple of players away with the national teams. I'm not sure what the team will be," Burns said. "I will just try my best at training this week and see what happens."
Burns has played opposite Arroyo at training and has no doubts the athletic front man will be a handful for the Mariners defence.
"He is very, very quick," Burns said. "I'm glad we will be able to stop chasing him once the games start. It has been difficult in training games. Hopefully he can stay injury free. He is learning the language now and is starting to integrate with the group."
Burns is on loan at the Jets from Scottish Premier League Hearts and started his pre-season on June 11.
"I'm not nervous, just really excited," Burns said. "It has been a long pre-season. Obviously, I came into it towards the end of the games. We did really well against Sydney (nil-all) and deserved to win. We had a couple of really good chances and a penalty. We had a good result against the Australian under-20s. I think we are well prepared.
"I'm living by myself and watched nearly every game [in the first round]. The style is quite different to the UK. I'm trying to watch as much as I can and ask questions of the coaches. I'm watching the players and what different wingers there are in the league. I was impressed by all the teams. The standard looks good."
Although new to Australia, Burns, 20, is no stranger to derbies.
"The Edinburgh derby - Hearts versus Hibs - is a big derby," he said. "I got the opportunity to play in it last year which was class. There were about 25,000 there. Brilliant atmosphere. We were 1-0 up and everything was going well but in the end we lost 2-1. It is a totally different game, a derby. There is much more on the line than just three points.
"With the Mariners losing on the weekend, we are level on points and it's a good opportunity to start the season off and get ourselves above them. It would be good for our fans as much as the players."
