Both have four points to be six points adrift of the top four as the W-League reaches round eight of a 14-round season. Newcastle have played six games, one less than City, and need to make their move if they want to be in the mix for finals.

"We have a really good bunch of girls, that's why I guess it's so disappointing and it's so hard to take when we're not doing well," Simon said.

"We have the potential to do really well. We just have to do it on the field on the day. If people came and watched us train, we train really well. We do all of the little things here.

"But it doesn't really matter what we do during the week. It just matters if we can do it on game day."

It was a game of two halves for the Jets as they reached their season midpoint with a 4-2 loss to Victory in Melbourne on Sunday. The damage was done in a "disappointing" first half with Newcastle down 3-0 at the break.

"We just have to be accountable for our performance and respond better this weekend," Simon said. "A positive was we came back a bit better in the second half and scored some goals. But, overall, we just need to be better from the start.

"If we did that from the start it would be a very different game ... it's as though we've gotten to a point where we start to play when we're out of the game already. We just need to play with that mentality from the start and back ourselves."

The Jets fly to Melbourne on Friday ahead of Saturday's game, which has been moved from Frank Holohan Reserve to CB Smith Reserve. They return home to face Victory again at No.2 Sportsground on February 20 and Simon said the focus this week had been getting "back to basics".

"We need to be better in a lot of areas, but there's no reason why we can't be," Simon said. "We've showed in the games we've played this season that we have it in our arsenal, we just need to pull it out when we need it.

"City have been quite inconsistent with their season, as we have, so I think it will be a good match-up and I guess whoever wants it more on the day will get it this weekend."

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