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They say change is as good as a holiday and Jets coach Ash Wilson is looking forward to a string of fresh opponents over the next four W-League rounds, starting with Adelaide in Newcastle on Friday night.
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The national women's football competition has been running since 2008 but is yet to expand to a full home-and-away league.
It means teams play half of their rivals twice and the rest once with just 12 games to state a case for a place in the finals.
The global coronavirus pandemic has also played its part this year. Brisbane, Perth and the Melbourne teams have all been affected by border closures and lockdowns which have caused a number of last-minute fixture changes.
So far the Jets have played league leaders Sydney (21 points), third-placed Melbourne Victory (13) and sixth-placed Western Sydney (seven) all twice. Their other opponent was second-placed Brisbane (19), who are unbeaten. Newcastle face the Roar again in the final round.
"You can't say that any team is easy," Wilson said. "The competition needs to go to full rounds. If it's actually going to be really reflective of the top four of teams that are consistent against all teams, it does.
"Obviously, this year's different and crazy with COVID. We've just been thankful that we've been able to get games and they've been against the same teams and those teams have been great teams. All of the teams we've played that are doing well have managed to retain their same squad and added with a little bit of quality in some aspects.
"So, I can sit here and say we've been hard done by because we've had to play those teams, but I will probably just keep reinforcing for the league to move and progress to where it needs to go we need to have a full home-and-away series."
After seven outings, Newcastle are seventh with just four points and face a Herculean, but not mathematically impossible, effort to reach the top four.
They are nine points adrift of round-10 opponents Adelaide, who are fourth with 13 points. The Jets then meet fifth-placed Canberra (11 points), eighth-placed Melbourne City (four) and last-placed Perth (one).
"We've been beaten a couple of times by top-four teams and that Brisbane game [a 1-1 draw in round three] has probably come back to haunt us a little bit because I thought we did really well in that game," Wilson said.
"You win that game then things are a little bit different. Then you look forward to a run home against some different teams ... it's a different ball game maybe."
Although "really disappointed" with a 2-0 loss to Victory last round, the Jets were positive as they looked to Adelaide.
"The good thing about this group is that they're not one to dwell on things for long periods of time," Wilson said
"They're going to come back into training. They're going to be professional about what they do. They're going to make sure they do everything they can to keep getting results to finish in the best possible position they can this year."
Newcastle host Adelaide at No.2 Sportsground on Friday. Kick-off is 6.05pm.
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