The Lowedown: Jets' heavy loss a cause for concern

I must confess I woke on Monday with an uneasy feeling the Jets had endured a nightmare on Sunday night, and the opening two-word paragraph from Robert Dillon's back-page story confirmed my fears.

"How embarrassing," he wrote, and everyone who has played the game at a decent level can recall just such an experience, while shaking their head and tut-tutting at the same time. It was embarrassing, painful, confidence-sapping, frustrating, very ugly at times, and a dozen other negative adjectives, but these days do happen. Perhaps last week's listless display against Sydney was more of an indicator, a precursor, if you like, to what might happen, sooner rather than later.

Newcastle were a clear second best in way too many departments on Sunday night, and Adelaide punished them. To be honest the Reds played well, no more, no less. Far from untouchable, or red-hot, as some pundits extolled, but hardly unplayable.

That in itself does not bode particularly well for the Jets, who travel to Perth this week, minus skipper Nigel Boogaard through suspension, and perhaps a few others through injury. The Glory, themselves coming off a 3-0 defeat to the Wanderers, will be ultra-keen to get straight back on track.

We often speak about fine lines in football, and as poor as the Jets were on the weekend, better concentration and application in some key moments could have made a difference.

Trailing 0-2 on 40 minutes is poor, and leaves you with a big assignment. Trailing 0-4, just five minutes later, leaves you the options of Mission: Impossible or damage control. The second half in a lot of ways can give a false impression, because the game is dead and buried already.

However you look at it, the Jets need some rejuvenation, both physically and mentally, urgently. Unfortunately they are not going to find salvation through depth in the roster, allowing some who have played almost every minute this season a chance to freshen.

Circumstances may have allowed a host of Hail Mary attacking substitutions in the second half on Sunday, but trying to play the top teams with ostensibly five or six naturally attacking-type players, over the course of 90 minutes, is fraught with danger. The Jets aren't good enough to do that for a sustained period.

What about a change in routine to freshen the mind? Well, waterskiing and surfing are out in these conditions, as is horseback riding. Golf? No. Bonding night out? Hmm, best left to other codes, methinks!

Ahh the joys of coaching.

Nothing fixes a struggling team like a victory. To achieve that may require some R & R for some key personnel. It's just a question of whether you do it drastically, all at once, as the suspension of Boogaard perhaps encourages, or invites, this weekend.

The Jets won't turn it around without their athleticism, mobility and energy returning to normal levels. The players are not machines.

At the moment the team appears to be making up the numbers, and struggled to do that on Sunday. The real concern is how will that change in coming seasons?

Forget Sunday for a moment. Most weeks Boogaard, Topor-Stanley, and Ugarkovic are close to their three best players. The latter has signed for the Wanderers for next season, and the central-defensive pairing are both beyond 35 years of age. Of the two, Topor-Stanley seems the more likely to go around again. Both may.

Point being, two or three of your most reliable may be gone before next season starts. Others have re-signed but can be questioned in terms of quality at this level.

Simple fact is the club needs investment, and a squad with more quality and better depth, to be truly competitive.

It's not rocket science.