The Newcastle Herald understands Elsey joined midfielder Angus Thurgate as a loss for Sunday's defeat to a 10-man Bulls line-up at Campbelltown Sports Stadium after a positive to the rapid antigen test. Thurgate, and back-up keeper Noah James, were already out after testing positive for COVID-19 early in the week. Thurgate will not return until his 14-day isolation is complete next Monday.

However, it was not known if a further test had confirmed that Elsey had COVID-19. If it does, Elsey will miss the Wanderers clash and the following home game against Melbourne City on New Year's Day.

Jets coach Arthur Papas indicated why Elsey was absent for Sunday's round five defeat when he said post-game that "we were missing a couple of other players who started last week due to COVID". Thurgate was the only other starter from the 4-0 win over Wellington who didn't back up. Newcastle felt the loss of Elsey, who has been one of their best in defence over the opening rounds.

The Jets started well and had the unbeaten ladder leaders a man down in the 18^th minute when keeper Filip Kurto was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Valentino Yuel. Beqa Mikeltadze put the Jets ahead with a quality free-kick into the top-right corner in the 35^th minute.

Newcastle's defence, though, was exposed in the 48^th minute when Danny De Silva volleyed in a cross uncontested. De Silva then set up the winner in the 84^th minute, finding James Meredith for the back-post header with his free-kick.

It was an opportunity lost for the Jets, who were brilliant in their first win of the season the previous week against Wellington at home.

Regardless of the COVID-19 disruptions, Papas said the performance was unacceptable ahead of a return to McDonald Jones Stadium on Boxing Day.

"I thought the first 35 minutes were very good, score a very good goal, obviously they are down to 10 men," Papas said.

"I thought we probably lost the second half in the last 10 minutes of the first half. We became really sloppy.

"We did a lot of things that we don't normally do, that we don't normally work on and ultimately we came out the same way in the second half.

"Ultimately that's my responsibility and I've got to solve that as well with the group. But it's not acceptable, that performance.

"Credit to [Macarthur], they showed a lot of commitment and belief and they capitalised on situations that we could have done a lot better in.

"Structurally, for the first goal, it was completely off from what we need from a principle level and it was very poor defending on the second goal as well. So there's a lot of lessons in there."

Another loss for the Wanderers game could be Dylan Murnane, who limped off with a leg injury inside the first 15 minutes on Sunday.

Papas indicated Murnane may have carried the problem into the match. The left-back scored in his starting debut for the club against Wellington a week earlier after an injury-marred beginning at the Jets.

"It's been an interrupted week and he was part of that interrupted week," Papas said.

"So right or wrong decision from myself to play him possibly as well comes into it.

"We don't know yet what the situation is. I don't think it's too bad but we'll see. We'll go through our process and hopefully it's not."

The defeat leaves Newcastle sixth on five points, alongside Sydney and Wanderers.

The rebuilt Jets had shown glimpses of attacking brilliance but defensive frailties while implementing Papas' up-tempo style before the rout of Phoenix.

The performance against Macarthur again raised questions about the Newcastle defence as they prepare for a shot at redemption against Western Sydney. The Jets dominated the opening half-hour against Wanderers in round two but conceded goals either side of half-time in a 2-2 draw.

"I don't consider them to be teething issues," Papas said on Sunday.

"I consider that we just weren't good enough for the majority of the match and that's why we paid the price and dropped three points that were very important points for us.

"More importantly, it showed a side that we need to work on to be winners. And to be champions, you do it under any circumstance and today was an opportunity for that and we let ourselves down.

"When it works last week, we praised it, and then all of a sudden it doesn't come off today.

"There were different conditions. They defended very differently as well. We lacked a lot of intention and we weren't getting the ball in areas where we can't hurt them and we weren't running forward enough.

"So we had enough of the ball but we didn't do enough with it, so it's blunt and that's not what we are about so we'll revisit it and we'll fix it."

As for the COVID-hit preparations, Papas was making no excuses.

"We lost, not because of the disruptions, we lost because we didn't concentrate enough, we weren't disciplined enough and we weren't ruthless enough to finish the game at 1-0," he said.

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