"Some players bring composure," Jurman said. "There are some skilful players as well. Speed. Some in the front third do things that are unpredictable. There are all sorts of things that, as a team, we like to have. I'd much rather have them going for us that against us."

A new-look Newcastle Jets open their campaign against Adelaide United in the Australian Cup round of 32 at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.

The Jets have welcomed eight players through the door for the second season under coach Arthur Papas.

At least three, defensive midfielder Brandon O'Neill and flyer Trent Buhagiar and Jaushua Sotirio are expected to feature against Adelaide.

"We have brought in some good players and I'm confident that we can get everyone on the same page very quickly and move in the direction we want to be," Jurman said.

"Trent and Jaush have speed to burn and we need to use that to our advantage. It's about putting them in the right positions to score goals.

"It is difficult to be at your peak levels this early in the pre-season. We have trained really hard from day one. We are not where we want to be but we are on the way there.

"We played some nice football last year. We want to do that and get results this year."

Buhagiar joined the Jets from Sydney FC, where he won a championship.

The 24-year-old netted five goals in 21 A-League appearances last season, including one against Adelaide, and has settled in quickly at his new home.

"I feel like I fit into the system well," Buhagiar said. "It is an attacking style of play and I'm an attacking player. I like to get in behind and use my pace. I saw what Arthur did with players last season. Everyone got better under him and hopefully I can as well."

Asked if he had struck up any partnerships, Buhagiar said: "I have been working well with Gus Thurgate. He has been threading balls in behind and all that kind of stuff. Beka Mikeltadze as well. Everyone has been working well."

READ MORE: JETS RECRUIT LURED BY CLUB'S VISION

READ MORE: JETS HAVE ALL GUNS BLAZING

READ MORE: MIKELTADZE IN GOOD SPACE AS JETS TAKE OFF

The Jets have a horrendous record in the Australia Cup, formerly the FFA Cup.

They missed out on the main draw last season after a controversial 2-1 loss to Western United in a qualifier. They have only progressed to the quarter-finals once, going down 1-0 to Adelaide in 2019 after playing 80 minutes with 10 men.

"Last year was disappointing," Jurman said. "This year, we want to go further and win it. That is the belief in our team.

"Adelaide have a good team, a lot of young players, and dangerous players as well.

"It will come down to fitness. We back ourselves to be the fittest in the league. Training is only three weeks old but but we still back ourselves to be able run over teams."

Adelaide will field a settled line-up with only a couple of new arrivals.

"We've got the new boys that have come in in Harry (Van der Saag) and Ben (Warland), they've done quite well," coach Carl Veart said. "But overall, the whole playing group have worked extremely hard these first three weeks and they're just looking forward to getting g game under their belt.

"It's a difficult one (facing the Jets). We don't know anything really about them. They've brought in a lot of new players this year, so we're not sure they'll play the same style they did last year. But we've got our style we've played over the last two years and we'll keep playing that same way.

"I think we've retained 90% of last season's squad, and we've added a couple of players into the squad to strengthen... we're very happy with the way the squad is developing at the moment."

Jets (possible): Michael Weir; Jason Hoffman, Matt Jurman, Jordan Elsey, James McGarry; Brandon O'Neill, Angus Thurgate, Kosta Grozos; Trent Buhagiar, Beka Mikeltadze.

MORE IN SPORT:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: