If the Newcastle Jets can beat Wellington Phoenix at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday, it will mark the first time in their A-League history that they have opened a campaigns with back-to-back victories.

I guess what it highlights is that since the A-League kicked off in 2005-6, successful seasons have been few and far between for Newcastle.

They qualified for the play-offs at their first three attempts, culminating in their memorable grand final victory against arch-rivals Central Coast in 2007-08.

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In the 14 completed seasons since then, only twice have they featured in the post-season, in 2009-10, when they finished sixth in a 10-team competition, and in 2017-18, when they proceeded to host the grand final, only to lose 1-0 to Melbourne Victory after a notorious video-referee howler.

In amongst all that have been more wooden spoons, sacked coaches and changes of ownership than their long-suffering supporters would care to remember.

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At regular intervals over the past 17 years, the club has performed an uncanny impersonation of a basket case.

One feat the Jets have never achieved in all that time is to launch a season in a blaze of glory.

The closest they have come was under Ernie Merrick in 2017-18, when they hammered the Mariners 5-1 at Gosford in round one, and proceeded to post three wins and two draws from their first five games.

They not only kicked on from that to reach the business end of proceedings but also captured the imagination of the Novocastrian faithful in the process.

At the time, their NRL counterparts, the Knights, were at their lowest ebb, having finished in the competition cellar in three consecutive seasons.

History tells us that, the more games the Jets won, the more supporters started clamouring aboard the bandwagon.

A mid-season crowd of 18,156 cheered them on to a 2-1 win against defending champions Sydney FC.

A home semi-final against Melbourne City attracted a 19,131-strong turnout.

And when Newcastle won that to secure hosting rights for the championships decider, the "full house" signs went up early in the week and it was ultimately attended by 29,410 spectators.

To put that in context, not since 2011 have the Knights drawn a bigger crowd.

It was a similar story in seasons two and three of the A-League, when interest snowballed as the play-offs loomed and Newcastle posted crowds of 19,601, 21,122, 24,338 and 22,960, and then in 2010, when 23,317 queued at the turnstiles to watch the Jets beat David Beckham's LA Galaxy 2-1.

Compare that to the past two COVID-interrupted seasons, and it makes for sorry reading.

In 2020-21, Newcastle averaged just 4056 fans per home game. Last season that improved slightly, to 4843.

Attendance numbers across the A-League, in general, have nosedived alarmingly in the past few years, but perhaps the point I'm trying to make is that if the Jets are ever to reverse a worrying trend, there is no time like the present.

It's easier said than done, of course, but it strikes me that now is as good as moment as any for the Jets to re-engage with a fickle fan base.

Let's face it, Novocastrians are crying out for a team of which they can be proud.

The Knights' premiership-winning NRLW side highlighted that communal yearning earlier this month. People who had never shown any interest in women's rugby league were suddenly cheering them on in a grand final.

It was a reminder that everyone loves a winner, especially in a parochial city which has been starved of success for far too long.

Adding to the high stakes is the fact that the Jets have, for almost two years, been bankrolled by their fellow A-League clubs, since former owner Martin Lee was stripped of his franchise licence.

The plan is to find a new owner, or owners, capable of funding the club for years to come, but despite speculation about promising developments behind the scenes, nothing tangible has yet transpired.

How much longer this arrangement can continue is anyone's guess.

But suffice to say, the people paying the Jets' bills have other priorities, namely their own clubs, all of whom have presumably been feeling the pinch financially in recent seasons.

The sooner they can find a buyer for the Jets, the better for all concerned.

A high-flying team drawing big crowds and challenging for the silverware would appear a more attractive commodity than also-rans playing in a sparsely patronised stadium.

And that brings me back to Saturday's clash with Wellington at Turton Road.

It's still early doors, and anything can happen over the course of a 26-round season. Come grand final day, results in October will have been forgotten by most.

But make no mistake, this is a huge game for the Jets.

It's a chance to make a statement, not only to their fans and rival teams, but also to themselves.

Two wins in a row is not much of a club record, but it's a step in the right direction.

The fans are out there. They just need a reason to believe, and the only way the Jets can provide that is by winning games.

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