Q&A with Newcastle Jets coach Ash Wilson ahead of the 2022-23 A-League Women

RV: How would you summarise last season?

AW: Roller coaster. Great start. Tough end. Some promising signs but obviously fell short of the mark, which was disappointing because the capacity to do more was there. There were a few things that worked against us but also some things that we're learning from that campaign moving forward.

RV: Last pre-season you talked a lot about no excuses and accountability. What has been the mantra this year?

AW: We've really come together as a group to work on different aspects of culture and have homed in on three trademarks behaviours, which are hard work, unity and resilience. That's the backbone of everything we've been doing in pre-season, on top of getting across messages of our style of play and different tactical information. But underpinning everything we do is who we are, and those three trademark behaviours really are our values in action and they reflect the town that we represent. That's the message this pre-season. This is who we are and this is who we represent and we need to make sure that we are that representation of them when we take the field every day.

RV: Have you done anything differently in pre-season?

AW: The way we're giving information has been different, just because of the resources and facilities we've had access to which has been a nice change. We've definitely done a few more things off the pitch around bonding, and getting people to not only work together and enjoy each other's company but also be vulnerable with each other and build that trust really quickly.

RV: There have been a number of personnel changes on your roster. What areas did you want to strengthen for this season?

AW: Both boxes. We really needed to tidy up our defence around the goals, but also around that middle third and on transition. We've had trouble scoring for a few seasons, so that's also an area for us - to be more clinical when we get those opportunities because we create enough.

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RV: How happy are you ahead of your first game with what you've seen in a short pre-season?

AW: I'm extremely happy. You can take what you want out of a pre-season. You won't really know until you start playing. The attitude and the work ethic of the girls has been exceptional. How they have connected and bonded together quickly has been amazing as well. We've still got lots of growth in us and I'm excited to see what they're going to do.

RV: What are you most excited about?

AW: They're a pretty tight group already. They understand the message about playing for the town. They're all here for the right reasons. When they're connecting on the field and moving the ball quickly, some of it looks really good. It's about that consistency.

RV: You have signed four Americans. What do they add?

AW: Each of them brings something different. The experience that they bring, you can't put a price on that. It lifts the players around them just to have girls who have had different experiences in other competitions, that have gone through that college system or have had experiences in other champions league competition or in the NWSL. That's invaluable. We've seen some really great things from our imports during pre-season and it gives others that belief that we've got something special here if we play to our potential.

RV: How important was it to also rely heavily on local talent?

AW: The way the competition is changing and more teams coming in, it's important to foster talent in your local area. You can use your local area, in terms of having people that really understand our town and want to play for the town with that pride and passion. There's a lot of growth that we can foster here and long term it's a great option and I'm excited to see what some of the girls can bring and how they take this opportunity.

RV: The competition has increased by four more games this year with the addition of Western United. How far does the league still have to grow?

AW: It gives more opportunities for more people to get more game time. You look at other competitions around the world and the amount of games that they are playing, particularly over in Europe. For us, to increase the amount of games gives more of our players that exposure at that level. If we're going to continue to develop for the next level, we need to have players who are getting that ongoing experience. That's probably the first part of it. Obviously, the expansion of the number of scholarship players that teams have to have provides a good platform for some of our young talent to come into elite environments and get that exposure while being supported. In terms of how far it has to go, obviously a full home-and-away season, which they're talking about for next year, would be the minimum that it needs to get to after 14 years. Does that then impact on a finals series? The men get top six. We have top four because of the number of teams. But, if you start to add in another team does that then give more teams the opportunity to play finals football. The extension is still posing problems for players that have to work and supplement their playing wage with a wage from an external occupation. The extension of the league potentially has an impact on some of those players that are still working two jobs. Even from a time perspective, when you look at the renumeration and what the minimum wage is. It's come leaps and bounds from where it was, but it's still not at the level where the girls can afford to only focus on football as their sole income. Down the line, hopefully that can be a reality.

RV: Tell us a little bit about your players and how they inspire you?

AW: Every day you've got people who work in various roles. They're working long hours during the day and some days we have double sessions, so a gym in the morning and training at night. I never hear any complaints. Some of them are coming with external stuff going on in their life but they don't complain. They understand why they're there and they understand what we want to achieve. Hard work, resilience, unity - they're the themes we've been really focusing on. They show that resilience every day when they come in from work. They show that hard work and they show that unity. It's mind-blowing to me sometimes just what some of them go through in a day then come in and how well they train.

RV: This is your third season as head coach. What have you learned so far?

AW: You pick up a lot of things along the way. It's been really positive this year just having [Jets Academy technical director] Gary [van Egmond] behind the scenes to bounce off as well. I've been lucky enough to be able to have conversations with [Jets men's coach] Arthur [Papas]. My clarity around what I want and how we want to play has definitely improved over the years. It's just continuing to build that knowledge base. As a coach, you're never going to know it all and it's really important to have those people that you can have conversations with. If you think that you know it all, you're never going to grow as a coach and I want to keep getting better all of the time.

RV: In terms of how you want the Jets to play, what do you hope fans will see?

AW: It's obviously about trying to score more goals than the other team. For us, the brand of football is always the one that's attacking minded, but we also recognise that we need to make it really difficult for teams to score as well. We've made some adjustments in certain ways we defend. We want to be aggressive with and without the ball. The way we try to play hopefully reflects the town. They're passionate. They're a hard-working town.

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