A-League Women: Newcastle Jets looking for fresh start

Newcastle were thumped 5-1 on Saturday in Canberra - a fifth loss across their past six games - to sit 10^th on seven points from nine matches.

They have conceded 27 goals this season to easily have the worst defensive record in the league - 10 more goals let in than last-placed Wellington.

With the bye this weekend, Wilson gave her squad a break at the start of this week before returning to training on Thursday. She hoped the time away would help the team refresh ahead of their next game, against Western Sydney Wanderers away on January 28.

"We've been basically on since the start of pre-season with the schedule we've had," Wilson said.

"We have a couple of girls who will benefit from a bit of deloading and I think a lot will benefit from just a mental break as well.

"There's a lot of belief and positivity there but the results can sometimes take their toll, so sometimes getting away from the environment for a couple of days can help with the reset and getting people back more focused, and that's what I'm hoping."

The heavy loss to Canberra came despite Newcastle having more shots than the hosts, who scored twice off deflections in the lead-up to goals.

"It's a hard one, we've been in this situation a number of times this season so we're not going to sit here with rose-coloured glasses the whole time," Wilson said.

"In certain moments we needed to be better, but the second half we had 14 shots to four and we conceded three in that half, so if you're looking at the game on paper statistically, it was definitely a lot more even than what the scoreline showed.

"But again I think we conceded on the 15th minute and then just before the drinks break at the 25th. I don't think they got into our half much until they scored the third goal, which came from a turnover.

"It's a tough scoreline to cop and I think there were a lot of elements that you could argue it wasn't a 5-1 game. But at the same time, we need to be better in certain moments."

A plus for the Jets against Canberra was the return from injury of American attackers Sarah Griffith and Murphy Agnew, who had missed two games. Griffith played the second half, while Agnew got through half an hour.

"Obviously Sarah and Murph got injected back in and they've both pulled up quite well," Wilson said. "It was positive to be able to get good minutes into those two and some positive signs for the coming weeks."

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