Captain Cassidy Davis maintains it's business as usual as the Newcastle Jets attempt to achieve something they haven't in over six years - beat champions Sydney FC - in the wake of a coaching disruption.
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In fact, the long-serving Jets midfielder believes the timing could not better with the Sky Blues coming off a 2-1 loss to a 10-player Central Coast midweek.
The A-League Women's game at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday (6pm) will be Ryan Campbell's first in charge after championship-winning A-League coach Gary van Egmond left the Jets on Monday to take up a position with the Chinese Football Association.
Campbell is the fifth coach Davis has played under in 11 A-League seasons at the club.
"The group is fine," Davis said ahead of the round-13 clash.
"Obviously, there's a bit that's happened but I think we're pretty used to that. It's kind of how football works and it's happened before to us, and it's just business as usual. These are just things that you have to move on from. We've got a task, and that's to win games."
Newcastle, who are seventh but caught in a three-way tussle for fifth spot on 17 points, could consolidate a place in the top six with their first victory over third-placed Sydney (19) since November 2017.
The Jets have not beaten Sydney in their past 11 outings and conceded a late goal to lose 1-0 in round seven on December 10, but they are undefeated in their past three matches and riding high after an important 2-1 win against Brisbane.
Davis, however, believes the Sky Blues will be licking their wounds after losing on Wednesday night.
"I think they'd be pretty down about that, to be honest," Davis said.
"Having both the Mariners keepers go off and knowing that you've got a field player in goals and you could probably get a win out of this with still time to go then conceding a penalty, I think they'll be pretty deflated."
Campbell, who has a full complement of players to choose from, echoed the sentiment and believed the Jets were primed to record back-to-back wins for the first time since February 2019.
"As champions, you'd expect whenever they lose a game to come out firing because that's what you do when you're used to winning," Campbell said.
"It's not something that's normal to lose games, but I also feel like we've got that same belief at the moment ... they know if they play well they can beat anyone in the competition."
