The Wellington Phoenix will have the chance to go four matches unbeaten on Friday night.
Looking to secure a third away win in a row, the Nix will take on the Newcastle Jets to open round 14 of the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Head coach Giancarlo Italiano was delighted with last week’s 2-0 victory over title-chasing Sydney FC, but has his focus squarely on the upcoming contest.
“I don’t really give it too much context,” he told media pre-match.
“The league is so close that if you go into a game thinking that you’re in a good position, that can actually hinder you.
“This league is so complex, you can’t take anything for granted. We just get through 90 minutes and see where it takes us.
“It was a good result against Sydney, but it doesn’t mean anything now. What matters now is what happens against Newcastle.”
Even so, the spell of good form reflects the confidence in the team that he has had all season.
“I’ve had belief in this group since day one. My belief is unwavering.
“I stick by what I said from day one, and in preseason.
“It’s more about the players believing as well, beating Sydney goes a long way.
“It is nice, but I don’t want to be thinking too far ahead about what’s in the future for us.”
The game shapes as an entertaining matchup, with the Jets having scored and conceded the most goals in the A-League and the Phoenix sitting second on both metrics.
“They’re a strong transitional team. I like the way they build up, they’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of players that can score goals.
“They’re going to be a threat from the first minute to the last. It’s not a game where we can switch off. You saw what they did against Auckland twice.
“When we played them at home, it felt like we played quite well for a large part, then got punished three times in a ten minute spell. They’re going to be very difficult to play.”
And while a win could push Wellington as high as third in the table, Italiano is only concentrated on “controllables”.
“It’s only controllables that we can focus on that can give us success.
“Talking about where we’re going to be, what the future holds is ridiculous.
“We need to go to a place which is really healthy, be humble, and appreciate that if we’re not on, we’re not going to get the results that we need.
“Whether we deserve to be third, eighth, or eleventh, that will look after itself.”
The round 14 Isuzu UTE A-League match between the Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC is scheduled to kick-off at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle at 9:35pm (7:35pm AEDT) Friday and will be broadcast LIVE on Sky Sport 3 in New Zealand, and on Paramount+ in Australia.
Most recent meeting: 14 December 2025 – Wellington Phoenix 1 Newcastle Jets 3
All-time A-League head-to-head: Phoenix 27W, Jets 18W & 7D.
Wellington Phoenix squad (two to be omitted): 3. Corban PIPER, 4. Manjrekar JAMES, 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE, 6. Tim PAYNE, 7. Ifeanyi EZE, 8. Paulo RETRE, 10. Nikola MILEUSNIC, 11. Carlo ARMIENTO, 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 16. Sander KARTUM, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD, 20. Ramy NAJJARINE, 24. Xuan LOKE, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matt SHERIDAN, 28. Bill TUILOMA, 29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH, 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD (gk), 40. Eamonn MCCARRON (gk).
Unavailable: 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk) (injured), 12. Dan EDWARDS (injured), 19. Nathan WALKER (injured), 23. Luke SUPYK (injured).
Newcastle Jets squad to be confirmed
Cover photo credit: Photomac/Cam McIntosh
