There is a moment in the classic movie The Shawshank Redemption where the unlikely, understated hero, Andy Dufrane, locks himself in the governor's office and broadcasts some classical music to allow the spirits of the prison inmates to briefly soar. The little wizard Lionel Messi did the same for your scribe on Monday morning.
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His genius was little consolation for the Jets faithful, who endured a nightmarish early Saturday evening, as their team imploded against the Mariners. Leo won't be going to the hole like Andy, but the Jets have dug themselves an unnecessary one, with five games remaining.
Jets coach Ernie Merrick is correct in saying that three wins and a draw will probably still sneak his side into the top six, but away games against Wellington and Perth, and a home fixture against Sydney FC in that five-game sequence, clearly illustrate the difficulty of the task.
Three points on Saturday would have made that assignment considerably easier, have no doubt about that.
Hands up if you thought the Mariners would come to McDonald Jones Stadium and roll over on Saturday? Or thought that they would try to play expansively for 90 minutes to get a result? Neither did I.
To be fair, they have adopted that approach (playing expansively, I mean, not rolling over) and troubled some of the better teams for 45 to 60 minutes of matches, before tiring and committing errors as a result, and ultimately losing.
Surely a new coach would recognise that, sit deep, conserve energy, stay compact, and hope to pinch something on the counter. Especially considering the unmitigated disaster of the previous week.
As it was, I nominated assistant coach Nick Montgomery to step up with that sort of plan, only for former Matildas coach Alen Stajicic to be appointed midweek, recognise the problems, put coaching philosophies and ego on the shelf, and concentrate solely on respectability, and a result.
Given what he has been through, you could hardly begrudge him a happy moment, but anyone believing he has suddenly unveiled a magic formula to transform this group is kidding themselves.
He set up his team to slow the game down and deny Newcastle the quick tempo and rhythm that suits their style, and pounce on limited opportunities. Of course, that plan unravels if you concede the first goal, and as Merrick noted, a first-half goal for the Jets would have completely changed the shape of the contest.
That goal didn't arrive, and though the Mariners didn't have a shot on goal in the first half, they were hardly besieged at the other end, despite the Jets having 10 shots, and striking the woodwork. I can't remember too many "he should have scored" moments.
The game might have been won in the first half, it wasn't, but it certainly wasn't lost. That occurred in an awful 20-odd second-half minutes when three goals were conceded due to lack of discipline, concentration, and some horrible defensive decisions.
One can be forgiven, but three against a team set up to defend is almost criminal.
The Mariners' brittle underbelly was exposed again as the Jets chased the game, and you couldn't help but wonder, had Newcastle foregone some of that steady first-half possession and taken some risks, would there have been more Mariners errors, and more Jets chances?
On a greasy surface, and with a very hard-working midfield trio selected, maybe a more direct approach, and some "second ball" contests close to the Central Coast goal might have asked a few more questions?
It is easy to be wise after the fact. But in my last column I did note that everything that lay ahead relied upon a professional three points against Central Coast, and in the column before that cautioned that the Mariners game would be the polar opposite of games against the two Melbourne clubs and Adelaide, under difficult circumstances, in preceding weeks.
That doesn't make me a genius, or even really clever. Stats will tell you that the Jets win more games when they have less than 50 per cent of possession, mostly because they have more space to attack when they win the ball.
That is true of a lot of teams in world football, of course.
For me the Jets got lulled into a sense of total control, of feeling like they were playing well, but left it too late to ask questions of a defence that had leaked eight goals in the previous game.
A form of "tranquiliser" complacency, perhaps? We've all been guilty of it at some point. Doubt we will see it again this season.
The Jets have the best part of two weeks to analyse, then prepare for a huge match against Wellington.
The best news of the weekend for the Jets was the late send-off of Roy Krishna, Phoenix talisman, because the match officials on Sunday didn't understand the difference between a deliberate elbow, and trying to shield the ball. The automatic one-game suspension of the league's leading scorer is a definite bonus for Newcastle, and changes the dynamic of their opponents.
More on that topic, and potentially the season's most important game, in next week's column.
