THE Newcastle Jets feel they owe the Brisbane Roar but coach Craig Deans is not about to risk injury to exact revenge.
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Ramy Najjarine is a 50-50 chance of returning while Matt Millar and Jason Hoffman are unlikely to feature at Dolphin Stadium on Sunday.
Najjarine (ankle) missed the 1-0 win over Melbourne City and only resumed full training on Friday.
Hoffman pulled up with a groin injury after the City clash, while Millar has only had five training sessions since finishing quarantine, following his return from a loan stint at English League One club Shrewsbury Town.
"Ramy is probably 50-50," Deans said. "It is whether the risk of playing him and possibly getting kicked on the ankle again is worth taking at this point.
"The risk with Matty is that he has had five sessions since coming out of quarantine. When he went to England, he played a game the third day out and ended up doing a hammy and missing three weeks. We obviously don't want to go down that path with him. We will see how they pull up from training and have a look at them tomorrow.
"With Hoffy, again it's not worth the risk. If it was a final we might take that risk. I will check with the physio but I doubt he will travel.
"We need to have faith in the whole squad and whoever comes in, I'm sure he will do a good job."
Rookie Lucas Mauragis deputised for Hoffman early in the season or Deans may consider changing formation, depending if Najjarine is cleared to play.
The Jets' last loss was a 2-1 defeat to the Roar at McDonald Jones Stadium on January 20 - a match they dominated everywhere bar the scoreboard.
"That game was probably the one game in which we were the most hard done by in terms of the way we played and a bit of luck not going our way," Deans said.
"Their first goal was a huge deflection and on another day, it doesn't end up where it ended up. We had 22 shots to four in the game and didn't capitalise on the amount of opportunities."
The win over the Jets was the Roar's second of four straight victories before they lost 2-0 to Macarthur at home on Tuesday night.
"They have had two games in the last week so we have had a good opportunity to see what they do," Deans said. "We go into the game with some confidence and self belief, but it is going to be a very hard game. They sit second on the table ... they are a good team, a good young team. They have lots of energy and a good level of experience in there as well."
IN THE NEWS:
James Gardiner
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
