ARTHUR Papas realised early in his coaching career not to take every situation - and every player - on face value.
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Statistics, CVs and league status do not always paint a complete picture.
Papas' road to the Jets - via India, Saudi Arabia, Victorian NPL and Japan - is a prime example.
It's a practice he has adopted, in particular, with regards to recruitment.
Socceroo Matt Jurman aside, a large portion of the Jets' major recruits have been sourced from lesser-known leagues - Georgia, Finland and second divisions in Greece and Portugal.
"Having not gone through a traditional grounding in my coaching career, I don't believe there are only certain markets that we can sign from," Papas said. "Nor do we have to keep going to the A-League and sign someone who has been released from another club.
"There are so many players out there who are desperate for an opportunity and had to take a different path in their career. There is no guarantees [of success] going that way and there is no guarantees on the traditional way."
Georgian Striker Beka Mikeltadze joined the Jets from Greek second-tier club Xanthi, the previous home of Jurman and Jets assistant coach Arthur Diles.
The 23-year-old had previously played with Russian clubs Rotor Volgograd, Rubin Kazan and in Cyprus at Anorthosis Famagusta.
He scored three goals in 17 games for Xanthi, his most productive campaign since netting 16 goals in two seasons as a teenager for Dinamo Tbilisi.
But Papas, through his scouting and information from Diles, is positive that Mikeltadze has the right ingredients to lead the Jets attack.
"There is no real determinant on a CV that says if he comes with x-amount of goals in one country that it is equal to x-amount of goals in Australia, " Papas said. "The perfect examples are Besart Berisha and Bruno Fornaroli. If you go back and look at their CVs before they arrived ... they have gone on to become two of the greatest forwards to play in the Australian competition."
Berisha announced this week his departure from the A-League, having amassed 132 goals in 236 appearances at three clubs.
Signed by then Roar coach Ange Postecoglou, Berisha's CV included stints in the second tier in Germany, Denmark and Norway. He had scored two goals for relegation-bound Bundesliga 2 club Arminia Bielefeld before landing in the A-League.
In his first season in Brisbane, Berisha exploded with 19 goals to collect the golden boot - the first of two.
It was a similar situation for Fornaroli. He yielded five goals in 25 games for Uruguayan club Dunubio in 2014-15, which followed none for Panathinaikos in Greece.
On arrival in Australia, he transformed into a goal-scoring machine, netting 23 in his first season at Melbourne City in 20015-16. Now with Perth, the 33-year-old boasts 72 goals in 124 games.
"I am not going to put that expectation on Beka," Papas said. "I just want to get him on the pitch and work with him. I know he works really hard and is desperate to do well here. It's our job to help him become successful."
Beka, a Georgian international at youth and senior level, is midway through his second week of quarantine in a Sydney hotel.
"He has a spin bike and some strength equipment in there," Papas said. "I speak to him most days. The good thing is that he has worked with Arthur Diles before, he has played with Matty Jurman before.
"The rest of the coaching staff have been good. They have engaged with him as well."
The Jets have been given special exemption to train during the statewide COVID-19 lockdown but must adhere to strict protocols.
Papas is mindful of the players' mental health, especial those players without families locally, and has modified training schedules.
"If you say have a day off - that means stay indoors," Papas said. "I don't know how healthy that is for a lot of reasons, mentally and physically."
James Gardiner
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
