CAPTAIN Brandon O'Neill will return to the Newcastle Jets squad for the clash against A-League heavyweight Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park on Sunday but coach Rob Stanton is yet to decide if the midfielder will start.
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O'Neill missed the season-opening 2-all draw with his former club Perth Glory due to suspension after being sent off in the Jets' 3-2 defeat to Brisbane Roar in the Australia Cup round-of-16 on August 14.
The 28-year-old former Socceroo started at the base of midfield in the majority of pre-season games.
However, Kosta Grozos made the most of his opportunity against the Glory, working in tandem with French import Jason berthomier.
Grozos scored with a tracer-bullet from 25 metres to level at 1-all and then swung a freekick in for Apostolos Stamatelopoulos to head home in injury time and snatch a point.
O'Neill worked with Jets training staff on the weekend and will be itching to take on the Victory.
"I will see how everyone has pulled up when we reassemble for training on Wednesday," Stanton said. "Brandon will obviously be in the squad.
"Whether we start him or not will be worked out once we look at how Victory play, what is the best structure and who are the best players to start that game. It is something we will consider. Being the captain he will obviously be involved."
Back-up keeper Michael Weier suffered a hip issue at training on Friday and was replaced on the bench by Noah James against Perth.
"He copped a knock on Friday and we decided he wasn't going to be 100 per cent sitting on a plane," Stanton said. "Hopefully he will be fine for this week."
The Jets arrived back from Perth on Monday evening and had Tuesday off.
"Against Perth, I thought we showed good character and resilience to come back," Stanton said. "It's a tough trip. I don't think people realise how tough a trip it is.
"Conceding inside two minutes can throw you right out, but I thought we recovered well from that.
"We have a quick turnaround and we have to move on quickly. The focus now is Melbourne Victory."
Victory opened their campaign with a 2-0 shutout of Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
Bruno Fornaroli put the visitors ahead in the 62nd minute before French import Zinedine Machach sealed three points four minutes from time.
"They had a good win against a very good team in Sydney," Stanton said. "It will be another big challenge for us."