Gary van Egmond leaves Newcastle Jets for Chinese role

Van Egmond coached the Jets to their only A-League men's championship in 2007-08 and has been at the helm of the club's women's side since taking over from Ash Wilson midway through last season.

The 58-year-old overhauled the women's roster this campaign and has the Jets in finals contention with 10 games remaining.

He has been linked to the China position since December and Jets executive chairman Shane Mattiske confirmed on Monday that van Egmond had left the club.

Van Egmond, who was on contract as the Jets women's coach until the end of this season, addressed players ahead of training at No.2 Sportsground on Monday afternoon before assistant coach Ryan Campbell took the reins.

"Ryan will step in as an interim coach and we'll run a process around the appointment of a permanent head coach for the women's team, and Ryan will no doubt be a candidate in that process," Mattiske said.

"We'll do that as quickly as we can, and there is a focus on making sure that we do create the right structure for our women's team and give them the greatest chance of success moving forward.

"Gary has helped build a team that's really carrying some great momentum, that's getting good results, but it's also had great community support ... The team is in a great place.

"It's disappointing that he's leaving now. We understand there's a great opportunity he has in China and we've been in conversation with him for some time about that and the fact that there would need to be some arrangement to allow him to leave immediately. We've now reached agreement on that."

The Jets women have only made finals twice in 15 seasons - in 2008-09 and in 2017-18 - but are on track for one of their most successful campaigns.

After 12 rounds, Newcastle are sixth on goal difference but caught in a three-way tussle for fourth place with 17 points.

Only twice before have they reached 17 points in a season - in 2008-09 and 2014.

The most the Jets have ever amassed in a campaign was 20 points in 2017-18, when they finished third after 12 outings.

For the first time, the competition has expanded to a full home-and-away format across 22 rounds.

Mattiske said the club were already working towards ensuring the core of the group was retained beyond this campaign and had locked in leading scorer Sarina Bolden for next season.

The Philippines international was a late-season signing and has sparked the Jets attack with six goals in seven appearances.

"We've already been looking at the longer-term plans for the squad," Mattiske said.

"We've got players that are locked in for next season. As an example, Sarina has been a wonderful addition to the team. She's exciting. She's scoring goals and she's also been great as someone who is leading the team and already has become a fan favourite. Sarina is already locked in for next season.

"There are a number of other players that we're now focused on in terms of retention. We really want to make sure that this team that has been built are, firstly, set up to finish the season really strongly and right now we are on track to have a better year within the women's competition, but we also want to make sure we keep the core of this team for next season and we continue to build success."

Speaking after their important 2-1 win against Brisbane in Sydney on Saturday night, Jets captain Cassidy Davis was confident the team could continue to kick on if van Egmond did take on the China role.

Van Egmond was also the Jets academy director of football.

Campbell will lead the girls academy and Damian Zane the boys academy until a permanent appointment is settled.