HE is arguably the most promising local junior the Newcastle Jets have produced, but teenage striker Archie Goodwin is still not ready to feature in their starting line-up.
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That's the opinion of Jets coach Rob Stanton, who is sticking to a slowly-but-surely policy with the Young Socceroos representative as he hones his fitness after two bouts of back surgery last year.
Goodwin has now strung together 11 consecutive games as substitute for Newcastle, including the full second half in Saturday's 2-1 loss to Wellington Phoenix.
But Stanton said the 19-year-old Cooks Hill United product still had some work ahead of him before he was ready to feature in Newcastle's side at kick-off time.
"For me it's all been about managing him with minutes and stuff, but he's going to have to do a lot more if he wants to start," Stanton said.
"He's still got a lot of growing to do, in my opinion.
"I know he's a fan favourite. I understand that.
"But in the end he's still 19 or 20 years of age and he's got a lot of development to do ... he's got a few things he needs to learn about what he needs to do in the game."
Stanton said the priority this season had been to "fix his body" so that there were no further injury issues.
"I believe we're in a really good space with that," he said.
"That's been my focus this year. But also then we can start to improve him a little bit more."
Goodwin, who debuted for the Jets as a 16-year-old schoolboy, has now played in 35 A-League games, five of which were in the starting 11.
His longest stint was 84 minutes against Perth Glory in his rookie season.
Stanton said he was "good when he came on" against Wellington.
"I'm just happy that we have him on the pitch, and I can bring him on at any time now from 45 minutes-plus, which is what we're doing," he said.
"He's going to get better. I think that's 11 or 12 games straight now.
"That would've been impossible the last two or three years. We've solved that problem, we believe, and we just want to make him resilient and the rest will come."
Meanwhile, it appears that Newcastle import Carl Jenkinson is facing at least a month on the sidelines after suffering a groin injury in last week's 3-1 win against Brisbane Roar.
"They were worried that he may require surgery, but that seems to be OK," Stanton said of the former Arsenal and West Ham defender.
"I think it's to do with muscle and tendon. They're trying to determine which one it is. That will probably tell us whether it's four or eight weeks, or something like that at this stage."
AAP reports: A late goal from David Williams has salvaged a valuable point for Perth in their action-packed 2-all draw with Macarthur FC.
The Glory remained second-last on 12 points, while the Bulls jumped one spot to fifth.
But down 2-1 after conceding a penalty, Williams danced through the Bulls defence in added time and found the back of the net from the tightest of angles to rescue his side at Campbelltown Sports Stadium on Sunday.
Despite avoiding their fourth loss in six games, Perth coach Alan Stajcic expressed his disappointment with the draw.
"We deserved all three (points). We were the better team for the bulk of the game," Stajcic said.
"The boys were excellent. There was so much heart and spirit and energy that went into that game away from home.
"It was a shame they got that second goal because I thought we were on the front foot there and the game was there for the taking."
Before Williams's strike, it wasn't until Macarthur midfielder Kearyn Baccus fouled John Koutroumbis in the penalty area that Stajcic's men found a way through.
Having earlier passed directly to Bulls captain Ulises Davila just in front of goal late in the first half, Mustafa Amini redeemed himself by levelling at 1-1 from the spot in the 72nd minute.
The home side went ahead again 10 minutes later with a penalty converted by Valere Germain after Aleksander Susnjar was found pulling at the Frenchman's shirt, but the Glory remained dogged.
Mile Sterjovski's Macarthur had earned the upper hand in the ninth minute with Davila capping a clinical sequence from Raphael to Germain to score in his third consecutive game.
If it was not for Raphael's inaccuracy in front of goal the Bulls would have had more to show for their first-half dominance.
"I just said they have to lift intensity, keep playing our football and be brave but we weren't at the races today," Sterjovski said.
"We let Perth back into the game but in saying that, we had the better of the chances and we could have won."
Perth had their best chance at levelling five minutes later when Riley Warland delivered a cross to Luke Ivanovic, who then missed from point-blank range.
After earning their first victory to end a three-match losing streak last round, the Glory are now on a two-game unbeaten run but still second-last on 12 points.
The Bulls jumped one spot to fifth, six points behind leaders Wellington.
