RECENTLY-arrived Jets enforcer Matt Jurman won an A-League championship at Brisbane Roar and made eight appearances for the Socceroos under Ange Postecoglou.
"That was a good time in my career when I was playing under Ange," Jurman said.
And when Newcastle coach Arthur Papas rang the defender asking if he would be interested in being part of the Jets rebuild, Jurman could sense more than a hint of Postecoglou in the pitch.
Papas was Postecoglou's right-hand man at Yokohama F Marinos when they were crowned J-League champions in 2019 - ending a 15-year drought.
"Just talking to Arthur on the phone when I was overseas I could feel that [Postecoglou influence]," Jurman said. "He told me about the brand of football he wanted to play. I was excited and wanted to be a part of it.
"There is a lot of hard work to come. We only started a couple of weeks ago. It is nowhere near where we want to be. It is something to build on."
As well as winning a championship at Brisbane, Jurman was part of the Sydney squad which won the premiership-championship double in 2009-10.
"Those teams were pretty exciting to play in," Jurman said. "I was lucky to play alongside some great players. Hopefully we can do something similar here. It is a good style that the coach wants to play. Once all the boys have arrived, I think we can start to gel and play some good football. After that, the results come."
More recently, Jurman, 31, has spent time in South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Greece, where he was part of a Xanthi outfit which fell just short of promotion to the Super League 1.
And he intends to use that experience to help what is shaping as a youthful Jets outfit.
"There are some good young boys in the team and there is a lot of potential there," he said.
Papas said Jurman had already had a "positive impact" despite only joining the group a week ago.
"In the dressing room, first of all," Papas said. "Just the type of person he is. On the park, you can see the quality and character he brings."
Jurman's likely partner in the centre of defence, Jordan Elsey started training this week after arriving from Adelaide
Papua New Guinean international Tommy Semmy is on a training contract, while Papas confirmed that he has agreed to terms with two foreigners but won't reveal their identity until visas have been issued.
"We are hopeful of getting that completed this week," Papas said. "There a couple more on top of those that we are working through."
Papas said he was likely to go with a squad of 24 or 25 players, including scholarship-holders Archie Goodwin and Blake Archbold.
Meanwhile, Apostolos Stamatelopulos, who was training with the Jets, has signed with Greek second tier club Rodos.
