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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Renee Valentine

It will be a history-making appearance

RECORD-BREAKER: Jets co-captain Cassidy Davis will play her 97th match straight in the W-League in Brisbane this weekend. Picture: Jonathan Carroll

When Cassidy Davis steps onto the field in Brisbane on Sunday it will be just another game for the hard-working and versatile Jets co-captain.

But the match will mark a history-making 97th consecutive W-League appearance, surpassing the previous record of 96 held by Marianna Tabain.

"It's a good achievement but it would've been nice to win more of those 97 games, and play more semis and finals," Davis told the Newcastle Herald. "I'm obviously happy to reach it and doing it for the one club, and for the club that I've grown up supporting, is even better."

The 26-year-old Novocastrian made her W-League debut in the 2013-14 season. She is a natural midfielder but found herself playing centre-back out of necessity for several seasons before a move back to the middle of the park this campaign.

Newcastle coach Ash Wilson described long-serving Jets player Cassidy Davis, pictured in action this W-League season, as "a fierce competitor". Picture: Marina Neil

It has taken her "a long eight seasons" to reach the milestone with the national women's competition still comprising just 14 rounds.

"I obviously do the right things that I need to do at training and game day and off the field, so that comes into play," Davis said.

"But we've had good staff as well that have managed our loading. The short season is maybe also a positive. You're only playing 12 games. You're not playing a 21-round season like the A-League which obviously means more injuries, more niggles."

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Jets coach Ash Wilson described it as an "astonishing" achievement by a player and person with a strong character.

"It is a credit to her and the commitment she makes to the club and to herself as a footballer," Wilson said.

"She's tough and it's a record that is very astonishing when you think about the modern game and how hard the girls are expected to play within games. A lot of these girls leave W-League, a 12 to 14-round season, and go into an NPLW competition that's roughly 23 weeks. And I don't know how many of those games she's missed either.

"For Cass to be playing year-long football like that, when you take that into account and you look at that perspective of what these girls do over a full year in comparison to say the males, who are full-time professional where their yearly calendar just revolves around the A-League, then it's an amazing record."

It is one Wilson believed would prove long-standing.

"It's going to be fantastic that this is going to be a record that she's going to hold and, to be honest, I don't know if it's a record that will be broken any time soon," Wilson said.

"She's a fierce competitor. For me it's unheard of and there's a few other girls in the team that would love to have a record like that."

Cassidy Davis shares a laugh with teammates at Jets training. Picture: Simone De Peak

Davis would like nothing better than to mark the occasion by beating Brisbane, who are second with 22 points, at Lions FC Stadium.

The Jets are eighth with seven points and at best can finish their season on 10. They have been in most matches this campaign but have only recorded two wins in 11 outings, beating last-placed Perth and sixth-placed Western Sydney.

Newcastle drew with the Roar 1-1 when they met in round four.

"To finish on a high would be what we need at this point," Davis said.

"In the Brisbane game in Newcastle, we probably could've beaten them, so there's confidence in that. We also have a good record against Brisbane away, so there's lots of positives to take into it and I feel like we have no pressure.

"We're obviously playing to get three points and to finish on a high. We've beaten Perth and Wanderers but we want to beat a top team. Beating a top team will show that we can compete."

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