JETS coach Arthur Papas is hoping to replace departed attacker Kosta Petratos in the January transfer window, saying it will be a case of all hands on deck as the A-League deals with a backlog of postponed games.
Newcastle announced earlier this week that Petratos had been released by mutual consent after playing 24 games, the vast majority off the bench, over the course of four seasons.
The 23-year-old is reportedly set to join Olympias Lympion, who play in the lower divisions in Cyprus.
Petratos has not featured in any of Newcastle's five games this season but Papas is predicting fringe players will receive opportunities in the weeks and months ahead, as A-League clubs battle to cope with the uncertainty and disruptions caused by the coronavirus.
Already a host of matches have been postponed because of players and staff contracting COVID, and Newcastle's clashes with Western Sydney and Melbourne City are among those on hold indefintely.
All re-scheduled games are likely to be played midweek.
"I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to get some sort of movement in January," Papas told the Newcastle Herald.
"There are areas where we need a little bit more and we'll discuss that as a club ... we need to maintain certain aspects of the squad to be able to compete and progress.
"Especially now, there are probably going to be more midweek games than we were anticipating.
"That means squads become important. A lot of the bigger teams in the league, who really do exhaust the salary cap considerably, they already have those sort of squads."
Papas said it had been too early to identify a possible replacement, or even a price range.
"Those are discussions we need to have with the owners, but they've been really supportive," he said.
The coach understood Petratos' desire to make a fresh start where he was likely to receive more game time.
"Obviously for Kosta, it's an opportunity to go overseas and play matches, hopefully, which is something he really needs," Papas said.
"That's important for him and we wish him well."
Only one of the A-League's six round-seven matches - between Adelaide and Wellington on Saturday - is unaffected by COVID and expected to proceed.
