The Jets will not have Japanese recruit Manabu Saito on board in time, but coach Arthur Papas has still flagged changes to his side for the clash with Brisbane Roar at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday night.
Newcastle are managing a five-day turnaround from their 1-1 draw with Western Sydney Wanderers and Papas had hoped to have Saito cleared and available to add to his squad against the Roar in round 14.
However on Thursday, Papas said the 32-year-old former international, announced as a signing on Wednesday, would "hopefully be here by tomorrow" but would not play against Brisbane.
"I expect him to be part of the team that travels to Perth next week," Papas said.
Saito, a two-time J-League champion with Kawasaki Frontale, is expected to give the Jets a creative lift in attack for the second half of the season.
Coming off back-to-back 1-1 draws, Newcastle face another tough defence to break down in the Roar, who held A-League leaders Melbourne City to a scoreless stalemate last Saturday.
The Jets sat 11th, on 14 points, before Thursday night's Sydney v Melbourne Victory match but are just three points shy of the top six on an even and congested table at the halfway point of the A-League season.
Papas said he would likely make changes as he looked for fresh legs against Roar, who are two points ahead.
"We'll probably freshen up a little bit," he said.
"It's a five-day turnaround for us. It's not that that's a short turnaround but it's not something we're used to.
"We sort of experienced that between the Adelaide [1-0 win] and the Sydney [2-0 loss] game and probably went with a similar line-up and we were a bit flat, so we might make a few changes and then also look for the impact off the bench."
Papas said injured co-captain Brandon O'Neill (calf) was "probably still one week away" from returning but there was a good chance Callum Timmins (groin) "comes back into the fold this week".
"It's a tough challenge," he said. "Brisbane are very difficult to break down this season. They play with some very strong centre-backs, compact, they work really hard and they are really strong on set-pieces and on transition as well, so it will be a tough game.
"It was a tough game last time we played them here [in a 1-0 loss] but I think we've been growing the last couple of weeks as well and looking to turn some draws into a win now."
Newcastle have been in winning positions late in the recent draws but have failed to capitalise.
"I think it's details at the moment in the boxes," Papas said.
"Even the Western Sydney game, we faced [goalkeeper] Lawrence Thomas how many times? And we're just not executing, and then they didn't even score in open play, so you've just got to be better in the boxes.
"Between the boxes I think we're doing quite well, but in the end, games are won and lost in the boxes.
"I think it's just a bit of confidence [in front of goals] and as long as they keep getting in those positions, the goals will come.
"We've scored in our last two games and we've played two team that are renowned for being defensively very strong, so we've shown we can breach those kinds of back-lines. Tomorrow's is very similar, so you are going to have to earn your goals and protect your box well."
As for Saito, Papas expected him "to be not too far away" from playing. He hoped the creative addition could help Newcastle improve their attack, which has just 11 goals in 13 games.
"Knowing the Japanese players very well, the one thing they don't do is have an off-season, so he's been training twice a day with a very strong university in the university system there. He's extremely tough and he's been doing that for a while now," he said.
"He's training six days a week, two times a day, so he's very motivated to come here. He's been watching all our games, communicating back and forth. He'll be ready.
"He can play anywhere across our front line. We've been playing the past two games with two nines and two 10s, so he can play as one of the 10s comfortably and if we needed to change, he can also play out wide. He's a real promising signing for us."
To make room for Saito, Newcastle released defender Jordan Elsey to take up a deal at Perth and loaned out Rory Jordan to APIA Leichhardt.
"[Elsey] expressed his desire to take up a bigger contract elsewhere, while he was still in his contract, and I can understand that," Papas said. "But for us, you need to be all in. You need to be committed to what we're doing here, so we capitalised on that to bring Manabu in."
** The Jets' A-League Women's match on Saturday against Western Sydney at Wanderers Football Park has been pushed back from 3pm to 5.30pm.
