JETS coach Carl Robinson and assistants Kenny Miller and Darren Bazeley have been given the green light to return to Australia as the playing squad prepares for their first training session together in three months at Ray Watt Oval on Tuesday.
Robinson traveled to Canada and Miller to Scotland to reunite with their families when the A-League was suspended on March 24 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The recently appointed Bazeley is in New Zealand.
Football Federation Australia head of leagues Greg O'Rourke confirmed on Tuesday that the overseas contingent had received approval from the Border Force to travel to Australia, but on arrival must spend 14-days in quarantine under the direction of NSW Police.
"Carl and Kenny have been cleared and have requested that their families come out with them," McKinna said. "They are looking at flights, but we are waiting a couple of days to see if there is any changes with getting their families in. If not, they will have to come themselves. A couple of days won't make a great deal of difference. Darren Bazeley is looking at flying out of Auckland on the weekend."
McKinna has asked if the coaches can spend their time in isolation in Newcastle.
"Quest Newcastle offers that service here," McKinna said.
Welsh midfielder Joe Ledley, who joined the Jets in February on a short-tern deal, has also been cleared but his return from Cardiff could hinge on whether his family can join him.
"We have spoken to his agent and are waiting for a response," McKinna said. "Joe was interested in coming but he wanted his family to come. We don't know if it will be one week, two weeks a month before they get here. Then they will be in quarantine for two weeks."
The A-League resumes on July 18, with the remaining 27 matches of the regular season to be be packed into a 28-day period before launching into the finals series.
There were fears that Foxtel would pull out of broadcasting the remainder of the campaign and also renege on its deal to broadcast the code until the end of 2023.
But O'Rourke said negotiations were travelling "fairly well" and he was confident of a positive outcome.
"We feel positive about both - about the ability to have Fox broadcast the finish to the season, and also be a partner going forward," O'Rourke said.
"We are hoping those matters get brought to a head in the next couple of weeks."
READ MORE: TESTING TIME AS JETS BEGIN REBOOT
The Jets, who sit in ninth place but are only three points outside the top six, have games remaining against Sydney, Central Coast, Western United and Wellington.
The battles against Western United and Phoenix, and possibly the Mariners, will be played at McDonald Jones Stadium and O'Rourke confirmed the likelihood of fans being at the stadium.
"At the moment we are working through whether we open grounds to the full 25 per cent capacity," O'Rourke said. "It obviously comes with extra costs but we would try to get as many people as we could to the grounds. We also have to work through how many of those fans will be members. I lot of this games are derbies and we would have not only home fans but opposition fans."
The reboot of the A-League will also include a temporary change to the laws. Like the English Premier League, A-League clubs will be allowed to make up to five substitutions each game.
The Jets went through strict COVID-19 protocols and procedures during a zoom conference on Tuesday afternoon ahead of training on Wednesday.
Jets academy coach and former A-League interim boss Craig Deans will conduct training until Robinson and his assistants are on deck.
"Training is scheduled for tomorrow morning, but it could be pushed back to the afternoon, depending on when we get the results from the COVID-19 test. They said it could take up to 48 hours to get the results back.
"Deansy has been speaking regularly with Carl and is ready to go."
READ MORE: MCKINNA PUSHES FOR FANS AT JETS HOME GAMES
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