The Newcastle Jets will make the trip to Nelson Bay on Saturday for an open training session.
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Nelson Bay Football Club will host the full Jets squad at Tomaree Sports Complex between 10am and noon.
It is an opportunity the club’s president, Glen Eder, said was “unbelievable”.
“To have a team like the Jets, who play in our national competition, come to our home field in our hometown to train is an unbelievable opportunity,” he said. “It’s wonderful.
“Normally we have to travel hours to see anything like this. To have them in our hometown, it should draw a lot of people.
“It’s an opportunity for the young and old who might not be able to afford to travel to games to see one of the best football teams in the country.”
The Jets will train 10am to 11am. All are invited to the number one sports ground at Tomaree Sports Complex, which is home to the Nelson Bay Junior Rugby Club, to watch the training session.
Nelson Bay Football Club has been granted access to the clubhouse facilities and grounds to host the Jets for the day.
Afterwards, until noon, there will be a barbecue and an opportunity to have players sign some posters and other merchandise.
The finals-bound Jets, which defeated Melbourne Victory 2-0 at home on Saturday, have a bye this weekend.
Jets chief executive officer Lawrie McKinna said the timing for the trip to Nelson Bay was “perfect”.
“We’ll train Wednesday as normal, Saturday in Nelson Bay and play the following weekend. It worked out perfectly,” McKinna told the Examiner.
“Some of our foreign players might not have come up to Nelson Bay before, so this trip will be really good for them.”
Being home to the Stockton Sand Dunes, Port Stephens is no stranger to hosting national sports teams for training sessions. During the years, the Newcastle Knights NRL team have used to dunes to train.
However, the training session at the Bay sports fields on Saturday is new for the area and for the Jets.
McKinna said this simply because “we don’t get asked” to train anywhere other than their home base at McDonald Jones Stadium.
It was Will Creedon, the Tourism Hunter boss and managing director of Newcastle and Port Stephens accommodation provider Alloggio, who asked McKinna if the Jets could make the trip to Nelson Bay.
Alloggio sponsors the team’s Argentinian player Pato Rodriguez.
“Will asked us to come up to Port Stephens and put on a training session for the community,” McKinna said.
“This is something we can build on. This won’t be a one off.”