IF Newcastle Jets were a television program, they’d be an American soap opera.

Drama-charged and occasionally dubious, episodes of the Hunter-based production sometimes finish with more questions having been created than answers found.

Indeed, the more devoted a viewer you become, the more you begin to ride the emotional rollercoaster of the characters involved. Last week was testament to that.

Just as Days of Our Lives character Jack Deveraux recovered from death three times and Macy from The Bold and the Beautiful beat her battle with the bottle, the last-gasp victory over then top-of-the-table Melbourne in Round Eight heralded new optimism that the Jets’ season was back from the brink of bereavement.

Indeed, in a match coach Gary van Egmond labelled as the start of a “season defining” period for the reigning A-League champions, the Jets’ best team performance of the year lifted supporter emotions to heights not felt since Grand Final day.

Tuesday’s news that Mark Milligan had agreed to terms with the club until the end of the 2009/10 A-League season lifted sentiment surrounding the Jets even further.

Of course, Jets millionaire owner “King” Con Constantine is famed for his ability to turn a profit, but even if the world is in financial crisis, Constantine is showing he is adept at making shrewd acquisitions elsewhere.

Mood weakened on Wednesday as news filtered through that Adam Griffiths had reached a verbal agreement with new A-League franchise Gold Coast United.

A fan favourite not just because of his last name or for the fact he’s probably even more handsome then Joel, if my mail is correct that “Grifflet” is definitely heading north of the border, Jets fans of both sexes may go into meltdown.

Back to good news on Friday with ex Newcastle United coach Ian Crook signing a three year deal as the Jets new high performance manager.

In fact, all the reports throughout the day pointed to Newcastle putting in a strong performance at Bluetongue Stadium against arch-nemesis Central Coast Mariners.

Milligan was due to start, Joel Griffiths was excited by the chance to play alongside Edmundo Zura (who was seemingly hitting his straps) upfront, the creative Jin-Hyung Song was back in, plus the Jets were keen to keep their revival running.

And then...well, the less said the better.

While the drive or the train trip back to the Hunter perhaps felt longer than Ben-Hur and any derby loss is extremely hard to take, the signs at large are that things are looking up for the Jets this season.

Forgive the poor performance - we’ve been in much more precarious predicaments in the past.