After the carnage, the slash and burn at the start of the season, green shoots are starting to show through the charred remains left after the fire.

Sunday's game against the Brisbane Roar was a kind of triumph. That's strange to say, since we lost. But the Jets played with intensity, with purpose and they played to a style of football that would bring tears of relief to fans of other, more hyped teams, if only their team would play that way. Congratulations to all the players for a fine display.

Yes, the Jets lost through a lack of concentration at a critical point, but we took the fight to Brisbane instead of sitting back and nearly pinched something. I'd say that if the Jets can put in those kinds of performances regularly, and slowly improve on them, they'll be in the  finals, despite the rough start to the season.

There's just so much in the news about Melbourne Victory at the moment that it's hard not to compare our situation to theirs. We've already had the cathartic expulsion of a coach. It's looking like Victory might do the same, fairly soon if things don't improve. Based on the Jets experience, I'd say HAVE IT NOW!

Get it done, get over it and start to rebuild now. Because the more you delay, the more the points bleed away, the more the fans dwindle, the more the brand becomes damaged.

While it took Ange Postecoglou half a season and a bunch of new recruits to turn Roar around, I'd argue that after just over a month at the helm, Gary van Egmond is making tangible, visible improvements to the how the Jets are playing.

Van Egmond's making those improvements with an inherited squad too, but not a squad as dysfunctional as Roar were when Postecoglou came in.

Now, pundits have been happy to write off the Jets as potential wooden spooners this season, and mock our players as second-rate. "The A-League has moved on, but Newcastle hasn't." Get real. Also, "Newcastle has no strike force" was what was said earlier in the season. Really?  Has anyone noticed Jeremy Brockie or Ryan Griffiths? And now with Francis Jeffers coming in, we're looking particularly threatening. Eat your words, nasty pundits.

Look, I'll admit the Jets have looked fragile in defence this season, and this needs addressing immediately, but we have lots of options in the midfield and attack that give us fans a good deal of optimism for the rest of this season.

I'm even prepared to sing the praises of certain squad members that others have poked fun at, like Ruben Zadkovich and his unrealistic bombs from distance and Jobe Wheelhouse and his white line fever. These two in particular, are fit, fast and could be groomed to play van Egmond's style. I'd even contemplate moving Zadkovich backwards into more of a holding role, such is his physical threat to attackers and his willingness to put his body in the way. (Just on a side note here, if this lad can just keep his shots DOWN, he'll score).

Pundits also seem to forget that the Jets have Ben Kantarovski in the mix, Captain of the Young Socceroos. He had an excellent game on Saturday, making a number of penetrating runs forward. And seeing how young he is, there's still a lot of time and potential for him to improve even more.

Looking at the green shoots growing at the Jets, things look even more positive for next season and van Egmond will no doubt look to revitalise the squad with as much new blood as he can get. What concerns me right now is our depth. While it's great to have youngsters coming up, they have to be able to perform as well as the player they're replacing or show that they're better and I don't really see that yet.

I predict that van Egmond will look to build a squad for next season of young, mobile players with good first touch and a willingness to embrace the style of football he wants to play. Unfortunately, I think this might mean the end of the road for a few current squad members, depending on when their contracts expire, particularly the older guys. I doubt Jeffers would feature much, unless he really shines this season, and Michael Bridges would only play cameo roles next season, if at all, despite his high quality. Kasey Wehrman is another one that I would be concerned could keep up the kind of pace and intensity that van Egmond will demand for the full 90.

But for this season at least, the signs are very encouraging. If the Jets can build on their performances and their fitness, there are plenty of underperforming teams out there to steal points from.