Last night's 3-0 defeat in Wellington left Newcastle bottom of the ladder and three points adrift of sixth spot.

The coach is looking forward to returning home for the next clash but admits the Fury game falls firmly into the must-win category.

"Overall it was disappointing. We didn't take our chances and again we dropped our heads and that's a real concern," said  Culina.

"We thought we saw some light at the end of the tunnel in the last couple of games against the Central Coast and Brisbane away from home.

"Our record away from home has been pretty ordinary. It's something we need to turn around and make sure we improve if we want to be challenging for better than where we are at the moment."

Like Phoenix, the Jets play again on Sunday and Culina felt the short turnaround could work to his side's advantage heading into the home clash against North Queensland Fury.

"Sometimes when you lose like we did, badly, it's probably good that you have a short turnaround because you're itching to get back into it," he added.

"We've got to travel back. It's a critical game and we're playing against a team we should beat at home."