Van Egmond is furious that his team has yet to train at EnergyAustralia Stadium in the build up to the new A-League season and is just as annoyed over the amount of training time Newcastle Knights are spending on the pitch.

He told The Herald: "We've got our first home game coming up next week and they're crucifying it. They train on it three or four times a week and we can't get a session on it.

"During the season we train on it once a week prior to our game, but we haven't been there once yet and I don't know when our first training session there will be.

"There are two teams in this town, as was shown with the support we saw for football here last season, and we share the stadium.

"All we want is a little bit of respect and some acknowledgment that we play here too. Both codes are entitled to a fair go."

Newcastle Knights chief executive Steve Burraston disagrees with the Jets' view of the pitch.

He said: "I can't agree with him on that. We played there on Monday night and I walked across it after the game and it seemed in pretty good nick to me.

"What do they want us to do? Do they want us not to train and not to play there? Should we just pack our bags, go home, call the season quits and let them train there every night?"

The Jets begin their A-League defence next Friday when they face F3 rivals Central Coast Mariners.