After Newcastle Jets stunned the Sky Blues 3-1 at the SFS on Sunday night, the two coaches appeared to have taken their lead from the movie Trading Places.

The normally colourless Lavicka showed just a rare glimpse of his true feelings while the extrovert Culina played the straightest of bats following his brush with FFA - and subsequent fine - during the week for post-match comments following the loss to Wellington Phoenix.

Asked by a reporter if this was the new Branko Culina, the Jets boss responded: "It's the same one. Has anything changed about me? The shirt, maybe."

He then continued in coach-speak.

"(I'm) feeling very well about winning today and it was great to get three points," he said. "On a serious note, it's important the players do get the credit. They were absolutely brilliant.

"We've been working very hard to make sure that we play good football. (It's) one game at a time."

Newcastle began the day at the bottom of the A-League table with Sydney second, but a stranger walking into the ground would have thought their positions reversed.

Two goals from former Sydney striker, Englishman Michael Bridges, and a third from exiting skipper Matthew Thompson was enough to see off a home side devoid of creativity until it was too late.

It was the Sky Blues' third loss in a row, leaving Lavicka to admit: "Disappointing, (a) disaster."

"We had a problem in defence, in co-operation. We made a lot of mistakes in defence. We gave the opposing team the chance to score.

"I think the best players today were our fans. I apologise (to) them, we apologise to them."

Asked if his team was officially in a slump, captain Steve Corica conceded: "Three losses, yeah, of course.

"We need to do a lot better. You don't expect this at home. First half was not too bad but the second half we made too many mistakes, there were too many gaps and they caused us problems.

"We've got a lot to fix. Starting from the front to the back, we all have to work together and stick together.

"It's not good enough. We just have to get better."