Both teams were dead on their feet, making the match look like a bout in a Rocky film, particularly with Brisbane’s veteran brigade. Newcastle took the lead with a great early counterpunch and held on from there.

Brisbane were down on confidence coming into this game and it showed in the early stages. Too many of their passes were off target, good runs were ignored and chances were wasted.

The quick turnaround looked like it sucked the life out of Brisbane’s old guard. In the end, the points decision went the way of the favourites. 

Newcastle Jets

Glen Moss 7.5 – Made a couple of great saves to keep his team in the lead and kept a clean sheet.

Ivan Vujica  6 – He made some great contributions in both attack and defence. Nearly got himself on the scoresheet in the second half and he combined well with Rodriguez.  

Nigel Boogard 6 – He was excellent tonight. Nearly got an assist but his main job is to defend, which he did with aplomb tonight. His clearing headers constantly got his team out of trouble.

Nikolai Topor-Stanley 6 – The Hyphen didn’t have as big an impact on the game as he has in previous weeks, but he was still immense.

This is a very strong defensive partnership, when one has a quieter night the other picks up the slack. He said he's going fishing over the break, so he deserves to catch a whole school of fish tomorrow with his nephew. 

Daniel Georgievski 6.5 – Dealt with the dangerous Eric Bautheac and was involved in some really nice Jets build up play.

Wayne Brown 6 – Some great defensive midfield work. He made a couple of tackles that prevented Brisbane from putting his defence under more pressure and he put some good balls forward.

Steven Ugarkovic 6 – He’s having a really good season as the deep lying playmaker but his efforts on goal have let him down.