Newcastle v Victory: Jets pair ruled out of A-League grand final

Kiwi goalkeeper Glen Moss gets his chance to play in Saturday night’s A-League grand final after Jack Duncan was ruled out.

New Zealand goalkeeper Glen Moss steps in for Newcastle after Jack Duncan’s injury.

Newcastle Jets coach Ernie Merrick has ruled out the possibility of miracle recoveries for goalkeeper Jack Duncan and defender Ben Kantarovski but remains adamant he has the depth to cover for them when they play Melbourne ­Victory in the A-League grand final at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.

There was never going to be any way back for Duncan after the Newcastle boss revealed yesterday he had suffered a grade-two quad tear during Friday night’s 2-1 semi-final win over Melbourne City that put them into the season decider for the first time since 2008.

Kantarovski missed the win after tearing his hamstring in the Jets’ 8-2 thumping of Central Coast in the final round of the regular season on April 14.

Merrick confirmed the duo would take no part against Victory but was quick to point out everyone else in the 23-man squad was ready to go and that all of them “are putting their hand up to play”.

“Jack has a grade-two tear. He thought it was cramp initially and tried to play through it the other night but when he tested it out again with an attempted long clearance it just gave way,” Merrick said yesterday.

“Jack said to me today to give him a couple of days because you never know and Ben did a bit of sprinting today and keeps doing exercises in front of me.

“But they are no chance.

“We will be fine. We have had injuries, suspensions and players leave during the season and whoever we have brought in has ­always stepped up. Our depth is great.”

New Zealand international Glen Moss, who came on for ­Duncan after 28 minutes, will start in goal against Victory and Merrick has no qualms about him handling the job.

“He is a terrific keeper and so experienced ... he is an international with New Zealand,” Merrick said. “He is a confident lad and is a great talker so we don’t lose anything there.

“He didn’t let his chance slip the other night and now he is in a grand final.”

With the whole city of Newcastle buzzing, Merrick is keen for his players to take in some of the fanfare, even if it is the opposite of his perceived persona as a dour, emotionless Scotsman.

Much has been made of photographs of him seated on the bench, arms folded with a deadpan face while all around him were jumping and prancing after Riley McGree scored his once-in-a-lifetime goal, via a scorpion kick, that won the Jets the game against City.

“I am not going to try to contain them ... I want them to have fun, which is a bit different to myself of course,” he quipped when asked if he would try to put a lid on their emotions.

“It is a very special week. We will keep our usual schedule, train Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, have Thursday off, have a light run on Friday then the game on Saturday. Nothing changes there.

“Why stop them from soaking it in? Of course, I don’t want them to do anything stupid, no practising scorpion kicks or whatever, or trying it again in a match.

“I can trust them. They won’t be complacent and they know what is expected of them.

“But it is a very special occasion for everyone, including Newcastle and the Hunter Region.”

Meanwhile, Football Federation Australia has confirmed the grand final is officially a 30,000-sellout.

The last tickets went yesterday as the game sold out in record time.

It means it will be a record crowd for the venue since the stadium was redeveloped in 2011.

“This weekend is a massive occasion and everyone is still talking about the amazing drama of last weekend’s semi-finals while the world is talking about Riley McGree’s amazing scorpion-kick goal,” FFA chief executive David Gallop said.

“The Jets have gone from wooden spooners to grand finalists in one season and earned the right to play in front of their home crowd.

“We know the whole city will be behind them and the speed with which the grand final has sold out shows how keen club members and fans are to be there.”