Adelaide United striker Archie Goodwin tipped to torment his former club

Newcastle’s failure to keep Archie Goodwin could come back to haunt them at Coopers Stadium on Saturday night.

Having “come a long way” since his first meeting with his former club Newcastle in December, Adelaide United striker Archie Goodwin is poised to show the Jets what they’re missing on Saturday night.

That’s the confident prediction of Reds coach Carl Veart ahead of Newcastle’s visit to Coopers Stadium, where Adelaide is chasing back-to-back wins after last Friday’s 1-0 victory over Melbourne City.

Goodwin scored the only goal in the Reds-City battle to take his A-League season tally to eight.

However, after moving to Adelaide in the off-season, Goodwin failed to find the back of the net on his return to his former home ground of McDonald Jones Stadium two months ago, with the Reds securing a 1-0 win thanks to a first-half goal from midfielder Stefan Mauk.

Archie Goodwin has been in fine form for Adelaide United. Picture: Sarah Reed/Getty Images

“Archie has come a long way,” Veart said.

“He struggled a bit when we played Newcastle away earlier in the season, missing some opportunities, but he’s fitter and stronger now, and he knows exactly what he needs to do.

“His movement was great last week for the goal, and we’ve worked on a few things with him this week.

“Hopefully, he gets more success and adds a couple of goals (on Saturday).”

Not that Veart is expecting an easy night against a Jets side high on confidence after beating Melbourne Victory 3-0 last Saturday.

“Newcastle is coming off a huge win, so we expect them to have their tails up,” the Adelaide coach said.

"They’ll come at us, and they play good football. We need to get our pressure right. If we do that, we’ll go a long way in getting the three points.

“Newcastle can cause an upset, so we need to be focused and bring the intensity.”

Depending on the result of Saturday’s match between Western United and Auckland FC, Adelaide could move to the top of the ladder with a win over the Jets.

📸 Preppin' for the Jets pic.twitter.com/LmNAcj3IHA

— Adelaide United (@AdelaideUnited) February 14, 2025

“We’ve had some good results, and we’ve got to continue improving,” Veart said.

“We’ve had a tough run, but we’ve worked hard to get ourselves in a good position, and now it’s all about staying there and pushing harder.”

Another former Jet, defender Jordan Elsey, could make his first appearance of the A-League season after returning from a long-term quad injury via the club’s NPL team as an over-age player.

“Jordan’s good to go. He played 70 minutes for the youth team last week, and that gave him the go-ahead to join the first team,” Veart said.

“He’ll be part of the squad (on Saturday), and we’ll see how he progresses from there.”

Originally published as Adelaide United striker Archie Goodwin tipped to torment his former club