Loss of Heskey to test Newcastle Jets' bouncebackability - Herald Sun

Newcastle Jets English imports, L to R, Michael Bridges and Emile Heskey. Picture: Liam Driver Source: The Daily Telegraph

MICHAEL Bridges doesn't try to paper over the loss of teammate Emile Heskey to injury and what his absence will mean for Friday night's crunch game against Perth.

In a bitter irony for the Newcastle Jets, their marquee striker is out of the game with a calf injury just two days after being rested from Sunday's 5-0 debacle against Melbourne Victory to ensure he would be fresh to take on the Glory at Hunter Stadium.

Heskey felt a slight twinge in his calf during a light training session on Monday and alerted the club's medical staff before waking up sore yesterday morning.

"He's never had a calf injury before so it was totally foreign to him," Jets CEO Robbie Middleby said.

"He was sore this morning so we sent him off for scans. It's the type of injury you just can't take a risk with but, thankfully, it doesn't appear too serious and he may only miss this game.

"It's disappointing given we rested him against Victory to preserve him for Perth, but who knows? If he had played in Melbourne, he might have damaged it even more."

Bridges, relaxing on a day off, was not aware of his teammate's injury drama when The Daily Telegraph spoke to him yesterday and was hit hard by the news.

"It's devastating, mate - he's a massive loss for us," Bridges said. "We just had a light session yesterday and I didn't realise anything was troubling him. It's a huge game against Perth and it's going to make it tougher without him."

Bridges admits the key to beating Perth will lie in how quickly the Jets' young players put Sunday's loss behind them."They just have to brush it off and forget it," he said. "The key word for us in the next few days now is going to be our bouncebackability.

"That's an English word I'll be using a lot in the next few days. It's going to be about responding to some adversity.

"We need to be positive and upbeat and I'll be taking it on myself to lead the way in that regard. It's going to come down to pride and passion and wanting to be a winner. We are going to find out who wants it bad enough and who doesn't."