The Newcastle Jets are keeping their heads up despite their relentless injury problems and a tough three-game A-League losing streak, midfielder Mateo Poljak says.
Poljak is a strong contender to become Newcastle's stand-in captain for at least the next few weeks after skipper Nigel Boogaard tore ankle ligaments in their 2-1 defeat to Melbourne City on Thursday.
It's not yet clear how long Boogaard will be out for, but he was the player the Jets could least afford to lose following injuries to defenders Lachlan Jackson (ankle), Ben Kantarovski (knee) and Daniel Alessi (knee).
Poljak, however, is staying positive, writing their injury curse off as bad luck and insisting the Jets are headed in the right direction.
"It's just unlucky. Fair enough if they were muscular injuries, you'd think maybe something's wrong, but it's more impact and knocks," he told reporters on Tuesday.
"You can't really do much about it.
"It doesn't affect morale -- obviously we'd like to have more players, especially since the majority of them are starting players and leaders as well, but what do you do?
"I think we've got pretty good depth this year, we'll cover them."
Former Adelaide United and Sydney FC centre-back Iain Fyfe has been training with the Jets since Monday and is likely to sign an injury replacement contract to act as cover for Boogaard, which would alleviate some of coach Mark Jones' defensive headaches.
Fyfe, now 34, has been playing in the South Australian NPL with Campbelltown City since 2014.
"I think the recruitment of Fyfey is quite a good thing for us, he's been vocal in the last couple of days," Poljak said.
"We have a strong leadership group but unfortunately a (because) couple of injuries, there's less and less experienced players.
"It does come up to a few of us to lead that and help young players and ourselves."
The Jets take on Central Coast in the F3 Derby on Sunday at McDonald Jones Stadium.