Joe Champness (Unattached FC)

Came on in the 79th minute and scored 2 minutes later in the 5-1 rout of CCM.

Has represented Australia at youth level but was born in NZ.

Let's hope we pull an Ingham on him.

How is this guy a Kiwi player? hasn't he represented Australia at a FIFA tourny and declared for Australia?

he can still technically play for nz until he plays a WCQ/ACQ/WC/AC game for Aus, but he hasn't shown any suggestion he's keen, has he?

No idea if the kid is gonna be good or not but he is eligible & if he keeps his preseason form up, we will be seeing a lot of him in this seasons A-League.

So him playing an age group FIFA comp for Australia doesn't count?

(honest questions, I have never truly understood these eligibility rules)

His father is English, mother is Filipino, born in NZ and been in Aussie for 5+ years (he is only 20, so hasn't done the 5 yrs over the age on 18, so Aussie must have applied for an exception for him), so he retains the ability to play for England, Philippines, NZ and Australia.

Based on Hudson's logic for picking, he'd make our squad now... He doesn't rate S.A. and Smeltz is past his best and Myer plays in a reserve league... so he's our number two.

I didn't get to see last nights game (thankfully) but it was the first chance for most people to have a good look at the kid, what are peoples thoughts?

Very good going forward - Smart attacker 

Unsure where his allegiance lies, but would be very handy if we snatched him up for the national team.  

Yeah he looked pretty decent going forward - good pace too.

But we made most of the Newy playes look good against us last night...

I'd rather have him in the All Whites already than Dingham or Jingham. Actually, just Dingham. I quite like Jingham and wouldn't mind him at the nix. Hard worker.  But no I really rate Champness already, think the sooner our lord and savior Tony Hudson tricks him into joining his Moses Dyer cult that we call the All Whites, the better.

Lets hope we qualify for the WC and use that as the carrot.  That got Smith, Reid and possibly WeeMac on board.  Smith and Reid had great games today.

I don't think Champness is in the same league as a Smith, Reid of WeeMac tbh.

Cap him

Disagree, thought he looked raw - long way to go

He is but if you can cap Moses Dyer you can cap this guy

^ Agree. I feel we are in a position where if we have a chance to cap-tie a player, we should do that. If it doesn't work out, then so be it. But we have everything to gain as far as I'm concerned. Australia has grown as a team since moving to Asia which means higher standards and more competition...We offer a decent carrot to eligible players whereby they are more likely to make it into our team. In a few years we'll have a chance to make the WC every time and that's not something to be sniffed at either.

Scored the Jets' 3rd goal v Victory last night

Missed out on the Olyroo's squad for the AFC Champs in January. Maybe someone from NZF should talk to him about his chances for making the NZ u23's?

Sorry everyone’s on holiday now and the fax machine has is out of order ?

Would be great to see him over here, not sure U23 binds him to NZ though?

Give him a full cap. Worry about the rest later.

Came on in th 67th minute in a 2-0 loss at Teramo on Saturday. Mestre started the season well but their form took a dip of late and they now find themselves mid table

Impressive @NewcastleJetsFC youngster named the @ALeague December nominee for the @NAB YFOTY award - https://t.co/kf6SG5A6eg #Aleague pic.twitter.com/SL4Y81BN1Z

— Hyundai A-League (@ALeague) January 3, 2018

Maybe we should give this kid an AW call up ASAP before the Aussies grab him. And make sure the game is not just a friendly so it will seal his footballing allegiance to NZ.  I wonder if anyone has sounded him out to see if he'd be interested.  

He's looked really good in first half v Sydney. Skillful, quick, strong. He may have his heart set on Socceroos but as a 1997 DOB, he'd be a weapon for our U23s if we qualify for Japan. Would Moss or Ernie be in his ear about it?

Would likely say Moss, but probably not Ernie. Ernie has no connection to NZFootball anymore. 

If he plays for NZ, he would have more opportunities to play international football, whereas, socceroos would be a bit more competitive and he may or may not struggle to crack a spot in socceroos squad due to the depth. 

He would be competing with Wood, Kosta, Rojas, Bevan and Patterson, potentially Mata in the future, whereas in the Socceroos, you have a long list of forwards, larger than ours. 

.@NewcastleJetsFC winger called into Australian U23s squad https://t.co/TWJr8HeRgu

— Caltex Socceroos (@Socceroos) January 9, 2018

Bad news for us, however he won't be cap tied even if he features for them so far.

Big difference between Aus U23 and NZ senior team though.

Sadly until we have a coach it's going to be quite difficult to recruit new talent!

Looks like he was capped against vietnam:

https://int.soccerway.com/matches/2018/01/14/asia/...

Yeah that was U23 IIRC. Would be interesting if we hire an Aussie AW coach like Arnold to see if he persuades him to jump ship...

What a year for Joey Champness! Voting is now open for the NAB Young Footballer of the Year, and you can win $5,000 just for casting your vote!

Vote for Joey ➡️ https://t.co/0q4yEsBDAp pic.twitter.com/4MCG1rRmvQ

— NEWCASTLE JETS FC ✈️ (@NewcastleJetsFC) April 20, 2018

Public votes count towards picking the winner, so get voting and maybe the experts voting will see sense and pick him instead of Arzani?