durante

NEWCASTLE Jets defender Andrew Durante stood up to the most potent strike force in the A-League last night and, for all the gesticulating, complaining and finger-pointing of John Aloisi, it was clear who took the points.

The Joe Marston medal around his neck confirmed the judgement, with Durante chosen ahead of striker Mark Bridge and right winger Song Jin-Hyung as the grand final's man of the match.

Next week, Durante has a similarly challenging assignment - although this time he'll be sitting down, face-to-face with the A-League's ultimate maverick, Jets owner Con Constantine.

On the table is a generous offer from the Wellington Phoenix for next season. Holding his heart in Newcastle is his girlfriend, Sarah Hogan. The question for Constantine to answer is whether Durante, 25, deserves a raise.

The player's future sits in the owner's hands. "Definitely," said Durante. "He calls the shots at the club. If he wants to pay a certain player a certain amount of money, that's his call and there's no board of directors to argue with. Whatever Con says goes."

Last night, Con was having the time of his life, with the rugged defender deserving plenty of the credit. The twin medals around his neck won't hurt Durante's cause when he sits down with Constantine.

"You'd like to think so," Durante said. "But he's a pretty hard man when it comes to negotiations so I'm not expecting anything too drastic. Hopefully I've done enough to get a bit more money."

Durante joined the Jets for their inaugural A-League season, but suffered a badly broken leg in a horror tackle during the team's first trial match against, you guessed it, the Mariners.

It was the second such injury of Durante's career, and it nearly did his head in.

"After the second break, I did question if it was all worth it - coming back and doing all the lonely rehab on your own," he said. "But you know there's a light at the end of the tunnel and tonight is what everyone dreams of and plays for. I knew if I did the hard work back then one day I'd get my rewards, and tonight is the greatest thing that's happened to me.

"I knew if we won it would be an unbelievable feeling, but it's bigger than anything I expected."

If Durante remains in the Hunter, then he'll have Aloisi and his strike partner Sasho Petrovski to thank. Not only did Aloisi finish the game with a yellow card, Petrovski rarely seemed to be on the same park.

Durante, playing in the centre of a reshaped back three, was a major contributor in that, with the attacking pair providing the pre-match psyche-up.

"They gave us a bit of stick in the papers, saying if we defended against them they way we did against Queensland, then they would punish us," he said. "That probably fired us a bit more, gave us a bit of firepower in the changeroom. It was a bit of egg on their face because I thought we defended quite well."

Jets coach Gary van Egmond paid tribute to his defender - as effective off the field as a man as he is on it as a player. "If we lose 'Duro', it would be a real detriment to the club," he said.

Durante has put off making a decision, but knows he can't do so for much longer. "Obviously it's no secret I've had a fairly attractive offer from Wellington," he said. "I didn't want to make my decision until after the grand final.

"I'll have a think about it during the week. If I do end up leaving, I gave everything to this club and the club's been fantastic to me, and if I do end up leaving, there's no bad blood between us. I've got to sit down and think about the pros and cons."

"Mostly the Cons," chipped in van Egmond.

i just hope he can finish like he did against perth for us haha