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Frozen out at Brisbane, Irish striker Roy O'Donovan couldn't be happier to be back at Newcastle just nine months after leaving the A-League club.

It's hardly been a smooth path but Roy O'Donovan couldn't be happier to be back at Newcastle.

The Irish veteran signed an 18-month A-League deal last Friday to rejoin the Jets after a short spell at Brisbane.

It means nine months after contract talks stalled between the 34-year-old and the Jets on a two-year deal, he has ended up getting what he wanted.

"It worked out in the end didn't it? We went the long way round with the world's longest game of poker but we finally got there," O'Donovan said.

"I'm glad really because I can get my teeth stuck into something now for 18 months."

When the Jets and O'Donovan parted ways last May after a two-season stint which produced 20 goals in 35 games and an A-League grand final appearance, such a hasty return appeared unlikely.

The forward was quickly snapped up by the Roar as part of Robbie Fowler's rebuild and within weeks had become the club's vice-captain.

Despite the Roar making a slow start to the season, O'Donovan bagged six goals in his first eight games for his new club including a hat-trick in a remarkable 4-3 comeback win over Melbourne City.

The Brisbane experience turned sour, however, and O'Donovan found himself frozen out as Fowler opted for other players such as youngsters Mirza Muratovic and Dylan Wenzel-Halls.

"It just went a bit flat for myself personally," he said.

"We lost a couple of games and the manager changed things up. Dunno, I kind of was on the outside looking in really.

"It is what it is. That's the past now and the future is Newcastle Jets, that's all I'm concerned about right now."

O'Donovan is now hoping to provide the finishing the Jets have desperately lacked in recent weeks as the club aims to claw off the bottom of the A-League ladder.

A journey that starts on Sunday against another former club, Central Coast, in an F3 Derby at McDonald Jones Stadium.

"I come into a team that has (Dimi) Petratos and (Wes) Hoolahan, you've got the pace of (Abdiel) Arroyo, and all the other qualities that the team has ... it's great for me to be quite honest about it," he said.

"I think I've signed up for something good here."