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Newcastle coach Ash Wilson has revealed Norwegian forward Marie Markussen's ALW campaign is over as her injury-hit Jets head to Brisbane.
Newcastle's injury woes in the A-League Women continue with Norwegian forward Marie Markussen to miss Monday's final fixture against Brisbane.
The Jets could only name two outfield players on their bench for Friday's game against the Roar in Newcastle, as the visitors romped to a 5-1 win on the back of a hat-trick by ex-Jet Larissa Crummer.
Markussen, who has scored two goals in nine games for the Jets this season, is struggling to recover from a bout of COVID-19 and was a notable absentee in Friday's game.
"Marie is out for the rest of the season," Wilson said.
"She's been quite impacted by COVID and it's been hard to get her back to a place where she feels physically able to give everything that she can give without compromising her health further.
"Obviously it's a massive loss and we've seen over the last couple of weeks we haven't been able to play her for long periods of time."
Monday's trip to Perry Park will be the last game of the eighth-placed Jets season, one which started brightly for Wilson's team but has finished with a depleted squad and also the departure of goalkeeper Georgia Boric last month due to work commitments.
The loss to the Roar was the Jets third in a row and extended a winless run to nine games.
"It's no secret the challenges that we've faced this season and particularly now coming into the back end with so many games, so many injuries and the inability to bring in more players to bolster the squad," she said.
"It has been difficult. We talk about not making excuses but the reality of our situation is that we are significantly down in players."
The Roar, meanwhile, have climbed to sixth on the ladder after back-to-back wins and coach Garrath McPherson is aiming to end the season with two more victories against the Jets and then Canberra United on Thursday.
McPherson has also indicated his team will dedicate Monday's game to those affected by last week's floods in south-east Queensland and northern NSW.
