In the starting side or not, homegrown Jets defender Jason Hoffman says his motivation to perform and succeed remains the same.
And the 33-year-old believes he can improve his own game as the Jets look to lift theirs at both ends of the pitch against unbeaten A-League leaders Melbourne City at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
Hoffman started in 22 of his 24 appearances for Newcastle last season but he has come off the bench in all four games this campaign for coach Arthur Papas' new-look line-up.
Papas, though, said starting spots were up for grabs this week after the Jets' 4-0 loss away to Melbourne Victory last Friday night. That followed a 2-0 defeat to Western Sydney on the road.
Hoffman has steadily gained more game time this season, starting with 10 and 15-minute efforts in wins over Perth and Wellington, then 30 and 45 minutes in the recent losses.
Hoffman's drive to get into the starting side remains but he was also happy to do whatever role the side required.
"I've always been a driven individual," Hoffman said.
"I always want to achieve footballing goals and I think without that, I think I would have been out of the game a long time ago, so for me nothing changes.
"I feel like I want to play as long as possible and I feel like I can still offer value, and as long as that's appreciated, I'll play as long as I can.
"I'm happy to be a part of this group and I'm happy to play my part in what is best for the team, because the No.1 thing for me growing up in the region is to see the club doing well.
"Of course you have individual goals and want to play as much football as you can, but I've always been someone who puts the team first.
"You have to be positive and upbeat regardless of whether you're a substitute, out of the squad or starting, your attitude shouldn't change and I believe that serves the individual and the team well long term."
Papas has called on his players to be more aggressive and better in one-on-one battles this week and Hoffman hoped to do just that.
"As a defender, it's part of the job, you need to sometimes be a bit nasty," he said.
"That's been lacking a little bit I think, even on my end over the last couple of games. We all have to look at each other and individually first, and we need to go that extra mile because for the most part the football side is there.
"We can talk about stats all we like but when it comes to the crunch at both ends, we've missed the mark sometimes.
"It's a bit of aggression, a bit of focus and a bit of discipline and that's something that comes from senior players that can help drive that on the field."
Despite the losses and the task ahead on Saturday, Hoffman said the Jets were optimistic about "sitting pretty" heading into the month-long rest after the City game.
"Obviously we're all disappointed with the result of the last two weeks, but it's two wins and two losses and the opportunity is huge to go into the World Cup break in a good position with three points on Saturday," he said.
"We're optimistic about the first few days of this week on how quickly we can bounce back and then we'll push all our focus towards hopefully a very aggressive performance at home because that's the area where we feel we let ourselves down. We weren't aggressive enough and obviously Melbourne City is playing good football so a result there will give everyone a boost.
"The scoreline wasn't good on the weekend but there were certainly some positives.
"I know people probably won't analyse it as much as we do but there definitely were positives, but in the big moments, we let ourselves down and unfortunately at both ends in the box, the big moments count.
"If we're more aggressive and focused at both ends of the park, I'm sure the football in between will be there and that's got to be the focus."
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