An injured Taren King felt helpless on the sidelines as the Newcastle Jets limped through a hectic finish to last season.
Now, after signing on for a third campaign in Newcastle, the 25-year-old defender is determined to help the Jets push for a finals place in an expanded A-League Women's competition.
"I injured my knee with four or five games to go and unfortunately left the girls with a bit of a tough battle at the end of the season, but hopefully I can redeem myself coming back in this year," King said.
"I'm really excited to head back up. I love the area. I love the vibe in Newcastle and am really excited to get started again. Hopefully we can develop on from last year and go a little bit better and get some good results on the board."
The 25-year-old defender is one of three players re-signed so far by the Jets for the upcoming season, which starts on November 18, along with midfielder Cassidy Davis and scholarship holder Lara Gooch.
But it is expected coach Ash Wilson will look to retain the core of a squad which made a strong start to a COVID-disrupted campaign only to fade to eighth.
"All of the interviews and people I've spoken to across the three seasons with the Jets now, I say every time that we've got the foundations for a good team," King said.
"Sometimes you get unlucky or last year injuries struck us. I'm really hoping that this year we've got the foundations set and we can build from that and really step up because we do have the potential to do really well."
The steely centre-back is currently nursing the same knee injury she had at the end of the ALW - a tear of the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) in her right knee.
She has been playing for premiers Sydney University in NPLW NSW but will miss the finals series, which starts this weekend.
"I came good and got back into NPL and have been playing pretty well and then four weeks ago I did the exact same knee injury, so I'm currently nursing that but should be ready and raring by the time pre-season kicks off again," King said.
"It was the exact same kind of tackle. The exact same feeling, same part of the game. It was weird.
"There's a few strands hanging on. The physio down here said that's positive and it's just slowly healing back together. It's annoying because it's the more fun part of the season that I'm missing at the moment."
