Newcastle Jets boss Gary van Egmond admits a lack of match fitness has meant neither Spencer Prior nor Dez Giraldi being offered contracts. "We need people that are ready to go," van Egmond told the Newcastle Herald.

"Both Spencer and Dez are underdone, and it would have taken a while for them to hit their straps.

"And rightly so. They are out of season. While ever the [state and A-Leagues] do not overlap we are going to encounter that.

"I think they could have done a reasonable job, but we don't have the time to persevere.

"Spencer was always only going to be a short-term thing. With Dez it was more with a look to the Asian Champions League. We had him earmarked as a replacement for Marko Jesic (knee), but the favourable diagnosis on him [Jesic] has shifted the goalposts."

Prior has not played since leaving English Championship club Southend United 18 month ago.