NEWCASTLE Jets owner Con Constantine remains adamant he will not consider using service agreements to top up player wages, despite losing five members of last season's championship-winning team to rival A-League outfits.
Newcastle's engine-room enforcer, Adam Griffiths, revealed in The Herald on Thursday that he had accepted a three-year deal with new franchise Gold Coast United, who will enter the A-League competition next season along with North Queensland.
Grand final stars Mark Bridge and Stuart Musialik (both Sydney) and Andrew Durante (Wellington) parted company with the Jets just days after helping beat Central Coast in the title decider last February.
Newcastle skipper Jade North signed a three-year deal with North Queensland earlier this month, and both he and Griffiths will head north at the end of the season.
And the mini-exodus could continue if speculation linking Newcastle goalkeeper Ante Covic to Japanese clubs is accurate.
The wholesale departures have left fans asking why Constantine does not consider service agreements third-party sponsorship deals that do not count under the salary cap.
A-League clubs operate under a $1.9 million salary cap but can pay their marquee player and under-23 marquee player outside the cap.
Clubs are also entitled to pay up to $450,000 in additional wages to chosen players through service agreements.
Jets coach Gary van Egmond admitted this week that Newcastle "have the smallest budget there is no getting away from that fact".
Constantine has long been opposed to service agreements and on principle refuses to embrace them.
He believes they are "not transparent" and leave Newcastle at a disadvantage because the other seven existing clubs have far larger populations and greater opportunities for corporate support.
Constantine said yesterday that "nothing will change, I can guarantee you".
"Last year, as an example, we had no service agreements and we won the grand final," he said.
"Having service agreements doesn't guarantee your club will be successful.
"Last year was living proof."
Constantine said anyone who was critical of his stance should consider how much money Sydney have spent on players over the years.
"Just look at John Aloisi, how much he's costing them and how many goals he has scored," he said.
After confidently predicting before their title defence kicked off that Newcastle had assembled a stronger squad than last season, Constantine remains confident that the Jets, who are five points behind the top four, can still justify his faith.
"I think this season we've been unlucky," he said.
"We're only a couple of games away from the top four.
"We've got our players back from the Young Socceroos, and they should be full of energy, so let's see how we go over the next three or four games."
Constantine said that the Jets were negotiating with a household name based overseas and were hopeful of signing him as replacement for departed marquee striker Edmundo Zura.
"We're just waiting to see what's going to happen, and we can't name him until he signs on the dotted line," he said.
"As you will appreciate, these players overseas get paid a lot more than we can offer. All we can offer them is the Newcastle lifestyle.
"But if we get it over the line, it will be a big signing for our city."
Despite speculation that the Jets were chasing Sheffield United Socceroo David Carney, Constantine said they had no interest in the former Sydney winger.
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