Whose the other A-league team?
Do you reckon the chances of him leaving the Mariners are high for Nisbet?

imo I don’t get why he wouldn’t wait until at least after the AFC cup final assuming we win and take the prize money, allowing us to surely offer him a bit more than what he’s probably been already offered (probs around 200-250k?) how much is the difference between what the Mariners are wiling to pay and Melbourne city? and or the other interested party.

Yeah I don’t disagree and unfortunately another by product of our footballing pyramid and the lack of a second division means the depth of Referee quality is extremely low. As much as they should be demoted it’s unlikely :(.

Yeah summed up well and I also have to add, we have to remember a part of the bigger picture here. SS you say the second yellow is appalling and yes it should have been a foul we all agree more or less Alex King got it wrong. It however, does not give the right to Irankunda to have a go at the Referee (although he was correct in feeling frustrated), we must as a collective fan base/football community recognise that referee abuse often flows down from the top of the game.

I myself as a referee make plenty of mistakes of which are often caught on video and I have to admit too and i’m sure Alex King will do so as well. We categorically cannot have professionals (regardless of age) showing both verbal and physical (motions) of dissent towards referee’s.

As for protection of flair players, I may be in the minority (I don’t think so) but if he wants to reach the top of the game he will be fouled continuously (off the ball and on it) as he is very good. I don’t want to see referee’s blowing soft fouls for on the ball challenges against him which in my opinion is what your asking for when your demanding protection. Off-the ball fouls for sure an increase in protection is needed no doubt.
Last thing I want to happen for him is for him to be nursed by the referee’s and then he gets over to Europe and can’t handle the extreme aggressive nature of the overseas leagues.

All in all i was a great game, except for the booing which wasn’t great to hear.

The same guy who lost 4 times to Monty in 1 season?

Sydney fc v Melbourne City will be an extremely tough game, but I can’t help but feel Sydney have already played their Grand final against WSW. Melbourne City will just be too strong across both legs 5-2 City across both.

Adelaide v Mariners is the real match. 1st leg to end 2-2. Second leg to end 3-1 Mariners.

Mariners showed their quality against Adelaide last game and their young players stepped up to the occasion something the Adelaide young boys didn’t. The pressure will get to most of the Adelaide young boys especially in the second leg away to a hostile crowd no doubt making ti tough for them. We saw how to contain Irankunda last game and really control him, no doubt the same tactics will be used by Montgomery and the boys.

One thing that is going to be key in this game is the level of experience the Mariners are bringing into this game. Players like balard, nisbet, farrel, cummings, vukovic and many more brining with them pervious finals experiences. We saw last year and against M Bulls the year before how the team and club struggled under the spotlight of finals football. Lots of lessons have been learned no doubt from the squad and the backroom staff to help the boys get over the line.

As for Adelaide Goodwin needs to step up even more, no one can deny he went missing the last time they played CCM, no doubt he’ll be well up for this one and expect him to produce a MoM performance in the first leg with at least 1 assist and a goal. It’ll be interesting if Adelaide come out and play with that attacking flair that we are so used to seeing, or do they go more defensive? Corners, free kicks goal kicks, do they leave more players back? Do they continue to try and build out from the back against a high press or play long to Hiro/Blackwood.

Well none the less we’ll find out very shortly … Bring it on!

Also have to remember the catchment size the Central Coast Mariners have, it is by far the smallest of any A-league club. If we purely stayed homegrown we would maybe only develop 1 or 2 solid A-league players every couple of years. I.e Lachie Wales, Trent B over a 5 year lean period.
The fact is the club now runs on the basis of opportunity, M Di Pizio coming through now would probably still be slumming it in WSW u20 team maybe their NPL 1.

Were still a youth development club and poaching, developing young talent that aren’t given a go at other clubs will generate revenue that’ll by far and away improve the local training and youth faculties on the coast. It is key to being a successful club.

Guess I was right. Smacked them 4-0 and 4-1

TBF coming from a Mariners supporter the belief to go to Adelaide and win is huge and based on form. Yeah we haven’t won since 2016 however the 3-2 a couple of years ago was well … i don’t want to speak of it and the finals game last year. Goodwin’s goal came from a mistake from an NPL CB and Nestory’s came in the last minute it was very close nonetheless. It was also a game where CCM dominated possession although not chances created. We play very direct however on the counter. Very rarely and i dislike this about my team but we cannot beat sides who sit behind the ball, just can’t do it against quality sides if Adelaide do that i see them winning.

Nonetheless i would love to see the boys try and take Adelaide on head on itll make for an entertaining game for sure!

Iv,e tipped 2-2.

As for the comments on irankunda, it was extremely sad to see and I’m sure the kid and the club know that the fans don’t accept that behaviour. Pretty sure he is stepping back from being an investor but may need and should be pushed as chairperson. Disappointing considering he was key in alou and garang’s development.

Gotta remeber Nkololo only became good after he scored against City in round 10 last season. Both Ayongo and Tulio need to be given time, especially when ayongo has only played 200 minutes and Tulio even less at around 90 minutes. Surely you can’t judge off that aye? Nkololo was the same as them last year.

I the Mariners did nothing wrong here mate.

Short end of the straw is, he hasn’t started any first team games and the club is getting 500k for him. Garang was on a youth contract until May this year. You don’t go handing out 5 year deals on potential in training. Hey had to perform on the pitch which he did. Hey would not have signed a long term contract anyway.

Hey was so good and the Mariners didn’t want to lose him for free they had to meet his contract demands. (I.e. 2 years and a release clause for overseas clubs. (The Mariners agreed and put in sell on clauses as such)).

Yeah I agree with the youth player assessments. The recruitment drive was more due to the lack of local players coming through in those positions. Especially up front and in attacking departments. The production line of defenders does look promising though.

I totally get what you mean by Moneyball signings, and your right it often fails. However, the Mariners have probably lost more revenue over the last 7 years than any other club. Look back at last season we brought in Cummings, Goddard, Beni and Moreshe all on free transfers. 2/4 (Cummings and Beni) will leave on transfer fees in the 6 figure region at the end of the season (Beni was confirmed by the owner to have recieved an offer in the 6 figure region but it was rejected as they believe they can get more in the next summer window). If cummings does well for the socceroos who knows how much he’ll go for (we know the stupid amount of money english clubs throw at clubs.

Sergio Raimundo (Assistant) has a great scouting network in Portugal and that’s where we are finding these players (Ayongo, Tulio, Kelechi) Even if one of them sells for more than $200,000 (likely with the way Monty plays we can exploit the goldmine of Ayongo). The fact is there is most defiantly no re sale value in 30+ year old foreigners. 24+ foreigners however, there is.

With regard to the youth setup your right we do have great talents (Kusevsiki will play), but the fact is when you come up agaisnt WSW who have (Triantis, miguel di pizo and his brother, who are all very good and will play at A-league level, AND BETTER THAN YOUR OWN) of course you will poach them. The only other youngster who might get game time is Lachlan Baylis (Attacking midfielder)

Most of our youth debuted last season, the rest simply aren’t to the level.

They do have a lot of firepower your right. However, I watched them two weeks ago in pre-season against CCM. First 15 min all mariners leading to 1-0. However, the following half an hour was very promising for city except Jmac was extremely quiet. Only Nabbout looked dangerous (hitting the post). The 2nd half wasn’t great for City they really got run over by the mariners the sooner the half went on (City only made 3 subs) to the mariners (7) probably the reason.

Mate we could’ve seen another one as well. Nec Triantis who just signed for the Mariners looks extremely promising. I have no idea why WSW oh don’t worry it was WSW and their horriable youth development pathway to the first team. Volapto also went through WSW.

Yo Andy (secret scout) mate has Redmayne finally ended up in your good book?

Dan Hall and RT are injured or coming back from injury. There was no other choice for Monty. Oli wasn’t gonna play and in the end Max balard put a monster of a performane in winning many duels at just 21.

Nice preview

You wanna expand on the Boz situation by all reports he’s still training well. I don’t think Monty is in the wrong for leaving them out considering how good Ballard and nisbet have been.

Tongyik’s brother passed away only a couple of weeks ago, i thought he was given personal leave to go and see his family during this time.

I’m sorry I think you missed Stu’s point. Neither welington, perth or newcastle were slumped down the bottom with an owner who didn’t give a shit about the club for 6 years. 6 YEARS. Those clubs you have mentioned had a tough 1 and 2 years but not 6. The Mariners are the pin-up boys for hardship and diversity, the club has the smallest budget in the league by a long-way and there is no question about that. Just because they have done well the past two years dosen’t mean that tag goes to another club like a Perth glory who have had one shocker of a year.

The only reason Dan hall is so good is because of Rowles. Arguably the best in the team on form. That Sydney game you can take with a grain of salt, a one off. there where more players off that night including dan hall. Without Kye this CCM team goes no where. Key blocks and tackles every miunte of the game.

Do you reckon Oli has a fey years in him? I love him as a CCM fan but if you look closely at his game especially when it gets passed the 60min he almost dies on the pitch and can’t be bothered to track back. I get that maybe his distribution and ability to control a game may outweigh that but I would honestly rather them have sold him and keep on playing balard and Steele alongside Nisbet.

I think what led to Oli being pissed off though is that he had no intention last year of signing with the mariners and only did so because of Covid and wanted a move back overseas hence a two-year contract whereby they could sell him after last season except that didn’t happen. Now whether the overseas offer was to little for the Mariners to accept who knows all we know is that Monty has some big balls keeping him out of the 11 and expecting their to be no divide in the changing room.

No doubt kai has excellent potential but by some unforeseen circumstance whereby our starting CB’s go down, would you really want Trewin coming in at international level? I wouldn’t going off current form against someone like Rowles.

I’d like to know the other CB’s you’d take from overseas though

Disagree on Rowles probably the best young Aussie CB we have domestically who is consistently playing 90 min. Name me someone domestically at CB that should replace him in the squad? Not saying hey should play but he deserves the chance

Nah I mean how it would work is say CCF are by themselves so they would invest heavily into the grassroots. If players from the local teams trial or are scouted in then they just become apart of the Mariners who are apart of the APL.
The FA can’t say to a 15 year old who played in a disassociated competition that because of that they can’t play for an associated team. That would just be disgusting from them. Just because one competition is disaffiliated with another dosent mean you can’t change.