Central Coast Mariners

Astounded all of Australia by drubbing Melbourne City 6-1 in their own backyard to win the title last season. Suffered a huge setback pre-season with club legend Montgomery leaving his post as manager for a job at Hibernian in Scotland. Mark Jackson was announced as his replacement in September, who importantly has a strong history of developing young players. It’s unclear how he’ll adapt to the A-League. In terms of personnel, they’ve made some really big losses. Triantis was excellent alongside Kaltak at centre-back last season but he’s gone. Hall was always a good replacement but really fell out of favour last season so it could even be Windust. Both are good options but whether they can emulate Triantis remains to be seen. Cummings moved on; one of the most natural goal-getters in the division so replacing him has been a nightmare, although loaning Alou Kuol was a smart move. He’s not as good as his brother Garang but is still one hell of an addition that should bear fruit. Silvera, McGarry, and Nkololo also moved on, which limits them in wide areas. However, they’ve anticipated such, and have Theoharous, Farrell, and new recruit Torres to take their place, two of which are already proven at this level (Theoharous has been really good since joining them). Predominantly, the Mariners have been focusing on both promoting their own youth players and signing youngsters from other clubs, which has gone well. They’re getting a name for themselves too, hence Bayern Munich signing goalkeeper Pavlesic, who wasn’t even number two for them yet. They’ve got really high hopes for attacker Di Pizio, who had some brilliant performances toward the end of last season, and have brought in the likes of midfielders Reec and Wilson, the latter of which is really good; a big surprise that Victory let him go. Their overall squad balance is good though; they should have a solid campaign. How high they’ll finish will largely hinge upon how well the likes of Kuol, Torres, Reec, and Wilson adapt, and there really shouldn’t be any issues there. Tulio, Kaltak, Nisbet, and Vukovic remain essential players. Were short of a backup left-back but have signed Noah Smith, which was a great move. Farrell has improved his disciplinary record anyway so it shouldn’t be a big problem if Smith takes a while to adjust. May start a little slowly but should be fine in due course. A title push seems a bit unlikely but a high finish is quite likely.