EXCLUSIVE: Central Coast Mariners’ celebrated team spirit has been given an added boost with the squad finally reaping the benefits of a $40 million centre of excellence under development at Tuggerah.
The reigning premiers are enjoying their first pre-season at the centre, making the most of the new pitches, gymnasium and common room.
After enduring years as the A-League’s nomads, the Gosford outfit now have a base for training and physio treatment and share lunch together after post-morning drills.
The ambitious project is already paying dividends, with talented striker Bernie Ibini-Isei telling FourFourTwo Australia the new facilities helped clinch his signature on a two-year extension with the Mariners.
Mariners general manager of football Lawrie McKinna said it was a far cry from his days as coach when the squad was shuttled from one training ground to the next.
“It makes a huge difference,” McKinna told au.fourfourtwo.com. “When I was the coach we hit 19 training venues in five years. To be based in one place is just fantastic.
“The new training field is complete and the boys have started in the last four weeks training on the field. They’ve got one full field and one three-quarter field.”
With Stage 1 complete, work is beginning on the next phase – a 130-room Travelodge hotel and swimming pool which should be finalised within 12 months, followed by a six-storey office complex.
Plans for the centre also include seven full-sized training pitches, a 3000-seat stadium, club and function centre.
McKinna, who was elected to Gosford City Council on the weekend standing on a platform that included overhauling the coast’s playing fields, believes the new base could give the team an added edge heading into Season 8.
There will be plenty of opportunity to test that theory with the club facing two blockbuster preseason games against Adelaide United on Wednesday and Melbourne Victory on Sunday.
Meanwhile the hoopla surrounding the Newcastle Jets new academy has put some noses out of joint among their F3 rivals, with some fans feeling the Mariners’ ground-breaking initiatives in the area of young player development have been overlooked.
McKinna said the Mariners already had the structures in place to provide development pathways for talented footballers on the coast and throughout western NSW.
“When I saw the stuff about the Jets academy – it’s all fantastic but we’ve been running an academy this year already,” McKinna said.
“We’ve been running it in conjunction with Central Coast Football, which is similar to what Jets are going to do with Northern NSW Football, and this season they actually played as Central Coast Mariners Academy in the NSW Super League.”
Five of the academy teams made it to the finals series.
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