Central Coast Mariners Head Coach John Hutchinson has labelled some of his side’s pre-season performances as unacceptable, but believes his new-look side have got the talent to compete this season.
The club great returned to Gosford in the off-season, appointed Head Coach of the Mariners following the departure of former boss Warren Moon, who departed at the end of the 2025/26 campaign.
Inheriting a side that finished in ninth place last season, Hutchinson has overseen wholesale change at polytec Stadium since then with 13 players departing and 11 signing on for the coming campaign.
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Of those 11 players to have joined the club only one (Kristian Popovic) is older than 23, with Hutchinson admitting the biggest challenge of the pre-season has been getting his new young side to gel, especially given the club has continued to add players to the squad ahead of their opening fixture.
“Yes and no,” the Mariners head coach said when asked whether he was happy with the team’s pre-season progress.
“We’ve had some really good performances where, take away results, we’ve had some good performances where our behaviours on the field, what we’re trying to do, has been very high.
“We’ve also had some performances where they’re just unacceptable, really.
“So it’s on a roller coaster. You know, it’s hard to judge these boys. Sometimes they’re going to put in one where the performance is just not going to be there.
“That’s the biggest area, it’s consistency for us. Our consistency of what we try to do every day is still growing. Obviously, a lot of young players, a few senior boys in there, it’s just trying to get consistency of what we want to be.”
Another change in the off-season saw the arrival of new owners in Gosford.
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Total Soccer Growth Holdings (TSG), who also own a majority shareholding in English Championship side Queens Park Rangers as well as a minority stake in MLS outfit Los Angeles FC, were announced as the new custodians of the club back in June, with Hutchinson confirming the recruitment policy at the club has shifted towards targeting more talented young players.
“Yeah, look, recruitment’s obviously difficult. The TSG group are recruiting players they see for the future and for now to help us.
“Obviously, that balance is what they deem necessary for the club. We integrated all the new players at the start of pre-season. We’ve obviously had a few bunch come in now, so that takes us back then to day zero.
“We’ve had four months with our players now, so trying to get them up to scratch is what we’re trying to achieve right now. But overall, the group’s looking looking fresh.
“They looked really tired on Saturday. That’s my fault. I’ll take responsibility. We gave them two really hard days of training and leading into to that game. I needed them to play under a bit of fatigue, which they did.
“But at the moment, they’re looking good, and hopefully, new recruits can help instantly.”
Rather than placing an early emphasis on reaching the finals, Hutchinson wants the Mariners to focus on competing in every match and establishing a recognisable style of football, something that starts in Matchweek 1 against rivals Newcastle Jets in an F3 Derby at polytec Stadium.
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“We just want to be competitive week in, week out,” the Mariners head coach said when speaking to local media on Monday afternoon.
“And you know the main goal for us is to play our football. You know we want to be a football team that people can come and watch and walk away and say at least they were consistent. They worked really hard. Whatever the result will be.
“People speak about finals, that’s a long way away for us.
“If we’re not consistent early and performance wise, then we’ve got no shot at the finals.”
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