On this week’s episode of Dub Zone, Mariners star Isabel Gomez and head coach Emily Husband were lauded for their respective roles in Sunday’s Grand Final triumph over Melbourne Victory.
On Sunday night, Isabel Gomez and Emily Husband ensured their names would forever be remembered on the Central Coast.
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Gomez, amid a dream week that included a Matildas call-up ahead of her potential international debut, and a Semi-Final goal to knock out Melbourne City and send the Mariners to the Grand Final, scored for Central Coast in both regular time, and in the penalty shootout that decided a 1-1 (5-4) win to the Mariners over Melbourne Victory.
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Husband, meanwhile, oversaw the action from the touchline as the club’s very-first Ninja A-League Championship winner – and the first female coach to win the Ninja A-League’s ultimate team prize since 2017.
Mariners folklore has a new chapter after the 2024-25 Ninja A-League season, and Husband and Gomez have been key protagonists in the fairytale story.
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On this week’s episode of Dub Zone, A-Leagues commentator Teo Pellizzeri and Sydney FC legend Teresa Polias joined host Amy Duggan to reflect on the drama of Sunday’s Grand Final at AAMI Park, as well as the magnitude of Central Coast’s achievements in Husband’s second season in charge, and just the second season of the club’s return to the competition after a 15-year hiatus.
“This is such a triumph of coaching on the various different aspects of the job,” Pellizzeri said.
“Eight of last season’s starters (for the Mariners) in the Elimination Finals were not in the lineup for this Grand Final. So they didn’t just reboot when they came in from recess, they rebooted again this off-season.
“We talked about the quality of players that had left: Jazmin Wardlow was probably their most important defender last season, Casey Dumont was their starting keeper – never mind Kyah Simon, Wurigumula, Rola Badawiya, Faye Bryson. They had to completely rebuild the entire squad across multiple departments to do that two seasons in a row, and yet, I think that is a distant second to how good the in-game coaching was, making adjustments on the fly.
“Recasting Taylor Ray as a centre-back, having to get players to adjust their roles and play new positions.
“The actual match management of Emily Husband is one of the reasons that they were able to upset the odds time and again as underdogs through this Final Series. And yet, it’s both aspects – the recruiting and the management – which have been such a success.”
Husband’s player management has been a standout facet of her two-season stint at the Mariners, with many of her Central Coast squad members speaking publicly about her ability to connect on a personal level to help get the best out of each and every one of her players.
But one player in particular has come along in leaps and bounds throughout her two-year tenure under Husband’s watch: Sunday’s Grand Final star Gomez.
The 22-year-old received the first Matildas call-up of her career under Husband at the Mariners in November but suffered a knee injury which kept her sidelined for 12 weeks of the season.
But Gomez returned to the Mariners’ squad in February for the run home towards the Finals Series and since took her season goal tally to seven – including goals in both the Semi-Final second leg to defeat the previously unbeaten Premiers Melbourne City, and the opening goal of Sunday’s Grand Final.
This is a player destined for great things in a career that to date has seen her play at Western Sydney Wanderers, Wellington Phoenix and the Mariners, where she’s developed under four different female coaches – an anomaly in a competition where the majority of teams are lead by male head coaches.
“I think their season was cratering without her (Gomez), and she came back at absolutely the right time, just to save them,” Pellizzeri said.
“But even with that said, you know, the combination of these two (Gomez/Husband) has just been a perfect match, really.
“Izzy Gomez is a little bit unique in that she played for the Wellington Phoenix in that season in Wollongong, after she only played five times for the Western Sydney Wanderers, didn’t get much of a look in there, then went to New Zealand for a season, and then obviously has come back to Australia.
“It’s a great triumph for women coaching broadly for Em Husband to win the title, but also Izzy Gomez’s history. Wanderers had Catherine Cannuli as an assistant, and then the two seasons at Wellington she had Gemma Lewis and Natalie Lawrence as her coach, and now Em Husband.
“So that’s four consecutive seasons under a female coach, which is a rarity in this competition, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Polias replied. “And I think it gives a lot of confidence to young female coaches, plying their trade and trying to get to where they want to be, that they can achieve amazing things in the league.”
“(Husband) is a people person, and I think nowadays, you as a coach, I think person management is a massive factor, and you can see the way that the players are around her, and how comfortable they’ve mentioned on the show, how comfortable they are in approaching Em Husband for whatever it may be.”
Pellizzeri added: “Em Husband is a football tragic; her own players describe her as treating it as like chess on grass.
“But you can have as much theory as you want. If the players don’t buy in and don’t listen, it’s just noise. And I think the reason that she’s able to communicate her message is that you just have to listen to how the players talk about her, and the effect in terms of her person, personality and communication skills.
“The insights we’re picking up is that she does tailor the message for each individual in the group. It’s not one message for everyone, and that’s very different to a lot of coaches, both in men’s and women’s football. You have to really know your squad quite well and trust your own communication in order to have that level of relationship with the players.”
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