Central Coast Mariners striker Ryan Edmondson has dedicated his gamebreaking display in Saturday night’s Grand Final win over Melbourne Victory to those who took a chance on bringing him to the club four months ago.
Edmondson had only scored two Isuzu UTE A-League goals before Saturday night’s Grand Final against Melbourne Victory – but he had doubled that figure by the end of the night.
His first Grand Final strike was a 91st-minute equaliser – a goal that forced extra time just when the Mariners’ hopes of back-to-back Championships were fading. It will go down as one of the most important goals in the club’s history.
TREBLE COMPLETE! Mariners crowned Isuzu UTE A-League champions after extra-time thriller
JOHNNY WARREN MEDALIST: Mariners star Josh Nisbet claims Johnny Warren Medal after dream season: Full final leaderboard
His second, in added time of the second half of extra-time, sealed the deal for the Mariners.
The 3-1 win ended with the Englishman claiming the Joe Marston Medal as the best player afield in Central Coast’s Grand Final triumph.
Edmondson is just 23 years old, a former Leeds United academy star and U19 England international who experienced a series of loan moves away from his boyhood club before a permanent move to Carlisle United in 2022, and then on to the Mariners in January of 2024.
Central Coast boss Mark Jackson was a coach in the academy when Edmondson was rising through the ranks, and after taking on the top job at the Mariners, offered him a chance he never expected.
After scoring two goals in the Mariners’ second-consecutive Championship, a sea of the club’s fans flooded the pitch, and swarmed around their Grand Final star. One fan draped a Leeds United scarf around Edmondson’s neck as he spoke to Network 10.
Edmondson took the opportunity to express his gratitude to the club for offering him the chance to start anew.
“It’s a position I never thought I’d find myself in,” Edmondson said.
“I thank everyone for the opportunity to be able to do what I do, especially the chairman Rich (Richard Peil), Simmo (Matt Simon) and Jacko (Mark Jackson) for having the faith to bring me over here, and I’m glad I can repay them and contribute to the game. Thankfully I did that tonight.
“Honestly, I’m turning more and more Australian every day. It’s mental!
“I’m grateful for each and every person out here, it’s not just a football club, this is a family that we’ve got here. Whether it’s on the pitch or off the pitch, from the players on to the backroom staff, to the fans. We’re all a family, and I think it shows.”
Edmondson was named the best player afield in the presentation that followed his post-match interview, and shortly after he rejoined the Network 10 panel with both the Joe Marston Medal and a Championship medal draped around his neck.
Jackson joined Edmondson on the panel, where he was asked about the 23-year-old’s match-winning performance, and what the Isuzu UTE A-League can expect to see from him in the seasons to come.
“From my point of view, I’ve worked with Ryan a long time, I know what he can do, he’s going to be worked hard in the off-season and he’s going to be worked hard in pre-season, because he’s nowhere near his potential yet – as with a lot of the players.
“We’re going to work them really, really hard. I want to enjoy the moment now, but we can’t rest on that. We have a group of staff here that want to develop players and get them better, no matter what age, even the older players.
“We’ll take away that ceiling and make them better. That’s my passion, it’s (assistant coach Danny Schofield’s) passion, it’s the passion of the rest of the staff as well. That’s what we’ll try and do here.”
After winning the Joe Marston Medal, Edmondson was asked to give his impression on the Isuzu UTE A-League, and what he tells his friends and family in England about the competition his name will now be forever connected to after his Grand Final heroics.
“You know what, I was actually on the phone to a friend of mine the other day, and he was asking me how I’m finding it and I said: you know what? It’s the biggest surprise I’ve had in a long time in football,” Edmondson said.
“I said to him: Honestly, if we took our team over to (England’s) League One – I think we’d smash League Two, personally – but I said if we took our team over to League One or even the Championship, we’d give people a good go, I can tell you that.
“This league is looked over a lot. I think people just bypass it as if it’s like farmer’s football – I can tell you it’s far from it. You can see with the men’s All Stars the other night against Newcastle – granted they were young lads, but they’re young lads at a top Premier League team – and I think it was good for the lads to go out there and showcase what we’re about – not only in our club but the league itself
“There’s so much talent over here and I think it’s only going to get better and better.”
