The 2025/26 season was not short of challenges both on and off the field for the Central Coast Mariners, but the club once again showed the resilience and community spirit that defines the Coast.
Despite missing out on finals football in both the Men and Women for the first time in six years, the campaign still delivered some memorable moments and standout performances to celebrate.
A-League Men
Highlights included scintillating wins away to Adelaide (4-0) and Macarthur (3-1), as well as gritty victories on the road in Brisbane (2-1) and Auckland (1-0), but no result will live longer in the memory than our extraordinary 3-2 opening-day victory over the Jets at Our Paradise, with Nico Duarte scoring a last-gasp winner just seconds after an Andrew Redmayne penalty save.
That was the first of a number of standout performances and big moments from Redders in his return season on the Coast. The 37-year-old rolled back the years and defied the critics with an outstanding individual campaign, capped off by him taking home four awards at the End of Season Awards, including the coveted Mariners Medal.
Another key player was Ali Auglah, who proved to be a revelation after joining the club in the January transfer window. The 24-year-old lit up the A-League with a stunning collection of goals, including our Goal of the Season winner – a trademark curling left-footed strike against Melbourne Victory – and ended the season as our second-highest goalscorer (5), one behind Men’s Golden Boot winner Sabit Ngor.
After replacing departing treble-winning Head Coach Mark Jackson before the season, Warren Moon led the team tremendously as Head Coach and will be fondly remembered for his time on the Coast after guiding the squad through difficult periods with calmness, professionalism and a strong understanding of the Mariners values.
A-League Women
Also under new leadership following the departure of Championship-winning Head Coach Emily Husband, who took a role with the Matildas, Kory Babington continued to blood young talent – a major positive from our A-League Women’s season – despite us narrowly missing out on a third consecutive finals appearance on the final day of the campaign.
Standout results included completing doubles over eventual runners-up Wellington and F3 rivals Newcastle, as well as a 3-0 opening-day victory over Adelaide and a thrilling 3-2 win over Brisbane on New Year’s Eve, but the major positives were some outstanding individual seasons and the continued rise of some of our brightest young talent.
Greta Krazula, Peta Trimis and Annalise Rasmussen emerged as key figures in the team, with the latter’s 11 goals in 11 games earning her a huge mid-season move to Italian giants Juventus.
Trimis ended the season with five goals and four assists – her best A-League season yet – while her unbelievable long-range strike against Melbourne Victory earned both the Mariners and the A-League’s Goal of the Season awards, whilst Kraszula’s understated consiststency was finally rewarded with the Coach’s Player of the Year Award and the Women’s Mariners Medal.
Two new teenage stars broke onto the scene in Avaani Prakash and local Coastie Eliza Familton, who gave us one of the moments of the season when she scored on her Mariners debut to seal a 4-1 F3 Derby victory at Our Paradise.
Izzy Gomez continued her rise to stardom with another fantastic individual season, reaching double figures for goal contributions (4 goals, 6 assists) for the first time in her career. Her performances saw her pick up two fan-voted awards at our End of Season Awards, earn a Matildas recall for June 2026 and, finally, claim the biggest individual honour in Australian women’s football – the Julie Dolan Medal at the A-League’s Dolan Warren Awards Night.
