Central Coast Mariners have opened their 2026-27 Ninja A-League Women campaign with a 4-2 away win over Brisbane Roar at Gioca Stadium, with Peta Trimis, Talia Kapetanellis, Skye Halmarick and league-debutant Morgan Witz all on the scoresheet. It was the first competitive match for the Club’s newly restructured Women’s program, and six of the starting side were new to the Club this season.
The Mariners wasted no time enacting the work of the past five weeks’ pre-season. In the 7th minute, Trimis fired a right-footed finish from the edge of the six yard box into the top left corner, after set-up work from Charlotte Lancaster and a cushioned headed pass from Danika Matos.
Brisbane worked their way back into the contest and levelled in the 26th minute from a set piece. Murphy Agnew’s delivery from a corner found Daisy Brown, who headed in from close range to make it 1-1.
The Mariners pushed again after the equaliser. Roar goalkeeper Chloe Lincoln saved Halmarick’s header on the half-hour, and a run of blocked and wayward efforts followed from Greta Kraszula, Halmarick, Trimis and Tess Quilligan. The breakthrough came just before the break. In the 44th minute, Kapetanellis took the ball on the left side of the box and curled a left-footed finish into the top right corner to send the Mariners into half-time 2-1 up.
The Mariners extended their lead in the 59th minute, as Halmarick hammered the ball into the top right corner from the centre of the box after a cross from Kapetanellis, capping a flowing move from deep.
Morgan Witz, introduced in the 69th minute for Eliza Familton, made an immediate impact on her A-League Women debut. Six minutes later, in the 75th minute, she buried a shot into the bottom right corner from Halmarick’s pass, moments after Trimis had struck the outside of the post. Roar answered within two minutes through Katrina Guillou, who fired a left-footed strike into the top right corner from Zara Kruger’s assist.
Quilligan, Kraszula and Taren King were each shown a yellow card between the 78th and 83rd minutes as Brisbane pushed for a way back. Heffernan’s side also made late changes as Te Reremoana Walker and Kiara De Domizio both made their Mariners debuts replacing Quilligan and Halmarick in the 86th minute, and Kaiya Buchanan and Elizabeth Barwick-Grey replaced Lancaster and Rebecca Lake in stoppage time. In all, nine of the Club’s new signings made their competitive Mariners debuts on Saturday. Guillou twice went close for the Roar before the final whistle, but the Mariners held on.
“That was a really proud performance from our girls tonight,” said Head Coach Dean Heffernan.
“The one aspect that I always really like is how much we defend, how we back each other up, recover [for] each other. If one player gets beaten, the next player’s always in to support and help.”
“We’ve got some pace, we’ve got some power… there’s four [different] goalscorers so we couldn’t be happier… but the way we defended and built a foundation from the game with our defensive structure is the thing I’m most impressed about.”
The Mariners now return to polytec Stadium for their first home match of the season against Canberra United on Saturday 24 October at 3pm.
