Mark Jackson: “We have to write another story”

Pre-season preparations, squad news and a message to the fans from Head Coach Mark Jackson, in his pre-Melbourne Victory press conference.

Central Coast Mariners Head Coach Mark Jackson spoke to the media on Thursday morning, ahead of our huge season opener against Melbourne Victory.

Match Preview: Grand Final rematch kicks-off 24/25 A-League

“Ready, prepared and hungry”

“We’re focussed on developing the team to be competitive in the A-League and the Champions League. We’ve gone all out during pre-season to prepare the boys ready for the battle of the season, it will be tough, there will be ups and downs but I think the players are ready for the challenge.

“We’ve played competitive games which gives us a little bit of an advantage. Any game at the start of the season is a big game, especially a home game and we’re looking to start well in front of our fans. We’ve got to concentrate on what we do and perform on the night.

“Everybody wants to achieve the ultimate goal at the end of the season [the Championship]. With such a turnover of players, we try and embed them into our culture, our way of playing, the quicker we can do that, the more successful we can be on the pitch.

“We proved that last year, it took a bit of time and I think it will take time again this year but I have a really good feeling about the players in this week leading up to the game that they are ready, prepared and hungry to get going.

“We are a team and collective, every individual works their hardest for the team because we understand if we get things right as a team, then every individual benefits from that. That’s our mindset and that’s the culture of our club, that won’t change.”

Preparing for Melbourne Victory:

“We approach all the games the same, we look at our opponents and where we can exploit them, then put a game plan together without going away from our principles of play.” Jacko said.

“When we play in the Champions League, we’re looking at teams we don’t know too much about so we have to do a lot of research. We know a lot about Melbourne Victory, they have a lot of new players and a new manager, but we’ve analysed their performances in pre-season and we feel like we’re ready going into this game.”

“We’ve done a lot of work on Melbourne, we know what they’re about and what dangers they can bring. They have some fantastic players and an experienced manager, so we have prepared well.”

Trent Sainsbury injury and leadership in the group:

“Trent is going to be out until the New Year, that’s a big blow for him and for us. It was a freak incident in the gym, there was nothing any of the staff or him could have done, it’s just one of those things.

“No injury ever comes at a good time and any injury is not a good injury, to have him missing for that length of time is a blow but we’ve dealt with that as a squad. We will miss his leadership on the pitch but I’ve had chats with him and he still has a massive role to play in mentoring players off the pitch as well as working to get himself back fit as soon as possible.”

“Brian Kaltak is the vice captain so he will captain the team. Everybody leads in different ways and I expect eleven leaders on the pitch.

Evolving our style in pre-season:

“The players are gelling really well, we had a training camp in pre-season which was essential for us to spend five says in each others pockets, to delve deeper into the psychology of the group and find out the leaders and different characters. That was a really beneficial period for us. The culture of our club is very unique, we work in a certain way and it’s my job to develop that.

“We’ve worked a lot on out of possession because that’s the hardest thing to get into players when they come into a new system. We have a way of playing with the ball and we have developed that in pre-season, I think it’s important to evolve your style.

“There are certain ‘non-negotiables’ we have without the ball but there are variations we have tried to implement we have the ball, because we have different players.

“We try to recruit players like-for-like but they’re not always the same. We fully believe the players we’ve recruited will get to the level we want, but that takes a lot of hard work from them and from us, it’s a process which we will stick to.”

A message to the fans:

“We saw last year how the fans get behind us, the support we had towards the end of the season. Our membership sales are higher than ever so I hope we can have the fans in the stadium and behind us from day one. As a club we’re hoping for a great occasion, a great atmosphere and positive performance and result.” Jacko said.

“Enjoy the occasion, bring the noise. I love a loud stadium here. Our success last year is history and now we have to write another story and make some new memories for the fans. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the game.”

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