Central Coast Mariners’ 2026/27 season gets underway this evening as we make the short trip south to face Sydney United 58 in the Australia Cup Round of 32.
The Mariners are looking to make a strong start to the new season, with the A-League campaign now less than three months away, the Australia Cup is a fantastic opportunity to prepare with competitive fixtures.
🆕 New Faces
A busy off-season for the Mariners has seen plenty of exciting changes since the conclusion of 2025/26 A-League campaign in May.
Almost one month ago, our ownership takeover was completed and since then, preparations for the 2026/27 season have been full steam ahead. Less than one week later, Mariners legend John Hutchinson was announced as Head Coach and a number of player announcements have followed.
Hutch is Home: Mariners legend returns as Head Coach
We have been happy to confirm the contract extensions of Diesel Herrington, Oli Lavale and Storm Roux – who enters a potentially record-breaking 11th season with the club – as well as a statement new long-term deal for Haine Eames.
Central Coast locals Shumba Mutokoyi and Jesse Mantell have also signed their first scholarship deals with the club, with our strategy to recruit and develop Australia’s finest young talent beginning right here on the Central Coast.
With that, a string of fresh, young faces in the squad who could make their Mariners debuts against Sydney United include Oliver O’Carroll, Max Naylor, Kristian Popovic, Luke Becvinovski, Alex Bolton and Noah Hooper – all of whom have Australian youth international experience – as well as Noah McCann who joins after 11 years in the Queens Park Rangers Academy and has represented Scotland at youth level.
After a busy off-season, new recruits and over three weeks of hard work on the training pitch, we are now looking to make a winning start on the field.
🆚 About our opponents: Sydney United 58
The Mariners are well aware of the challenge that awaits against Sydney United, who have a strong history in the Australia Cup and are performing well in the NPL NSW this season, coming into this game sitting third in the table and in good form.
Incredibly, United won their first nine fixtures this season to lead the way, a dip in form saw them win only five of the next 13, but they have bounced back with three wins in their last four.
United now come into this game against the Mariners fresh from back-to-back 1-0 wins against sides around them in the table, Rockdale and Marconi, re-emerging as Premiers contenders as they currently sit just four points off top of the table APIA Leichardt, with six games of the regular NPL NSW season remaining.
Already full of confidence, United will be boosted by their strong history in the Australia Cup which includes becoming the first NPL club in history to make the final, back in 2022 when they overcame then A-League Champions Western United, and Brisbane Roar en route to the final, which they lost to Macarthur.
There are a number of former A-League and Mariners connections in the Sydney United ranks, most recently goalkeeper Adam Pavlesic made the move after a one-year spell with the Mariners, whilst former Mariners Academy product Michael Glassock has been a standout performer, at the heart of defence, as has Central Coast-born winger Mason Wells who has four goals and four assists.
Other key players for United include Japanese midfielder Tomoki Wada, who played once for J-League giants Vissel Kobe at the beginning of his career, and midfield partner Carlos De Oliveira, who has been a consistent standout performer in NPL NSW in recent seasons and was United’s player of the month for both May and June.
🏆 Our Australia Cup history
The Australia Cup remains the only piece of domestic silverware missing from the Mariners’ trophy cabinet.
The closest we have come is in 2021, when we were defeated in the final by Melbourne Victory, 2-1 at AAMI Park.
Since then, the Mariners have endured a frustrating run in the Australia Cup, exiting in the Round of 32 to Sydney FC in both 2022 and 2023, before falling to Heidelberg United at the same stage in 2024.
Last season, we failed to qualify after losing to Perth Glory in the qualifying play-offs in Darwin.
This time around, we will be looking to better our recent efforts, and should we add the Australia Cup to our collection, we would join an exclusive list of teams to complete the set of Australian domestic trophies, and become the first team to win all three as well as a continental title.
