Versatile defender Brent Griffiths will return to the Central Coast Mariners for a third season after the 24-year-old finalised a new one-season deal with the Club on Monday.
Griffiths, who has played 17 times for the yellow and navy since linking with the Club in 2012, can be deployed at either left stopper or left full back, and will provide cover and competitiveness in a Mariners squad flush with both experienced and developing defensive talent.
Griffiths, who is the younger brother of former Mariners and now Perth Glory midfielder Rostyn Griffiths, previously plied his trade with Glory and in New Zealand with Wellington Phoenix, however has enjoyed his best years in the Hyundai A-League while with the Mariners.
Indeed, the former Blackburn Rovers youth team player won the 2013 Hyundai A-League Championship with the Club, and has benefitted from several experiences on the continental stage with the yellow and navy in the AFC Champions League.
Griffiths said that he is delighted to have inked a new contract with Central Coast, and that his goal is to have his name regularly written on Phil Moss-s team sheet next campaign.
“For every player in a 23 man squad you have to be pushing for a starting spot – it doesn-t matter who you are,” Griffiths said. “My personal goal is to make that centre-half position or whatever position I play on the pitch my position.”
“The Coast is a great place to play and I think we-ve got the ability to push for the Asian Champions League and also for the League, so hopefully we can back it up and go further than we did last season,” he said.
Griffiths also called on the Club-s fans to continue to show their support for the team as Moss-s men bid for more Hyundai A-League and continental success over the next 12 months.
“Everyone knows that the 12th man out there is the fans,” he said. “We-ve got such a great fan base in our small community, and that-s very different from a lot of other teams in the [Hyundai] A-League. For them [the fans] to get behind us like they do in both the League and the Asian Champions League is brilliant. Hopefully we can go one better with the fans this year as we do with the actual League as well.”
Central Coast Mariners Head Coach, Phil Moss, said Griffiths has the potential to “take his game to another level” should he be provided with the right guidance, and maintain his ambition to improve.
“I-m extremely happy to have extended Brent-s stay with us here at the Mariners,” Moss said. “He has all the attributes to be a very good left-sided defender and he put in some solid performances in important games for the Club last season.”
“He knows what he has to do to take his game to another level, and I believe he can do that at this Club with the right guidance.”
