THOUGH their future in the men’s State League 1 competition hung by a thread for most of the last month, the Western NSW Mariners FC 2014 campaign can be considered a success.
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That was the view of their coach Andrew Fearnley following their 3-0 win over Dulwich Hill to wrap up the season at Proctor Park last Sunday afternoon.
And he has a fair point.
A year earlier, his team and the rest of the club had pulled off a miracle to retain their spot in the league, avoiding relegation by the narrowest of margins on the final day of the 2013 home-and-away competition.
They went into last Sunday’s game knowing they were safe, and the win meant they finished 10th in first grade.
All factors considered, Fearnley says things look brighter than they did at the same stage last year.
“We’re a better side than we were then. It took a miracle for us to stay in this competition; that wasn’t the case this time,” he said.
“We’ve finished higher in first grade, the same in under 20s [ninth], better in 18s [first], and the 16s [fifth] can make it into the top three. That’s success straight away.
“From a first grade point of view, our consistency was a lot better in the last six weeks of the competition. I think we were probably a little bit too expansive early in the year, but our defence has been far stronger and has been the cornerstone later on.”
He is also confident of retaining the majority of his players as well as profiting from the strength of the club’s well-performed 18s and 16s squads.
“We shouldn’t lose too many players, and the younger players that have been part of this group now have two years of top level football under their belts and it is starting to show,” he said.
“We’ve matched some of the best teams in the competition in recent times and that is a demonstration that we are finally finding our feet.”
For the Mariners women, who went down 3-2 against Sutherland in their penultimate match last Sunday in women’s Premier League 2, they will now drop down into State League.
Coach Tony Clancy, like his men’s counterpart, is confident the majority of his players will still be there, and the at- times tough experiences of 2014 will stand them in good stead.
“I think there are a couple who we will probably lose, but I’m hopeful most of them will still be around,” he said.
“When you look across the squad, the majority of them are still teenagers, and they were all playing two games every round either in firsts and reserves or firsts and under 17s.
“That’s 40-odd full games across a season. It is a ridiculous effort that they put in, but it will help them in the long run and hopefully we start to see the benefits of it next year.”