For the past five seasons competing in the NSW State League and National Premier Leagues 3, Western NSW Mariners FC have been consistent strugglers but skipper Adam Scimone wants that to change.
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Speaking ahead of this Saturday’s opening round NPL3 fixture against Fraser Park, Scimone want his team to be consistent competitors.
He’s labelled the top five as the number one target for the Mariners in 2018.
“We say year in, year out, that you’ve to to be competitive and we always seem to have a competitive squad,” he said.
“It’s not easy but it’s when it comes to football, it’s all about consistency.”
In a sign of just how capable the Mariners are, they managed to knock-out Rydalmere Lions last season, the team that was eventually promoted to NPL2.
However, the win was just one of four victories for the Mariners last season in NPL3.
“You can't play good one week and crap the next,” he said.
“If we can get to a consistent level, we can make the finals. That's the main goal – get to the finals – and throw our hat in the ring.
“If we believe in ourselves, anything can happen.”
Mariners will start their season at home, at Lithgow’s Marjorie Jackson Field, against last year’s grand final winners Fraser Park.
However, a majority of Fraser Park’s side, which include the experienced Jason and Branko Culina as coaches, has had a major clean out during the summer.
Yet Scimone knows Fraser Park will be roaring to go.
“They're a big club trying to get back into the NPL2. They'll be wanting to start out on the strongest foot,” he said.
“I spoke to the captain a few weeks back at the [NPL3 launch] photo shoot and he said they only play on synthetic pitches. The pitch down at Lithgow is pretty ordinary, pretty hard.
“We played on it in our first trial a few weeks back and it was pretty ordinary. Hopefully that comes into play a bit and levels the playing field.”
Scimone has liked what he’s seen from his Mariners side during pre-season and is hoping that will continue against Fraser Park.
“Kenny McCall has had a great pre-season, scoring heaps of goals in the trial games we’ve had,” he said.
“The guys in the midfield – Josh Ward and Lachie Thomas – they’ve been linking really well.
“If we've got that creativity in the midfield, it gives us a lot of options up front. We've just got to take our chances. Going forward, there's plenty of attacking options up front.
“First game of the season, everyone is always full of beans and energy and wanting to get the three points. We'll need to be on our game 100 per cent and defensively strong if we want to get something out of the game.
“It's been a pretty good pre-season. We were trying to get through the pre-season unscathed and we've had some pre-season games, with some pretty good success.”
Saturday’s game at Lithgow will kick-out at 4pm.
