Central Coast Mariners Academy


Central Coast Mariners Academy is the youth system of Central Coast Mariners FC based in, Australia. The academy teams play the Y-League and the National Premier Leagues, the highest level of youth football in Australia. Senior players occasionally play in the academy side, as in the case when they're recovering from injury. Ray Junna is the current academy manager. They train at the Central Coast Mariners Centre of Excellence and play the majority of their home games there. On occasion, they also play at Pluim Park.

Academy team history

First Academy (2012–2014)

Central Coast Mariners Academy was formed as a joint venture between the Mariners and Central Coast Football to provide a junior development pathway to the NYL and A-League sides. Prior to 2012 the academy existed solely as a junior side; however in 2012 it was accepted to participate in the New South Wales Premier League. In October 2012 the club announced that Joey Peters had been appointed as senior coach. The club finished tenth from twelve clubs in its first two seasons.
CCMA prided themselves on producing talented young players and providing a pathway for Central Coast Mariners in the Hyundai A-League. Based on appearances for CCMA 15 year old Daniel McFarlane earned trials in the UK with Swansea City and Birmingham City. Patrick Zwaanswijk signed up McFarlane up for the CCMA in the National Youth League. Local players Steve Whyte, Josh Forbes, Bradley Wilson and Nathan Verity also made sufficient impressions in the NSWPL season to earn them a contract in the NYL squad.
Following disputes between the Mariners and Central Coast Football over technical and financial aspects of the program, the Football NSW licence to run the representative side on the Central Coast was handed back to Central Coast Football in August 2014 and the Academy program was closed.

2015–present

A competitions review conducted by Football NSW in 2015 recommended that academy sides from Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers be included in the National Premier Leagues NSW competitions, with the inclusion of a Central Coast side to be determined between the Mariners and Central Coast Football. The Mariners subsequently applied for entry to the NPL and SAP in August 2015 and were accepted from the 2016 season onwards, replacing Central Coast FC.

Academy current squad

''These players can also play with the senior squad and are all Young Professionals.

Under-23s team history

The youth side was founded in 2008 for the inaugural season of the National Youth League. Since then it has won the league twice and finished second twice. Notable former Mariners NYL players include Mitchell Duke and Bernie Ibini. Former Mariners A-League head coach Tony Walmsley was coach of the NYL side for several years.
In September 2015 Football Federation Australia announced that NYL teams would participate in their respective state National Premier Leagues competitions commencing in the 2016 season.

Under-23s current squad

These players can also play with the Youth squad and senior squad.

Young Pros

Second Years

First Years

Schoolboys

Seasons

Honours

;Youth
;Under-23s
;Academy