There’s something life-affirming about the giddiness that precedes the opening round of the season. The “it’s got to be our year!” bravado of supporters, conveniently dismissing any doubts over the new coach, the unrecognisable marquee or the failure to address the chronic problems of the previous campaign. It’s spring, a time for optimism, hope and renewal; a rare opportunity to celebrate with unabashed innocence. Sure, it’s often delusional, but a little irrational cheer can be good for the soul.
When Asdrúbal stuck out a Spanish thigh and deflected an expertly delivered corner kick from the Dutchman, Tom Hiariej, beyond Olyroo Jack Duncan to open the scoring for Central Coast Mariners after only five minutes of their contest against Newcastle Jets, the majority of the healthy crowd of 12,044 dared to dream. After three years without finals football, including one season of almost peerless ineptitude, the Mariners were back.
Seven debutants plus the returning Josh Rose meant the starting XI was unrecognisable. Two Dutchmen and a pair of Spaniards promised a stiff spine. Daniel De Silva offered the tantalising possibility that Gosford may incubate the next great Socceroo. And it was the 20-year old who caught the eye early, buzzing with intent in the home midfield, searching for possession, keeping play moving quickly, and showing a turn of pace to earn the corner that led to the opening goal.
Gazing wistfully at the giant inflatable sauce bottles, Mariners fans could be forgiven for indulging in “maybe it really is our year” fantasies. For roughly four minutes, anyway. That was how long it took for Newcastle to equalise against the run of play. 19 minutes later and optimism turned to frustration at an early ascendancy manifesting as a 1-2 deficit on the scoreboard. Ten minutes after that it’s 1-3 and the most unpopular man in the postcode has a first-half hat-trick. 33 minutes between “this justifies buying another membership” to “why do we bother?”.
Roy O’Donovan’s intervention was predictable because we search for the cliched confirmation bias of players returning to haunt former teams. It was unpredictable in the context of a match in which the Jets were on the back foot for large portions.
The longer the game wore on though the more cunning nouveau Novocastrian Ernie Merrick became. The disorganised Mariners were never more vulnerable than when they were attacking and in Dimitri Petratos, Andrew Nabbout and Ronald Vargas the Jets boasted a trio perfectly suited to exploiting the space, and in O’Donovan a clinical finisher to honour the build-up play.
O’Donovan bagged the most imperfect perfect hat-trick. The right-footed opener arrived from a penalty he earned that came straight out of the Fabio Grosso handbook. The left-footed second can charitably be described as scruffy. The headed third need not be damned with such faint praise, but the precision of the finish was in part enabled by atrocious Mariners marking. “Sometimes you hit things cleaner and better and the keeper makes a save or it goes over,” O’Donovan said. “Everything just dropped into the net today.”
The two best goals of the match arrived late in the piece with O’Donovan turning provider for both. First Joey Champness made his A-League debut a goalscoring one before the outstanding Petratos evoked memories of peak David Beckham with an improbable effort from the right-hand side of the box that arrowed into the far corner beyond the despairing goalkeeper. On the form he’s shown over the past year for both Brisbane and Newcastle, Petratos should not be surprised by an international call-up.
The late sealers were both testament to how direct Newcastle attacked all game. Both touchlines were hugged throughout, maximising the field of play and isolating Central Coast defenders. Crossfield passes were executed at will, switching play to capitalise on overlaps. The creative threesome of Vargas, Nabbout and Petratos, as well as the indefatigable Daniel Georgievski overlapping down the right, all turned their coach’s tactics board into a counterattacking clinic.
By this point in the evening a sizeable portion of the home crowd were already elsewhere, reconsidering their optimism and searching for positives from the wreckage of a record F3 derby defeat. Despite the final scoreline those positives were not hard to find. De Silva was a menace throughout and his interplay with Wout Brama and Asdrúbal produced some delightful football on a surface Central Coast Stadium should be ashamed of presenting for the opening round of a new season.
After masterminding a squad overhaul in the offseason and then overseeing a perfectly executed game plan Merrick could be forgiven for indulging in some opening round cheer. “We’re not going to get carried away with it,” the competition’s most experienced coach told the press with trademark brevity.
The Jets host Perth next week and Hunter Stadium should buzz as enthusiastically as at any point in the last seven years. Unbeaten, free-scoring, and with bragging rights over their most bitter rivals, Jets fans get to relive all that preseason giddiness again. For another week at least it might just be their year.
