Mariners had yet another dismal campaign and for third time in the last 4 years they finished bottom of the table and well adrift from the top 6. Quickly things got complicated for Mariners with 3 defeats suffered in the first 5 rounds. However, up until Christmas the team at least avoided last place successfully. Then came the nightmare run of 11 defeats in 12 games between January and March. This dismal period doomed Mariners to finish last yet again.
Probably the only strength of the squad was coach Stajcic as he developed well several young players and also despite the results and the very limited quality in his ranks he at least tried to search for working tactics, formations and personnel all campaign.
In terms of weaknesses one can pick whatever one wants as yet again the team had the weakest attack and the worst defence in the competition so nothing much was really working.
Djuric was probably the only influential player that when in form helped to deliver many of the points. Unfortunately his health was not great and he was able to start just 18 of the 26 games.
With more than half of the players free agents at the end of this season and with the major uncertainty surrounding the A-League in general due to COVID Mariners can’t really plan much for next season, that if there is next season any time soon.
