Melbourne Victory assume antagonist role in bid to spoil Mariners’ treble tilt

For a moment, forget that it is Central Coast Mariners and Melbourne Victory meeting in this season’s A-League Men grand final. Instead, pretend that Team A and Team B will clash in Gosford this Saturday evening for the right to call themselves “champions”. A land of imagination and fantasy. Kind of like the A-League’s uneven fixturing.

Team A are the defending champions, seeking to end the 2023-24 season with a historic treble of a continental crown, league premiership, and second successive league grand final victory. They finished the regular season 13 points clear of Team B on the ladder, with more wins and a better goal difference than any other club. They haven’t lost to their grand final opponents since March 2023 and will have a sold-out home crowd at their backs.

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Team B, given that penalty shootouts are technically draws, have just six wins across 20 games in 2024. A chunk of their fanbase spent the season bemoaning their coach and calling for his removal as they ended their campaign with more draws than wins. This is their first grand final in six years and in the intervening periodthey’ve gone through five coaches, finished second-bottom twice (most recently last year) and collected a wooden spoon.

The latter would appear to be the obvious longshot; the plucky upstart most neutrals would seek to rally around. Yet drop the facade and reveal that Team A is Central Coast, while Team B is Victory, and the narrative, not unfairly, shifts. All of a sudden, just as they were in their semi-final tie against Wellington, it’s Tony Popovic’s side that assumes the antagonist role; spoilers to the air of destiny that surrounds Mark Jackson’s Mariners.

Central Coast’s gilded age sits almost paradoxically with the global expectations and hyper-capitalistic norms of football. Theirs is an era born from misery, the A-League’s most destitute outfit dragging its way out of a stretch so unbelievably abject they were threatened with relegation by a league that doesn’t even have relegation. Rebirth arrived not by becoming the plaything of some new sugar daddy or global group, but through intelligent recruitment, proper development and good football.

Yet even amidst their recent success, the Mariners still exist on the margins. Despite doing so much right on the field, the same kind of fragile beauty as there was this time last year remains, their margin for error is almost nonexistent. Yet “Mariner Way” has, to now, still found a way. Underdogs off the field, anything but on it, with a sense that their play this season merits its own title.

“The foundation of the team was something that’s been built for a long time,” says favourite son, Garang Kuol. “Almost all the boys start in the youth team together. They all grew together. They all have the hunger, the hard work, the determination, and the quality as well.”

Just as they were against Wellington, those at Victory know they’re consigned to the antagonist role regardless of what they do this week. In a way, it’s something they wear as a badge of honour, for clubs that lack a legacy or expectations don’t automatically assume the role of villain.

“We don’t mind if the rest of the country’s supporting them,” said Victory winger Nishan Velupillay. “If you want to put us as the bad guys, we don’t mind taking that title.”

Melbourne Victory are focused on finishing their own story. The club was on its knees less than 18 months ago, reeling from the (self-inflicted) stain left by the disastrous Christmas derby pitch invasion, but are now on the precipice of becoming A-League Men champions. Retiring legend Leigh Broxham has the chance to be farewelled in the most fitting manner possible.

Related: Melbourne Victory a fitting villain as Central Coast close in on A-League fairytale

Popovic is seeking to finally break through for a first title in a record fifth grand final appearance as coach. Bruno Fornaroli, meanwhile, will play in his first A-League decider. Fornaroli arrived in Australia nearly a decade ago, a journeyman Uruguayan striker plucked from the Primera División by the all-seeing CFG eye and placed in their Melbourne City outpost.

Now Fornaroli is a Socceroo, an Australian citizen with a young family that has fallen in love with this country. If he’s not beloved around the league then he’s at least respected, a born goalscorer who despite his history at their hated rivals has won adoration from Victory fans with his passion and desire.

“It would be so special,” the 36-year-old said, pointing to the goosebumps on his arm. “It’s something I’ve fought very hard for. It’s there. Now it’s about taking it. I have a couple of things on my mind to reach before I stop playing football and winning the grand final is one of them. I think it’s my time.”