Kuzevski has eyes on clinching the double

After another successful season for the Central Coast Mariners academy, they go into this weekend’s League One Men’s grand final looking to claim the double

A key figure in the team this year, Sasha Kuzevski is just one of a long production line coming out of the Mariners. And in anticipation of the grand final coming up this Saturday, we caught up with him to discuss the match this weekend and the season gone by.

Claiming the premiership, we firstly asked Kuzevski about the season gone by.

“Been a very good season from a team perspective, the boys have worked hard over the past few seasons which have been tough due to covid. We set our goals at the start of the season with our main two goals being to retain our 2020 season double, so we can’t wait for this weekend’s final.

“From an individual perspective I have been happy with my season and hope for another strong performance this weekend.”

Key to that Premiership win has been a winning mentality instilled into the academy as Sasha reflects.

“Monty and Serge have embedded winning habits and winning mentality since they took over the Academy. The boys know that with team success comes individual success, and as we all have ambitions of playing at the highest level, this is used as extra motivation to perform consistently.

“Our side isn’t built around any individual players, each player is and has an important role in the squad, the reason we won the league title and are in the grand final is due to consistent performances from everyone involved.”

Kuzevski’s performances saw him get his first taste at first team action in a recent friendly game against Capital All-Stars.

“The preseason game I was involved in was amazing for me. Although it was a friendly, it was still my first start for the senior side and definitely a game I won’t forget.

“The whole week in Canberra was a fantastic opportunity for us to bond and become closer as teammates, so I am very grateful and humble to have been given that experience.”

But of course, the League One Men’s Grand final is next on the agenda and Kuzevski as well as some of his team mates can call on some experience from the 20’s grand final victory in 2020.

“My memories of the 2020 Grand Final were awesome, of course we managed to come away with the win in both 20s and first grade so that winning feeling is something I’m hoping to experience again on Saturday. Grand finals are rare and don’t happen every season so I’m hoping that it’s another memorable day for myself and the club.

“St George City are a good side with good individual players, so we need to respect them.

“However we are very confident going into this week’s game and know that we have the quality to hurt the opposition at any given time. If we stick to our game plan, I have no doubt we will be crowned Champions.”

You can catch all the League One Men’s Grand final action this Saturday afternoon either at Sydney United Sports Centre or on NPL.TV with kick off set for 3pm.