New signing Christian Theoharous has described the Central Coast squad as a special group of players and he's hopeful they can go all the way this A-League Men season.
Theoharous made his ALM debut as an 18-year-old at Melbourne Victory before being signed by Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach, where he spent three years.
The 23-year-old spent a stint at Western United last season during their title-winning campaign, and he's now eager to lead the Mariners to the same success.
Theoharous made his Mariners debut off the bench in last week's 2-1 loss to Wellington and could be set for more game time in Saturday's home clash with Western Sydney.
The Mariners have defied the odds to sit in second spot on the ladder, and Theoharous senses something special is brewing.
"I came from Western and that was a good group," he said.
"You can't win trophies without a good group. But this group (at Central Coast) is special.
"With such a young team and winning a lot of games, who says we can't win a trophy.
"We've got a lot of motivated people in the team and we set standards high. Why can't we win a trophy?"
Mariners coach Nick Montgomery feels his team copped the raw end of the deal by being forced to travel to NZ last week for the second time this season.
"Going there twice already in half the season is something that I'll never understand," he said.
"We played them twice away last season, we played them twice away this season, and we're not even halfway through this season.
"They're things we have to deal with.
"I think we should have got a point minimum I think. I don't think anyone would argue with that - 18 shots to eight away from home."
