The Central Coast Mariners women's side nearly ceased to exist. Now they have an NRL ownership group running them — and about eight weeks to get a squad, kit, and sponsorship together before the A-League Women's season kicks off in October.
The Holman Barnes Group (HBG), which holds a majority stake in the Wests Tigers, has taken over operation of the Mariners' women's team, including its coaches and existing staff. The deal clears the July 31 deadline the A-League had imposed for new ownership to be confirmed — but only just.
The women's team had been left in limbo after the QPR takeover in June rescued the men's side and the academy, and nothing else. Defending champions — the Mariners won the 2025 grand final against Melbourne Victory — were facing the genuine prospect of not having a license to compete in the next season. That's a brutal fall from the top of the table to the edge of extinction in under two months.
A lot of work, very little time
HBG chief executive Daniel Paton was candid about the scale of what's ahead. "I obviously need to do that very quickly so we can even get a kit together for the first round," he said. The next challenge, he acknowledged, is finding sponsors before October.
Most home games are expected to move away from Central Coast Stadium in Gosford to a smaller nearby ground — a practical concession to the financial reality of rebuilding a women's program from scratch mid-cycle. But Paton was clear the team stays on the Central Coast, citing access to 16,000 junior players and two academies in the area as both justification and long-term strategy.
Central Coast Mayor Lawrie McKinna — a former Mariners coach himself — welcomed the deal and pointed to HBG's existing involvement with APIA Leichhardt in the NPL as a sign they understand the women's football pathway. In theory, players can now develop through NPL level and step up to A-League Women with the same ownership structure supporting them. Whether HBG has the football-specific infrastructure to deliver on that vision is the real question nobody's answering yet.
For the competition picture, a defending champion clinging to existence by the skin of a July 31 deadline doesn't exactly project stability — and any teams eyeing A-League Women markets this season should factor in that the Mariners are essentially rebuilding their entire roster under a brand-new operator in a matter of weeks.
"We're super excited we can make that happen," Paton said. The excitement is fair. Whether the squad they assemble reflects it is something we'll find out in round one.
