He may have played his role in the Mariners reaching Australian football's summit, but Ezio Mormile was not born into the round ball game.
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Yeah, the Farmborough Heights resident would watch the odd match here and there. However, he didn't have a burning passion for football when he entered that industry.
Mormile, who studied psychology at Charles Sturt University, always had an interested in the mental side of sport, and was looking for a fresh challenge when he called NPL NSW club Wollongong Wolves in 2017 to see if he could help.
It was the start of a special journey in the sport.
"I'm actually not a soccer person, I don't really have a big background in soccer," Mormile told the Mercury.
"I got into this space after doing a lot of study and research - and I'm still learning and researching. But I rang the Wolves about six years ago and I didn't know anybody there. But soccer is a global game, and I thought it would be good way to learn more."
During his time at the Wolves, he met Nick Montgomery, a player that was in the back-end of his playing career and looking to move into the coaching sphere.
Montgomery saw the value in the mental side of football and the pair formed a strong bond in Wollongong. A couple of years later, they linked up again in the youth system at Central Coast, with Mormile joining the club as a mindset coach.
When Montgomery was promoted to the role as the Mariners' A-Leagues head coach last July, he continued to lean on Mormile for insight and support. Fast-forward 11 months and the duo enjoyed the ultimate success as Central Coast claimed premiership glory.
The Mariners were underdogs heading into their grand final against minor premiers Melbourne City. Not many pundits gave them a chance of winning, but Mormile never had any doubts.
He knew that the Mariners' players and staff had put in the hard yards, both physically and mentally, and his unwavering faith was justified when they thrashed City 6-1 to secure the title.
"It was a great achievement by the club. It was at least four years in the making and to win the title, with who we beat, is very special," Mormile said.
"Obviously 6-1 is not something you expect, but with the crowd and the whole community there, it was a significant win. Not just for us, but I also think for football. It's the smallest club with the smallest budget.
"It's a good achievement, but we've already started planning for next season. I caught up with 'Monty' and (assistant coach) Sergio (Raimundo) two days ago and we started reviewing the season, because it's all about improving."
So what is the secret to Central Coast's success? It's hard to put a finger on, but attention to detail is certainly one aspect to it. Another key has been patience.
"These two guys (Montgomery and Raimundo) are the key to it all. One of my favourite quotes is the JFK quote, 'success is a thousand fathers, failure is an orphan'. And everyone jumps on when teams and organisations are doing well, but Nick and Sergio have been working on this for four years - if not longer," Mormile said.
"Whenever people ask me about the achievement, I always want to ground it back to those two individuals because they are extraordinary. Monty obviously played at Wolves and that's where I met him. But for him and Sergio, it's the thinking behind it, the planning, the vision is brilliant, and would be a good case study for a lot of sports in Australia.
"In my view, hard work at this level is a given, everybody works hard. Like they say, the person who came eighth at the Olympics still worked hard, they weren't sleeping in until ten o'clock. But I'm in a privileged position because I've worked closely with these two guys for four years.
"You can see it in their whole thinking and their approach, and the fact that they had me as a mindset coach, working with the academy four years ago so we were building that muscle strength, the mental, physical, the technical and tactical approach four years ago, which to me is visionary in their whole approach.
"You look at the way they've leveraged the juniors and our academy. Typically, week in, week out in a squad of 16 players, 11 or 12 players would be from the academy, which I think is special. When these kids are 19 and making their debut, they are physically, mentally and tactically strong."
While Montgomery and Raimundo's influence is written all over the Mariners, you can't undervalue the impact that Mormile has had in that change room.
The Illawarra resident works with all players, from the academy all the way up to the first-grade team, to improve their ability to handle pressure and perform more consistently.
"We use different tools like visualisation, and I do one-on-one sessions with the players and group sessions," Mormile said.
"We do work around culture and around communications - a big element is how the players communicate together on and off the field - and body language, which is a big one. I even ran a session with them around the psychology of the penalty shootout because the kick itself is mechanical, but there is a lot of research around the psychology of the penalty shootout. What happens? And how do we perform under pressure?
"These are all of the elements that over the last four years I worked through with the players under Nick and Sergio's guidance. For mine, it's like taking your brain to the gym - you've got to work on the mindset. And holistically, we look at the players from the physical element, but we look at them from what I call the 'software side' - the mental side, the emotional side.
"We have very good physios and strength and conditioning team, but we've also got Andy Bernal who is the vibe manager. I don't think any other team has got a vibe manager. So you have the team with the smallest budget paying a mindset coach and a vibe manager, but they're very selective in where they invest.
"I play one role. But what Nick and Sergio have done is remarkable. And they drive this every day and they've driven this for a long time."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
