Kye Rowles watched his replacements bring the Isuzu UTE A-League Championship back to Central Coast Mariners on Saturday. Nectar Triantis and Brian Kaltak highlighted the club’s scouting network, writes Sacha Pisani.
If ever there were two players that summed up a club’s philosophy, it’s Nectar Triantis and Brian Kaltak.
Both were unproven in the Isuzu UTE A-League when they joined Central Coast Mariners this term.
Before this season, Triantis had just five minutes of senior football to his name. Kaltak had never played professional football. In fact the 29-year-old is the first ever player from Vanuatu to play professionally.
But the Mariners turned to them to fill the void left by Kye Rowles, another prospect to come through Gosford, following his big move to Hearts at the end of last season.
The unproven duo were at the heart of a fairy tale this season and Socceroo Rowles was in the stands to watch his replacements inspire Central Coast’s unforgettable drought-ending triumph – a 6-1 demolition of three-time reigning premiers Melbourne City that snapped the club’s 10-year Championship drought.
Central Coast are braced for offers, with 20-year-old Olyroo Triantis – who is on the radar of Socceroos boss Graham Arnold – at the top of the list amid links to Sunderland in the EFL Championship.
“We’re a selling club. The club needs to sell players to survive,” Mariners head coach Nick Montgomery told reporters.
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“Kye Rowles was at the game tonight. We’re talking about the best centre-back in the league last season. We sold Kye Rowles and replaced him with Nectar Triantis and Brian Kaltak. So there’s good players out there. Young players and players that have been on journeys maybe where people have lacked belief in them.
“But if you do the scouting right – I have an assistant in Sergio Raimundo who is an unbelievable person and football intelligence is way better than mine, I’ll be honest. Then I have good people in the staff who work together.
“It’s all about utilising everyone’s strengths and scouting is one of them. We have to think outside the box and we have to bring people in who are maybe damaged and young players who need an opportunity.
“I have no doubt that we will get offers and the quality of players on show tonight, nobody can doubt the value of that squad but that wasn’t there at the start of the season.
“We had unknowns like Kaltak and Triantis. We had unknowns all over the pitch and players that were coming in from other clubs, but if you put them in the right team and you put in effort with them and improve them. Improve them is the biggest thing. They didn’t just turn up tonight and perform like that. They’ve been improving all season.
“Look at Brian and Nectar. First season in professional football and to do against Melbourne City’s attacking force – that’s special. But that’s because we have two good lads who are humble, willing to turn and are on the training ground everyday.
“If you have people like that, who want to learn and want to improve, that can be the end product. We lose them, that’s football. We will bring in new players. I’m sure the phone will be going off for the chairman in the next couple of weeks.”
