Jackson demands Mariners keep up fight in title defence

With Central Coast desperate to keep their title defence alive and their players fighting for their futures, coach Mark Jackson says it's time for the reigning champions to stand up.

That starts with facing A-League Men leaders Auckland FC in New Zealand.

Jackson's Mariners (21 points, goal difference of minus-16) sit 10 points behind sixth-placed Western Sydney with six games to go, after their 3-0 loss to Melbourne Victory on Saturday night.

It's a far cry from last season, when they won the championship-premiership double along with the AFC Cup.

Jackson conceded both an impotent attack and a defence conceding "sloppy" goals had been costly.

"We've got to start performing better than we performed today collectively," Jackson said.

Looking forward to embracing the Auckland test, he added: "It's the only way you can do it. You want to play against the best teams, of course you do, you've got to have no fear-factor going into games.

"When you're in a run of form we're in, it's not ideal, and you've got to try and pick the players up, particularly the younger players.

"But they've got to show that level of motivation as well to go out and compete, which is really, really important.

"That has to be our motivation going into the final games where we have to try and win football matches, it's the pride of the players that they should want to do that."

The Mariners have lost many stars, including Josh Nisbet, Max Balard, Jacob Farrell, Jason Cummings and Nectar Triantis to transfers over the past two years.

"It takes time for the younger players to step up and get to that level," Jackson said.

"And even the players who come in, it takes them time to get to that level as well, particularly when you can't replace like-for-like players."

Central Coast are working to set themselves up for next season.

"People are vying for their futures at the club, and they've got to show levels of performance to want to stay here and want to be part of it next year, of course," Jackson said.

"There's no doubt we need to make the squad stronger. We need to raise the bottom bar in my opinion. That's clear. Raise that competitiveness of the squad.

"We want a little bit more experience in there as well to get the blend in there.

"But we've got games to come up, and we've got to try and finish on a positive note."

Jackson indicated some players hadn't reached the level required.

"When you're in a position we're in, there's obviously levels of performance have not been there," he said.

"The table doesn't lie. We deserve to be where we are, and there's clear areas of the team where we need to improve."