Tuggeranong United president John Thiele says the ACT government striking a deal with the Central Coast will only be worth it if the Mariners buy into the Canberra community.
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Speculation about Canberra's A-League future is rife but the FFA's clear stance suggests the capital won't have a team to call it's own for a long time to come.
The Mariners are extremely keen to continue their push into Canberra but Thiele says the agreement has to be beneficial for both parties.
Canberra crowds didn't embrace the Mariners as the club had hoped this season, with just over 10,000 people attending two separate fixtures.
Thiele says it's time for the Central Coast to prove they want to have a permanent presence at Canberra Stadium by embracing the local community.
Thiele believes it will be worth the ACT government's funding to bring the Mariners back to Canberra if the club can prove they are here for the right reasons.
"If it's done in the right fashion and not just a blank cheque with no real ambition to really get involved in the community, absolutely," Thiele said.
"Just as long as the clubs they involved were entering into the agreement in such a way that they were willing to get involved in the community.
"It's important that clubs don't take the Canberra community for granted and think it's going to all fall in their lap.
"It's important that when they come here they get involved in the community, they run clinics at schools, visit clubs, and become part of the community.
"Otherwise the community would become pretty cynical of the reasons for them wanting to come to Canberra."
The ACT government was hesitant to invest big money in the Mariners this season and as a result the club played two matches in Canberra at a loss.
The Mariners looked to establish an A-League pathway for Canberra players through the Capital Draft, when three Capital Football players and one coach spent time training with the Central Coast squad.
Thiele says building pathways like that is a massive boost to the round ball game in Canberra and hopes one day it can go a step further with a club to call the capital's own.
"If that's an A-League team or a National Youth League team here in Canberra, then that will certainly deliver a benefit to our players and will bring higher profile players to our region as well," Thiele said.
"The main thing is our high performance pathway for our juniors. We've seen the AFL have opened that up with GWS here in town, and I think the FFA, if they deliver it in the right way, that could be done in football."
However Cooma Tigers president Harry Hovasapian believes bringing A-League games to Canberra "might create some interest for the public to go and watch the games and so on, but that's about all".
"Because when will the Mariners come and look at our players?," Hovasapian said.
"Just because they play a game here, I can't see how that's going to help."
