Impetus’ Ben Gilby hears from Perth Glory‘s Sarah Langman, Brisbane Roar‘s Hollie Palmer, and Wellington Phoenix‘s Chloe Knott as they are unveiled today – plus the views of each club’s head coaches on their signings (29/7/22).
Perth Glory Add Langman
Perth Glory today announced that goalkeeper Sarah Langman (formerly Willacy) has signed a one-year deal with the club.
The 27-year-old has played nearly 60 Liberty A-League games during spells with her hometown club, Adelaide United, and most recently, Western Sydney Wanderers. Langman was called into the Matildas squad for the 2019 friendly series against Chile.
Having featured 13 times for Wanderers last term, she is looking forward to furthering her ambitions to play Finals football in the West.
“I’m excited for my move to Perth for the upcoming season,” she said. “[Head Coach] Alex Epakis has built a core playing group and I am looking forward to bringing my experiences to the team and helping the club push for that Finals spot. I think the move to Perth is the right one for me to keep developing my football and to be the best I can be.”
Epakis believes that Langman is another key addition to the squad for 2022/23. “I am excited to have Sarah as part of the Perth Glory family for next season,” he said. “She has a great character about her and a strong skill-set on the field.
“She will certainly add further depth to our goalkeeper options and will be doing her part to fight for a position and help the team improve and grow further. Sarah brings the experience of 60-odd ALW appearances and has been involved in senior Matildas camps across recent years.
“I believe her key strengths, on top of her shot-stopping ability, are her distribution from the back and her aggressive positioning. “I look forward to having her in the squad this season.”
Glory CEO Tony Pignata is similarly enthused by the prospect of Langman lining up for Glory.
“Sarah is undoubtedly one of the best ‘keepers in the competition,” he said, “and a very good pick-up for the club. There is serious competition for every position in the squad that Alex has worked so hard to assemble and that bodes well for what we are confident will be a really successful Liberty A-League campaign.”
Langman debuted for Adelaide in the 2016/17 season and soon established herself as the Reds’ first-choice number one, forcing herself into Matildas contention in the process
After six seasons with United, she completed a move to Western Sydney where she was again a regular starter, making 21 starts across the 2020/21 and 2021/22 campaigns. Glory’s new recruit made 47 saves last term and kept three clean sheets.
Perth Glory Contracted Players for Liberty A-League Season 2022/23
Morgan Aquino, Sarah Langman, Alana Jancevski, Kim Carroll, Hana Lowry, Claudia Mihocic, Tijan McKenna, Sofia Sakalis, Isabella Wallhead, Abbey Green, Natasha Rigby, Cyera Hintzen, Liz Anton, Sarah Cain, Demi Koulizakis, Sadie Lawrence, Ella Mastrantonio, Susan Phonsongkham.
Palmer Back At The Roar
Brisbane Roar today revealed that they had re-signed midfielder Hollie Palmer for the upcoming Liberty A-League season.
Palmer will rejoin the Roar following her NPL Queensland commitments with her current club Capalaba FC, where she has been building form and fitness after overcoming the ankle injury she sustained late last year.
That setback forced her to miss the first half of the last Liberty A-League campaign, meaning the 21-year-old will be full of motivation for the new season.
“Brisbane is home for me, I enjoy being around my family, and I when I got to play last season I enjoyed myself,” Palmer said. “We were starting to play well towards the end of last season, starting to get into a rhythm. It’s a shame it ended when it did. But I think that will give us so much confidence and if we can build on that, we’ll do well.
“I’m feeling good now thankfully. I’ve been working hard and it’s been good getting 90 minutes for Capalaba. Hopefully, I can stay injury free and have a good pre-season.”
Palmer becomes the Roar’s second confirmed re-signing with more to follow as Garrath McPherson looks to build on last season’s strong finish. Alongside captain Ayesha Norrie, the Head Coach now has two midfield pieces in place.
“It’s exciting,” McPherson said. “The way Hollie finished last season showed why we were so keen to bring her home from Melbourne. I can’t wait to see her fit and healthy and starting games.
“We’re chasing cohesion. We started pretty much from scratch last season, so to have Hollie and Eash locked away – and we’ll see a number of other re-signings – is a really good platform to build on.”Whilst that time out was disappointing for us and for Hollie, I think any time a player gets a long-term injury it gives them that hunger to get back and they really understand why they love football.”
Nix Secure Knott For Another Season
Chloe Knott is the latest player to commit to Wellington Phoenix. The hardworking midfielder has signed a new two-year deal with the club, after being one of just two players to start all 14 matches in the women’s maiden season.
Knott, 26, scored two of the Nix’s goals, including the first in the team’s breakthrough 3-0 win over Canberra United in February. She also showcased her versatility by playing in an unfamiliar position up front.
“It was definitely an easy decision to re-sign with the club,” Knott said. “I was super keen to get back into it after last season as it felt like we had a lot of unfinished business.
“As a team, we want to be competitive next season. We don’t want to just be in the league to make up the numbers. We want to win games and hopefully finish a lot higher than we did last season.”
Knott was born in England but went to high school in Auckland and wants to play for the Football Ferns in the future. “I have to stay in New Zealand to fulfil the eligibility requirements but I’m not complaining. A two-year deal for me means a bit of stability and means I can plan for the next two years with the Phoenix.
“I think there are going to be some tears as it’s going to be very emotional to be on New Zealand soil after last year. To have fans and family in the stands will be really awesome.”
While the Phoenix women won’t assemble in Wellington until October, Knott and a number of her teammates have been taking part in an off-season programme in Auckland, under the guidance of head coach Gemma Lewis.
“I’ve been training with a lot of the girls already like Paige [Satchell], Alyssa [Whinham] and Kate [Taylor]. We’ve all been in together since the Phoenix season finished and those partnerships will hopefully be fine-tuned for the season ahead.”
Lewis is delighted Knott has re-signed with the club as she believes “Chloe embodies what the Phoenix are about in terms of her work ethic, her professionalism, and her commitment. She didn’t care who she was playing against, she always gave whatever she could and made an impact on the game,” Lewis said.
“We saw that with the turnovers she created and some of the scrappy goals that she created, which are hard to come by. Chloe also played wherever we put her last year and is really flexible in that respect. She can play as a midfielder really well, she can play in the forward line and she can still be effective.
“She’s an athlete and we know she’s only getting better and better as a result of being involved in the off-season programme.”
Chloe Knott is the Phoenix women’s eighth signing for the 2022-23 Liberty A-League season, joining fellow foundation players Lily Alfeld, Kate Taylor, Alyssa Whinham, Mackenzie Barry, and Brianna Edwards and Football Ferns recruits Betsy Hassett and Paige Satchell in the Wellington squad.
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