1/8/23
Above: Bianca Galic, unveiled today as a Central Coast Mariners player as the club prepare for their return to the A-League Women.
Central Coast Mariners today announced the signing of midfielder Bianca Galic ahead of their return to A-League Women football.
Galic joins the club having played two seasons of A-League Women’s football in the past, missing the 2022/23 campaign after tearing her ACL and has been a key member of Sydney University’s First Grade women’s team for almost for a decade, joining the club at fourteen years of age.
Through her time with the team, the midfielder has regularly worked under Mariners’ new A-League Women’s head coach Emily Husband, currently lining up for her Sydney University First Grade squad.
The midfielder began her A-League Women’s career with Canberra United in 2020, helping the side to their first semi-finals appearance in four seasons. Galic featured four times that campaign, scoring one goal. Coming into the 2021/22 season she traded green for red and black, signing for Western Sydney Wanderers. She played 10 times that season, starting on nine occasions as one of the beating hearts of the midfield.
Galic unfortunately missed the most recent season after suffering an ACL injury, coming back this year to play for Husband’s Sydney University team. The midfielder is ecstatic to be joining the Mariners for the upcoming season, eager to play a key role for the side this campaign.
“I’m super excited to be able to sign with the Central Coast Mariners. I have had Emily coach me at Sydney University for a couple of seasons as well as having her as an assistant when I was at Canberra United, so to have her as my head coach at the Mariners will be great,” Galic said.
“I will bring a never give up attitude to the Central Coast. I will always give 100% and do anything to help the team win. With the season coming up in just a few months I can’t wait to get started.”
Wellington Phoenix have kept hold of another of their talented young defenders with vice-captain Kate Taylor re-signing for 2023/24.
Taylor follows Mackenzie Barry and Marisa van der Meer in recommitting to the club. The 19-year-old is also the fourth foundation player to sign on for next season, joining Barry, Chloe Knott, and Alyssa Whinham.
The teenager was the women’s player of the year in the team’s first season while being vice-captain to Lily Alfeld, but was limited to 12 appearances in the 2022-23 campaign because of a foot injury.
“I want to challenge myself and play more football,” Taylor said. “Being injured last season and with Lily being injured as well, it was quite challenging to navigate the team. It was my first big professional injury. I think it really made me respect football, the environment, and injuries.”
“I truly think it made me a different person in good ways and bad ways, and I believe I learned a lot about myself. I’m ready to be consistent and play in the A-League in a team that I’m really looking forward to building and helping develop.”
The ball playing centre back is also looking forward to working with new head coach Paul Temple and renewing her relationship with his assistant Callum Holmes. “I want to have a new experience and be coached by a male and I think Paul and Callum will be a really good combination.
“Callum really understands me as a person and as a player. He challenged me in ways I haven’t been challenged before by a coach. We’re quite similar and in terms of football, he got what I wanted and where I want to go. That’s why we worked so well together, so I’m looking forward to building on that.”
Kate Taylor took part in the Ferns’ gruelling nine-week training camp in the lead-up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup and was one of the squad’s three training partners during the tournament.
“It was an opportunity for me to grow. I forget that I’m young sometimes and I’m not 25 or 26 and reaching the peak of my career. It’s going to make me stronger in years to come and hopefully, I can look back and say I’m really proud of what I’ve done.
“Hopefully I’ve helped the team achieve their goals and even achieved some of mine as well. I haven’t been stepping out on the pitch, but I’ve still been giving it my all no matter what. It’s been pretty awesome and I’m very grateful. I’d redo it in a heartbeat.”
Phoenix head coach Paul Temple says it was very important they brought Taylor back for another season. “Kate is a young player with a lot of potential, but she’s also shown she’s a leader within the group,” Temple said.
“When you’ve got a young player that has all this potential as a footballer, but also is a great character and strong leader, it’s a no-brainer to bring her back. I’m sure Kate will have big teams after her in the future. We want to help her achieve that potential and that will in turn help us, help her and the national team.”
Taylor has played predominantly as a centre back for the Nix, but she can also play in midfield.
“I first saw Kate playing for Cashmere Tech years and years ago at an under-17 tournament in Auckland and she was playing as a six and I was asking Aaron Clapham, who was with the team at the time, ‘who is this girl playing for you in centre midfield?’
“She really stood out for me, and I’ve always had it in my head she’s got the ability to play in different positions because she’s a really good technician, great passer of the ball, and has good vision, but she’s also defensively really sound.
“For her as a young player coming through and trying to take that final step and become a regular with the national team, to be able to play in different positions is going to help her.”
Kate Taylor is the eighth player confirmed in the Wellington Phoenix women’s squad for the 2023-24 season, joining fellow defenders Mackenzie Barry, Marisa van der Meer, and Rebecca Lake, midfielders Chloe Knott and Alyssa Whinham and forwards Michaela Robertson and Emma Main.
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