18/8/23
Above: Millie Farrow in action during her time with Bristol City. Photo: The FA.
Perth Glory yesterday announced the signing of English forward Millie Farrow for the 2023/24 season.
The 27-year-old brings a wealth of top-flight experience from England where she represented Chelsea, Bristol City, Reading, Leicester City, and Crystal Palace and has most recently played in the US for NWSL outfit, North Carolina Courage.
A former England Under-19 and Under-23 international, she was a part of the Chelsea squad which completed the FA Women’s Super League and Women’s FA Cup double in 2015 and collected an FA Women’s Championship winners’ medal with Leicester City in 2021.
Farrow is now looking forward to embarking upon a new football journey in Western Australia.
“After talking with [Head Coach] Alex [Epakis] and hearing the ambitions and values of the club, I felt it was the perfect fit,” she said.
“It’s a very exciting opportunity and I can’t wait to meet everyone and get started. Personally, I’m determined to help the team in any way possible to reach their objectives. I’m hungry and ready to play some football in the sun!”
Epakis, meanwhile, believes that the new recruit has the potential to make a major impact on the ALW competition.
“Millie is another attack-minded player who has great finishing ability and speed to run beyond lines,” he said.
“She has an impressive history of being part of some great teams in Europe, with the England youth set-up, and in the US. She is a mature and well-rounded individual who will add some strong football experience into the team.
“Her partnership with our other attacking players is something that excites me a lot because we want to be an attack-focused team with different scoring options. Millie has an impressive and inspiring story away from football and she will no doubt prove to be a great mentor and leader within the group.”
Also yesterday, Brisbane Roar announce the re-signing of midfielder Hollie Palmer for the upcoming season.
Palmer made her top-flight debut with the Roar as a 16-year-old in October 2017 after coming onto the field as a substitute in the 3-1 victory over Sydney FC. In April 2019, Palmer was named in the Young Matilda’s 23-player squad for the 2019 AFC U-19 Women’s Championship where she played four games in the tournament.
Born in Brisbane, the former Young Footballer of the Year nominee made 27 appearances across a three-season period before moving to Melbourne City for a season.
She returned to Brisbane Roar in the 2021/2022 Liberty A-League season at a time where Roar Head Coach Garrath McPherson was focused on cementing a strong Queensland core within his squad. Now approaching her fourth season with the Roar, the midfielder is excited to continue playing in her home state and developing as a player.
“I’m excited, I grew up playing in Queensland so, it’s nice to be able to sign for my home state again,” Palmer said.
“There are parts of my game that I can see improvements on, but I still think I’ve got a bit to go, and I want to keep developing so I’ll be doing that this season,” she added. “We want to make finals; it would be a dream to win the Premiership and the Championship so that’s definitely the goal.”
Head Coach Garrath McPherson looks forward to what Palmer can bring to the squad this season with her mindset and confidence on and off the field.
“Hollie is a strong, confident midfielder who is free from injury and ready to rumble! I am most proud of the growth mindset she possesses. She is hungry for feedback and always looking to get the most out of her training. Over the past two seasons, it has been wonderful to see her using this mindset in areas outside of technical and tactical areas,” McPherson said.
“Hollie is a wonderful ball-playing midfielder who technically stacks up with the League’s best. We’ve seen her create and score some wonderful goals, and it’s in these areas that we will see her shine this season, a stronger and more confident footballer,” he added.
Central Coast Mariners announced earlier today the signing of experienced defender Taren King for the upcoming 2023/24 A-League season.
The 26-year-old makes the trip down the F3 having spent the last three seasons with Newcastle Jets, playing 34 times for our rivals.
King started her A-League Women’s career with Canberra United, joining the club as a trialist at the beginning of the 2017/18 season. After impressing she ultimately spent three seasons with and made 22 appearances for Canberra, before making the switch to Newcastle.
The defender immediately became a crucial cog in their defence, starting in all of the 34 matches she played for the club. King has currently featured in 66 Liberty A-League games, looking to grow that number this season.
The 26-year-old has also spent considerable time working under Central Coast Mariners Head Coach Emily Husband at Sydney University, winning the premiership with the squad last season.
Husband is extremely excited to have King on board for the upcoming campaign, seeing the experienced defender as an extremely valuable addition. “I am thrilled to have been able to sign Taren to the squad for the upcoming campaign.
“Having someone with the experience that Taren has in the A-League is really important to help guide the players around her as we join the competition this season,” Husband said.
“She will bring stability to the defence, she is good in the air and reads the play well. She is also an awesome human and individual so she will bring loads of positivity into the group.”
King is thrilled to be a Mariner this season, eager to get the campaign started. “I am extremely excited, obviously it is a new challenge with a brand new squad coming together as the Mariners join the competition. It is an exciting prospect for a player to make history with the team coming into the A-League Women’s.
“I have been in the league for quite a few years now so I will bring some experience and communication skills from the back,” King said.
Wellington Phoenix have added some international quality to their frontline for the 2023-24 A-League with the arrival of pacey striker Mariana Speckmaier for the upcoming season.
Speckmaier, 25, has been capped 12 times by Venezuela since 2021 and was recently on a national team replacement contract with the Washington Spirit in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
Phoenix head coach Paul Temple believes she is the perfect fit. “We’ve talked from day one about bringing in a striker and a number nine who can help the team in the attacking space,” Temple said. “We were always looking for the right person and feel Mariana is the right person.
“I didn’t just want somebody that could hold the ball up and finish in the box. I wanted somebody who could do that but also be good at pressing from the front and can run into the spaces in behind.
“She’s got speed and athleticism, but is still technically good, and still is hungry to make that next step. Mariana knows exactly what she wants. She’s quite mature about her career, where she wants to go, and is driven. I feel like that’s an attribute that will really help, not just her individually, but the team.”
Speckmaier signed off from the Washington Spirit with a stunning stoppage-time winner against the Orlando Pride in their final NWSL Challenge Cup match earlier this month.
“Mariana knows what it’s like to score in high-profile games and she’s played in one of the best competitions in the world. She scored a bit of a wonder goal the other week, which gets me excited because it shows the quality that she has.
“Our fans too can now start getting excited because we’ve brought in some really high-quality players to complement the talented core we’ve re-signed, and I think it sends a message as to where we want to go.
“With Hope Breslin and the other forwards we’ve signed we’re starting to look a lot stronger from an attacking sense. Hopefully that leads to a high amount of interest in the team and getting people to come to the games and to watch us play.”
Mariana Speckmaier believes she can be a regular goal scorer for the Nix. “I think that’s definitely the idea,” Speckmaier said. “I would love to be that for the team. Just to help the Phoenix team succeed would be great for me, and I want to help the club in any way that I can.
“I’m excited to come in and take the striker role. I played a lot of nine at college and throughout the last few years as a pro, so I’m definitely very comfortable in that position.
“I wouldn’t say I’m your typical nine size-wise, but I love playing in that spot.”
Speckmaier has been on “an interesting road” since. She didn’t play for Washington as much as she had hoped in her rookie season so signed with CSKA Moscow early last year.
“I was with the team in Turkey, where they were doing pre-season but then the war in Ukraine broke out so I told the team I wasn’t going back to Russia with them.”
She then joined Valur in Iceland for the 2022-23 season. “It was super cool to live in Reykjavik. It was really cold, which is not something I’m used to, but it was cool to experience a different type of living situation and Iceland is a beautiful country.
The move to Wellington proved to be an easy decision for Speckmaier to commit to moving to another corner of the globe.
“I grew up in Miami so I’ve been around different cultures my whole life. “My family is from all over so being in different parts of the world excites me more than it scares me. I’m always up for a change to experience other cultures.”
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