On the eve of Round Two of the A-League Women, Impetus recaps the press conferences for Adelaide United, Central Coast Mariners, Wellington Phoenix and Canberra United.
Article edited and composed by Genevieve Henry 20/10/2023
Adelaide United
By Kieran Yap
Above: Adelaide United coach Adrian Stenta. Image: Adelaide United media.
The Reds are ready after short turnaround
In the aftermath of one of the craziest games in the history of the A-League Women, Adelaide United coach Adrian Stenta was feeling upbeat before their next match against Central Coast Mariners.
The four-all draw solved one problem from last season. In 2023/2023 The Reds only scored 16 goals. Just 90 minutes into this campaign they have scored four, all through different players.
“There were some real positives to take out of the game,” Stentatold the media.
“We liked a lot of what we were able to produce.
“Obviously we’re not going to be a team that’s happy with conceding four goals every week so obviously some things to work on as well.”
Two of the goals conceded to Canberra were due to defensive mix-ups and uncharacteristic errors from Annalee Grove. The Australian U23 Goalkeeper has been trusted to bounce back in Round Two by her coach.
“I mentioned this after the game. A goalkeeper makes a mistake, and everyone notices it and sees it. Sometimes forwards miss goals from six yards out and everyone gives them a pat on the back and no-one really says much about that.
“Mistakes are part of the game. I make mistakes, players make mistakes. We’ll back our players to get the job done next week.
“We’ve got full faith and trust in her as a player and a leader within our group.”
Adelaide went into Round One missing some key players and with playmaker Emily Condon only available off the bench. With a four day break between matches, Stenta warned against expecting many players returning from injury and half joked that the list might be a little bit longer if anything.
Based on last weekend’s performance, things are already starting to click at Adelaide United. The front three in particular looked in sync and effective, with Emilia Murray being decisive off the bench.
“To be honest we didn’t change much from two years ago to last year to this year, but that’s football sometimes.
“I’ve always tried to set my teams up in an attacking way and to play an attractive brand of football.
“For some reason we just couldn’t hit the back of the net last year but its really good to start with a number of opportunities and four goals on the weekend.”
Friday’s match against Central Coast will be the curtain raiser for the first men’s match of the season. After drawing an impressive crowd in Round One, Stenta is excited for that post World Cup momentum to continue.
“I think we’ve got a really strong league with the potential for it to continue to grow.
“I think these girls deserve our support.
“They’re great players, great role models and ambassadors and I strongly encourage anyone that is interested in attended the men’s game on Friday to come a little bit earlier and watch some fantastic football from great footballers.”
Canberra United
By Ryan Miller-Woods
The media heard from Canberra United Head Coach NjegoshPopovich and in-form midfielder Vesna Milivojevic ahead of Canberra’s match against Melbourne City on Saturday.
Canberra’s first match of the season against Adelaide United was a game, that despite giving away two penalties and conceding four goals, was nevertheless filled with more positives than negatives. They managed to score four goals with a brace from Milivojevic and skillfully capitalised on Adelaide’s mistakes.
When asked about his thoughts from the Adelaide game, Popovich said:
“There’s a lot of learning moments for us in that game (against Adelaide) without a doubt. We’re still trying to find our feet as a squad and as a group. Very entertaining with a lot of goal activity, which is fantastic. For us (Canberra) it’s been the focus this week on trying to prevent goals more than score goals. We have an amazing attacking side, it’s just about learning from the moments on the weekend as a young group.”
What was apparent with Canberra’s upcoming opponents Melbourne City in their opening-round match against Wellington Phoenix was that they didn’t have it all their own way as the Phoenix matched what City had to offer and while they played well, the goal took a rebound off Wellington’s goalkeeper Rylee Foster to win last Sunday and it can be argued that City were somewhat fortunate to have been victorious.
When asked about who are the big threats that City have, Popovich said:
“They’re threatening all over the field. For us we’re concentrating on ourselves, we’re not really too concerned about them (Melbourne City) in terms of individuals but (they) are a very good group, a good team. It is a great opportunity to test ourselves and see exactly where we are at the moment.”
In the match against Adelaide, Milivojevic continued from where she had left off last season as she has now scored eight goals in her past six matches and was once again one of Canberra’s most important players on the pitch. Her contributions and passages of play were crucial in the match.
When asked whether she is feeling more comfortable playing at Canberra in her second season with the club, Milivojevic said:
“Definitely! I feel more prepared going into games and not overthinking things, just playing the game that I’ve always played.”
When asked what she is expecting from City this round, Milivojevic said:
“A tough game, every game is hard. We know they (Melbourne City) like to keep the ball and play possession football.”
In a follow-up to her previous response, Milivojevic was asked whether Canberra will need to be more patient in how they approach the match with City’s style of play and making chances really count whenever they do come around, to which she said:
“Yeah! I think we’re pretty strong on the counter-attack, so we’ll try to use that (to our advantage).”
Central Coast Mariners
By Ryan Miller-Woods
The media heard from midfielder Bianca Galic and Central Coast Mariners Head Coach Emily Husband ahead of their upcoming match against Adelaide United on Friday.
Despite the defeat in the opening round against Newcastle Jets, there were still some positives that came out of Central Coast’s first match back in the league in 14 years. With potentially some of the nerves from the opening round out of the way, can now focus their attention towards Adelaide.
In regards to how the players are feeling ahead of the match against Adelaide, Galic said:
“We’re really excited. We’ve obviously got a few pointers to learn (from) in Round 1 which we’ve been working on during the week and we’re hoping to bring all of that on Friday when we verse Adelaide.”
The match on Friday against Adelaide will also be Central Coast’s first away game in their return campaign.
When asked whether there is a different approach to playing an away game at the start of the season, Galic said:
“I think there’s always going to be a different approach with away games. You’re obviously missing that home feel, you’re not playing on your normal field or you don’t have the (home) crowd around you either. But we’re there to do a job and we hope that wherever we can play, we can perform.”
While only one round has been contested so far in the A-League Women’s season, Central Coast’s opponents this round Adelaide look exactly like a team that will be in firm contention for the finals if their match against Canberra United was anything to go by. Adelaide played well specifically in attack and looked like a well-rounded team that will only keep on improving throughout the season.
With what Adelaide looks like for this season from Galic’sperspective, she said:
“Adelaide’s looking pretty good. They just had a 4-all draw with Canberra on the weekend, so you can see based off that, they (Adelaide) can score goals but the fact that Canberra also scored four, they (Adelaide) can be scored against.”
While Central Coast lost their first match back in the league, it is important to note given how close the result was against Newcastle, on another day, it could have been the Mariners the ones victorious.
When asked about any takeaways from the opening-round game against Newcastle, Husband said:
“Obviously in the first half, the girls took a while to adjust to playing in front of such a big crowd. I think in the second half, we (Central Coast) came out and were a lot braver in our press, braver in the way we went forward with the ball and that was really pleasing to see. That’s what we want to build off of for this week.”
What the match between Adelaide and Canberra showed, is how well Adelaide transitioned in their plays with it being both really energetic and fast going. It can be argued that they were quite unlucky to have not won on Sunday from the sheer number of chances that they created in the match itself.
When asked about how tough Adelaide are looking from her perspective, Husband said:
“They (Adelaide) got off to a really good start, scored a few goals against Canberra (United) on the weekend, so no doubt they’ll be confident coming into the game against us (Central Coast). But it is still early days for everybody and a lot of teams are still finding their feet, so it’s anyone’s game.”
Wellington Phoenix
By Genevieve Henry
Above: Wellington Defender Mackenzie Barry
Source: Wellington Phoenix
The media heard from Wellington Phoenix defender Mackenzie Barry ahead of their clash with Western Sydney Wanderers this weekend.
Following their tough, yet well-fought, match against Melbourne City last weekend, Barry said:
“We competed well and we showed what we’ve been practicing. We’ve developed a new style of football.” Their 1-0 defeat to City showed that Wellington are ready to take another step forward this year to compete with the best teams.
Barry said that they were happy with the result, as many players were away or injured, so for a squad with little experience, this was a good result. The highlight of the game was the seven debutantes showing up for Wellington. Barry spoke highly of Macey Fraser in particular, saying “I think Macey’s been in the academy for three or four years now, so she’s worked hard and I think it showed. She played really well.” She was also thrilled about how easily their internationals slid into the squad. The promise of a cohesive and bonded squad looks good for the season.
Barry and her teammates are looking forward to the match, but know it won’t be easy. “It’s always a good battle against the Wanderers.” Wellington have a mixed record when facing the Wanderers and are prepared for a testy match that could set the tone for their season.
Exciting news for the A-Leagues came recently as the Phoenix will have a double header with their men’s side in Auckland at prime time. Barry said, “It’s great to be able to showcase what talent we have in person to other areas of New Zealand in person.” The impact this game will have on young girls will be palpable.
The news of the Unite Round being held in Sydney is being applauded by players and fans alike. Barry said with a laugh, “We all get to play in Sydney during that round, and then whoever is top of the table gets to host, which makes sense to me!” She was cautiously excited about that, saying, “If we are good enough, if we’ve earned that spot, it would be amazing to host at home.”
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