by Emma Burke (11/4/24)
Above: (Left to right) Melbourne City’s Julia Grosso, Rachel Lowe of Melbourne Victory, and Western United’s Catherine Zimmerman at the Hosier Lane media event. Photo provided to Impetus by: Getty Images via Western United.
The A-League Women Finals are almost upon us, and earlier this week the Victoria triumvirate of Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory, and Western United were all represented at a media event in Melbourne’s Hosier Lane.
“Victory always peaks at the right times,” said the team’s leading goalscorer Rachel Lowe when she fronted the media at Hosier Lane ahead of Melbourne Victory’s elimination final against Central Coast Mariners.
“I don’t know if that’s by chance, but we seem to be hitting our stride really well at the end of the season and if we keep this up we can have a really strong finals series,” she continued.
Melbourne Victory made a statement when cementing their place in the finals, defeating last season’s champions, and Lowe’s former club, Sydney FC convincingly in the final round of the season.
“Winning 4-0 against Sydney is not an easy thing to do, we’re using it as momentum towards the finals,” she said of the game in which she scored a penalty.
Now, Victory will take on Central Coast Mariners in a do-or-die elimination final, with the winners slated to face Premiers Melbourne City in a two-legged semi-final series, as per the new system in place in the A-League Women.
“It’s not going to be an easy game against Central Coast. The Mariners are a good side, they’re very transitional, so we have to be wary,” she said.
Despite the threat the Mariners pose, Lowe is confident in herself and the team surrounding her.
“We’re going into this game thinking about ourselves,” she said regarding how Victory are looking to manage the upcoming fixture. If we’re at our best on the day we can beat anyone.”
Melbourne Victory host Central Coast Mariners for the elimination final at the Home of the Matildas this Sunday April 14, with kick-off slated for 4pm.
Melbourne City’s Julia Grosso also the media at Hosier Lane to discuss her Premiership-winning side, injury woes, and the upcoming A-League Women Finals series.
Grosso was all smiles when asked about the premiership win, which happened as a result of a Sydney FC’s loss to Melbourne Victory, and City’s own 2-1 win over Perth Glory in the final round of the season.
“The vibes were electric, it still feels like a dream,” she said about the win.
City battled through an up-and-down season, winning 12 of their 22 games, and dealt with major changes amongst the team after losing Holly McNamara early on to an ACL injury, and both Kaitlyn Torpey and starting keeper Lysianne Proulx to international transfers.
“We got what we deserved,” said Grosso at the end of it all.
Grosso herself was one of the players sidelined by injury, spending almost two months off the pitch dealing with a calf issue.
“It’s never nice getting injured,” she said, “it wasn’t the easiest of times for me, being across the world from my family and friends. Knowing that I could come back to finals, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Due to the new finals system in place for the A-League Women, Grosso and the rest of her City team will partake in a two-legged semi-final run, where they will face the winners of this weekend’s elimination final between crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory or new (or old depending how you look at it) faces to the league in the Central Coast Mariners.
“We don’t have a preference of who we play, we’re going to come out the same way and play the best we can,” said Grosso about the two potential opponents, unphased by either of them.
“Winning the premiership was amazing, but we have our eyes on the double now.”
Ahead of their elimination final against the Newcastle Jets, Western United forward Catherine Zimmerman discussed the finals series, the club’s new home ground, and their motivation to win.
“It’s almost like it’s a new season, you have this kind of fresh feeling and you want to just lock in,” said Zimmerman.
“There’s been a really positive feeling within the group,” she said.
A fresh and positive feeling is exactly what Western United will be wanting for their elimination fixture, as this game is a rematch of a fixture that they lost only three weeks ago, 3-1, at the opening of their new home facilities in Tarneit.
“It’s not too often you get a second chance at playing a team,” said Zimmerman.
“We kind of want that redemption, they came in and kind of bullied us a little bit, so to get a win on our home field in an elimination final, it’d be huge.”
The Regional Football Facility has multiple pitches, a capacity of 5,000, and purpose-built training and gym amenities. It’s all still very new, having been used for the first time ever for that game against the Jets.
“Having this ground kind of instills a bit more pride in you and you want to defend it, your home. It’s starting to feel like home.”
Western United will have to be at the very top of their game to defeat Newcastle, especially considering they’ve lost key players in their captain Chloe Logarzo to a hip injury, Adriana Taranto to an ACL tear, and most recently, Hannah Keane to a patella tendon rupture.
“It was absolutely heartbreaking when that happened,” said Zimmerman, regarding Keane’s injury.
“Not having Hannah, Chloe, these girls that have helped get us to where we are this season. We have to have them in the back of our minds, in our hearts when we play, we just want to play for them and do what we can to get the win.”
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