By Emma Burke 26/4/24
Melbourne City’s Tijan and Leticia McKenna are sisters, housemates, premiership teammates and Grand Final aspirants. Ahead of the semi final second leg, they talk to Impetus Football about the season so far.
“We’ve suffered some hard losses… so it’d be a nice little closing for the story we’ve written the whole season, it’d be a nice little ending,” said Tijan McKenna, when asked what winning the A-League Women’s Championship would mean to her.
Tijan, 19, just has to get there first, and if her Melbourne City team does, she’ll do so alongside her older sister Leticia, 21, who has been working towards this moment for three years now.
A re-design of the finals has meant that City have played one of their two semi-finals against the Newcastle Jets and after that first game they now seemingly have one foot in the door.
“For us, in our heads it’s only half-time, so we still have another 90 minutes to go of the second leg,” said Leticia.
“We worked really hard to get the result, the three-nil, to put us in a good spot.”
The club recently lifted the Premiers’ plate in the final game of the season, played in and against the sisters’ first club, Perth Glory.
“It was really special to win that last game of the season at home in Perth with friends and family in the crowd,” said Leticia.
The two both debuted for Perth Glory, Leticia in 2018 at 16 years old, and Tijan a few years later in 2021, also only 16, after Leticia had already left for a year-long stint at Brisbane Roar.
“It was really special, I was very lucky with the group of girls that introduced me to the league,” Leticia said of her debut with Glory
“Playing alongside incredible names, internationals, and the Perth girls that were a part of that group as well, it’s something I look back on and it makes me smile because of how lucky I was and how much I enjoyed it.”
“I had big shoes to fill when she left,” said Tijan of her own experience.
“Obviously I wish she was still at the club when I debuted. It was a scary feeling stepping onto the field or at least getting the first call up to sit on the bench and not knowing if you’re going on or not.
“When it happened it was special for about three seconds and then I stepped on the field and it was like, game time,”
After two years of playing with Melbourne City, Leticia was joined by her sister for the 2023/24 season, where they’ve both been used in a number of positions on the pitch. Luckily, they both enjoy being yo-yo’d around the ground.
“Being versatile is something that you want because either way you want to play and do your part for the team… [learning] new stuff and [taking] it onboard it’s going to take you to the next level,” said Tijan, who can and has played in City’s defence and midfield.
“I love being in midfield and it’s definitely the preferred position but I’m happy to play anywhere. Getting minutes and being a part of the squad is always really good,” said Leticia, who has played across attack and midfield this season.
The two are living together again, which has its pros and cons, the cons mainly to do with determining who has done the most chores (Leticia cooks the most, but Tijan is adamant that she cleans more) and having no parents being readily available to decide who’s right or wrong in an argument.
The benefits of the situation however, definitely outweigh the small drawbacks.
“I’ve missed having her at home so for me it’s quite nice living with her again,” said Tijan.
“As teammates… She’s experienced more difficult situations so when I get something thrown in front of me, she’s there to help and coach me. It’s been really good and I hope there’s more to come.”
The McKenna sisters road to wearing the same colours at the professional level has been a long one. They played for Western Australia’s NTC side four years ago and came close again last season when playing in Victoria’s NPLW.
However, it was not only for other teams but derby rivals in Heidelberg United and South Melbourne.
Friends, family and teammates might agree that it’s best to have them on the same side, but they have different answers to the same question.
“I’d rather have her on my team than be taken out by her,” said Leticia wisely
“I prefer playing against her,” replies Tijan with a grin.
The international future for the two looks bright, with Leticia eyeing off an Under-23’s call-up for a round of Friendlies, and Tijan who only recently returned with a Bronze Medal from the Under-20’s Asian Cup, which saw the Young Matildas qualify for the U-20 Women’s World Cup, which will be held in Colombia.
Right now, however, their focus remains on Sunday, where they’ll find out if they’re one step closer to writing that nice little ending to this chapter in their footballing lives.
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