by Ava-Marianne Elliott (2/5/24)
Above: Melbourne City defender Rebekah Stott and head coach Dario Vidosic speaking to the media today at AAMI Park ahead of Saturday’s A-League Women Grand Final against Sydney FC. Image: Melbourne City.
Melbourne City boss Dario Vidosic outlined his belief that Saturday’s A-League Women Grand Final will be a fitting end to a record-breaking season, as defender Rebekah Stott looked ahead to a potential third Premiership and Championship double success with the team.
Summing up his thoughts ahead of Saturday’s big game, Vidosic said: “I think throughout the season every team sort of ebbed and flowed, but I think overall us and Sydney have been the two that’ve managed it the best and now we meet on the final day.”
Head coach Vidosic revealed that he will be without two players for the big game. Karly Røstbakken, as suspected, will be on the sidelines after picking up an ankle injury in the first leg of the semi-final win over Newcastle Jets. She will be joined by Shelby McMahon who has a shin injury. Everybody else is available for selection.
He also emphasised the importance in making the week feel as normal as possible for his players. The City boss summed up his team’s preparations as having “reviewed the last game, we previewed Sydney FC, and we’ve gone through tactically how we’re going to apply ourselves on Saturday.”
This Saturday’s showdown with Sydney FC marks a return to the big stage for Stott. After only being able to play 12 games for Brighton and Hove Albion across several years, she is now aiming for her first piece of A-League Women silverware in four years.
A Championship winner with Brisbane Roar in 2012, the 30-year-old won Championships with Melbourne City in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020 with the Premiership and Championship double achieved with the Sky Blues in 2016 and 2020. The New Zealander is going all out for a third double success.
“To be able to win the Championship along with the Premiership would be so special to me, and this group of girls really deserve it,” the defender said. “We’ve worked hard all season, so it would be incredible.”
Having been a part of the league for such a long time, the 100-cap Football Fern emphasised how much things have changed over the years, but how joyous she is finding her current role with City.
“I think the whole league’s kind of had to shift with a lot of the players going overseas, but the amount of talent we have within our squad is just incredible and to see these young players playing the way they do, it’s so cool to see and I’m happy to be a part of it.”
Saturday’s match will be the biggest challenge of the season for Vidosic’s team, but he’s confident in his players’ chances of success having overcome so many “curveballs” already in 2023/24.
“We still continued to play our way, so we just had to adapt a few little things and maybe a few players changing their roles slightly, but we still carried on normally as we would.”
‘Carrying on’ involved playing more games than ever before as the league finally got the full home and away season that fans have long been calling for – something that has brought new challenges.
“Going off previous seasons, you could argue some would get a more favourable draw than others because you wouldn’t play everybody home and away. I think people forget we lost Holly (McNamara) in round five, who was probably for me the best player in the competition, or one of arguably.”
The topic of the crowd for Saturday’s game has made the headlines this week. With City only attracting around 2,000 fans for their semi-final second leg at home to Newcastle Jets last weekend when the other Finals matches all had crowds of between 5,000 and 7,000, Vidosic suggested throwing open the doors of AAMI Park to let the people of Melbourne in for free – a sentiment that was not universally welcomed.
Stott spoke about the importance of having a big turnout of City fans in their home Grand Final this weekend, saying: “It’s huge. To see the stadiums full is a dream come true, that’s why we play, to impress the fans so to get a massive fan base here and hopefully break the record for a Grand Final would be incredible.”
Vidosic took up the baton once more emphasising: “I think the last few weeks has had telling signs, it’s been a while now since the World Cup and it’s great to have people come out and watch these ladies play.
“We saw record crowds throughout the finals, we were involved in two good crowds that we had and also in Maitland [there] was a phenomenal turnout, 7,000, and you get that finals feel.”
“Throughout the season we’ve seen some big crowds and we just hope that continues to build and build. It seems to be going in the right direction and I think that World Cup effect that’ll probably be felt in maybe 10 to 15 years for the young ones that got that World Cup fever, that went to the stadiums, that love these girls, that idolise them, that look to them so we hope that we have that immediate effect and that long term effect.”
The final word goes to Stott – after everything she has been through on and off the pitch, Saturday’s Grand Final has added importance and poignancy. Reflecting on her comeback, the defender said: “For me, getting back to this level has been so hard, but so special, so to win a Grand Final I think would make it even more special.”
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