Just over a month out from the start of the 2024/25 season, two head coaches met the media. Ben Gilby and Ryan Miller-Woods report (28/9/24).
Above: Brisbane Roar head coach Alex Smith speaking at Suncorp Stadium this week. Photo: Chris Hyde / Getty Images, supplied to Impetus by: Brisbane Roar FC.
Brisbane Roar
by Ben Gilby
Brisbane Roar head coach Alex Smith believes he has the squad ready to put the club’s “name in the hat for a top-four place.”
Speaking to the media after the first day of pre-season training, Smith highlighted the challenges he faced last season after replacing Garrath McPherson, and his focus when it came to building a new Roar team for 2024/25.
“It’s a new group. Our expectations are to win. Coming in last year was a bit difficult in midseason, working with players that didn’t necessarily fit the way I wanted (us) to play, but you have to work with what you have got.
“I’ve had an opportunity to really focus on recruitment over the last six months…it’s been good. We’ve got a good squad together, good people, so the expectation from my point of view, and the club’s point of view is to put our name in the hat for a top four finals place.”
Reflecting a bit deeper on what he had to do at the club after coming in during the season to take over the Queensland side, Smith said: “I came in last year, and there was a bit of a negative vibe around the group and the style of play.
“I spent most of last year trying to change the attitude and the way we play, to put our first step forwards instead of backwards. Hopefully, the recruitment we’ve done over the past five months has also now added to that.”
In terms of what he was looking for in terms of player recruitment and squad atmosphere, the Roar boss summarised: “A different style of player, much more forward-thinking, looking to get forwards as much as we can, and just overall generally improve the attitude around the group and the vibe we have to win football games.”
Smith spoke passionately about his belief in what his team are capable of this season. He clearly feels that the Roar is well placed to take advantage of player departures elsewhere in the league to push on for Finals football.
“There’s been quite a high turnover of players; a lot of good players have left the league, so its a real opportunity to bring in some young players. We’ve brought in bags of Queenslanders from other clubs, from NPL players through the ranks.
“It’s a big brief of ours and something we look to move forward with over the next couple of years as well. The league, for me, is wide open. A lot of teams have lost influential players, so there is a real opportunity for us to work hard and be successful.
“We’re still looking for one more (player). I’m hoping to finalise a goalkeeper soonish. Other than that I am very happy with what we have managed to put together.”
Smith highlighted the incredible 2024 that Brisbane star Sharn Freier has had as an example for his players of what they can achieve at the club and how they can use it as the catalyst for more international recognition and league achievements.
“Based on last year, we had Sharn Freier come from basically nowhere and she was part of the (Matildas) Olympic squad. It’s something we’re very proud of as a staff and a club to see players like that go onto bigger and better things.
We’ve had girls at the junior national team, so the way the league has gone, it’s going much younger, these girls are going to have a lot more opportunity to play and put their best foot forward for selection, especially with this U23 set up now that exists in the national team, so it’s a massive opportunity.
“We certainly have four or five players that with a full season in the national behind them can put their hand up (for international selection), and as we saw with Sharn last year, football can change very quickly in a couple of months.”
Canberra United
by Ryan Miller-Woods
Canberra United CEO Samantha Farrow and head coach Antoni Jagarinec were both upbeat and realistic yesterday as they spoke about the impact of a sponsorship deal with Canberra Airport and the new squad the club are putting together ahead of the new A-League Women season.
Reflecting on the impact that the sponsorship will have for the club, Farrow said: “This funding will go towards additional travel requirements just to make the trip easier so that the girls are able to perform at their best when they’re away and we’ll also use the funding towards our recovery options during the week so that we’re able to play at our best each weekend.”
“In terms of player wages we’ve had full salary cap on budget for the entire season and we’re tracking well to getting our squad within that number. We’ve still got four announcements to come, so there’s still some players to sign and we’re still looking towards using that salary cap to its full.”
Head Coach Jagarinec was realistic about where his side find themselves at present after the huge challenges that off-season threw at the club, but offered words of encouragement to his team’s fans.
“It’s a long way to go until Round One but it’s also only five weeks away as well. We’ve got a lot of work to do (as a squad), we’re not going to hide behind that but we’re also very excited about what we’ve put together.
“It’s good, it’s a long off-season in the A-League Women’s so to finally get on the park and to start gelling the new faces with some old faces, I think the last message at training was ‘We’ve got a football team’, so I’m pretty excited about that.”
Follow Impetus on social media –
Twitter (X): @impetusfootball TikTok: @impetusfootball
Instagram: @impetusfootball
impetusfootball.org 