by Ben Gilby (30/10/24)
Above: Perth Glory head coach Stephen Peters speaking earlier today to the media. Image: Perth Glory.
A new look Perth Glory side face one of the toughest possible opening round tasks – a trip to Melbourne City – but new head coach Stephen Peters and captain Izzy Dalton cannot wait.
Facing the media ahead of his first A-League Women game as a head coach, Peters was full of smiles as he described his feelings ahead of Round One: “Pumped! I’m loving it…there is an air of optimism, City is a formidable opponent, and we’re looking forward to that challenge.
“We’ve had a chance to look at them due to their AFC (Champions League) duties, so that’s a bonus for us, and they are a good side…it’s going to give us a real good indication of where we are at.”
In terms of what he is expecting to see from City, the new Perth head coach reflected: “They seem to have a philosophy in the club that is carried through from manager to manager to a certain degree, so there are a few things that are remaining from Dario’s (Vidosic) reign.”
Glory go into Sunday’s game in Melbourne missing three key players in Susan Phonsongkham, Megan Wynne, and co-captain Onyi Zogg. The news about Phonsongkham, who last season arguably had her best campaign in a purple shirt, is particularly devastating.
“Susan has an ankle injury which she unfortunately carried into pre-season from the NPL Grand Final, so she’ll be out for a period of time – we’re looking at three to four months, so that’s a significant challenge for us as she’s a player of real quality.”
Welsh international Wynne has a wrist injury which is likely to keep her out for around three weeks, with Zogg back “sooner rather than later” after pain in her plantar (the area of the foot that connects the heel bone to the toes).
Whilst Perth goes into the game as underdogs, Peters has an air of confidence that his young squad is ready to step up to the plate and give the club a performance to be proud of this weekend.
Perth Glory co-captain Izzy Dalton believes she has found her happy place at Perth which can only bode well for her performances this season.
The 27-year-old, from Barnsley in the north of England, said: “I love Perth, it’s the first club I’ve been at in my career where I feel like it’s home for me.
As one of relatively few players who have stayed at the club from last season, Dalton feels the responsibility to deliver both a better campaign this year, and also ensure that the newcomers realise what it means to represent Western Australia’s only professional female team.
“It’s been tough having an overhaul of the squad, there are a lot of young players that have come through. For those of us who have stuck around from last year, I think it’s just about taking what we know about the club and what we want the club to look like and address that with the (new) players and create something special at the club. The few players that did come back, I think we’ve been able to do that.
One of the things that excites Dalton most about the team this season is the plethora of exciting young locally produced talent. The Glory co-captain believes the new cohort has the perfect example of teen stars Grace Johnston and Georgia Cassidy to inspire them to do great things this year.
“You got to see the likes of Grace and Georgia playing a lot of minutes last year, and I think the way they have come in this season, they are confident, they have experience in the league under their belt now, and at the end of the day, they are the bright stars of this competition.
“They are going to go on to have incredible careers and will bring in what they have learned in the past year from professional football and they will do some exciting things.”
Focusing specifically on Sunday’s season opener at Melbourne City, Dalton has huge respect for the opposition. “They are able to recruit well and they have a track history of winning things, so obviously that’s attracted the players that they want to be at that club and they can bring in some of the best Australian talent that there is. We have tactics in place to combat what they want to do and hopefully, it all comes to fruition on Sunday.”
Those tactics will also include a new style of play that Peters has introduced. Whilst not giving much away, the Glory midfielder gave some tempters of what fans can expect.
“There are new approaches to the way he wants us to play, so I think naturally we have to take his things on board and adapt to the way he wants us to play. I think you will definitely see a lot of changes across the board in defence and in possession as to how we want to play.”
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