By Kieran Yap 18/3/25
Above: Holly Furphy. Photo Gold Leaf Creative.
Melbourne Victory forward Holly Furphy talks to Impetus about her career and season so far.
The defender did not do much wrong. She stayed goal side of her opponent, pushed her wide and closed the shooting angle to only one possibility, but that was still not enough to prevent Holly Furphy scoring her third goal in just six appearances.
Canberra United was the latest team to find out that you need to be better than perfect to stop her.
The Melbourne Victory attacker has been decisive. Her pace , control and confidence inject an immediate threat into the game, and her finishing has been lethal.
Half a chance is all she needs, and the Victory fans can be heard loudly demanding she be subbed on at The Home of The Matildas.
“Confidence is a big part of it,” she says of her success in front of goal.
“But it’s more, the one thing I have been working on in the past year or so is the mental side of my game and not to hesitate.
“To take every shot like it’s the last shot I’m ever going to take. Not thinking, just shoot”
Furphy is a five year-over night success. She was a train on at Melbourne Victory as a teenager, before embarking on a journey to the United States to play for Santa Clara in the famed but challenging college system.
The former Yarra Jet’s and FV Emerging striker returned to Australia and Victory as an injury replacement before the game against Sydney FC, where she scored minutes after coming on as a second half sub.
“I signed my contract the day before that,” says Furphy of her Round 13 debut.
“I knew I was going to be playing if it all got approved, but it was all a bit of a whirl wind then warming up and hearing them call my name to go on.
“Obviously there’s going to be a bit of nerves and I was like ‘oh this is actually happened then.’
“I think in that moment even though I was nervous I told myself, ‘why am I scared about playing the sport that I love, this is what I want to do!’ that’s what my mentality was going onto the field.
“Theres no room to be nervous because I want to enjoy this as much as possible.
“Scoring that goal was a bit of a fever dream, when I hit it and saw it go in it was unreal to be honest, I was looking at my teammates with ‘what the hell just happened?’”
Furphy’s first steps in the A-League Women seems like to stuff of dreams, but it has been hard earned and not without overcoming significant challenges. She moved across the world at just 19 to further her football career and begin an environmental science degree at Santa Clara University (Some potentially good news for Victory fans is that she plans to finish her education in Melbourne.)
“I was obviously nervous going over to a new country and seeing a new style of football,” she reflects.
“That was a big thing I had to adjust to. They are very physical and very transitional based over there.
“My team was more possession focussed but the teams we would play it was very physical and high pressing environment.
“Physically and fitness wise I got a lot stronger over there, the one thing I can say is the mental side of my game.”
After a promising start in the USA, Furphy was faced with a huge and dreaded challenge for all athletes, but in some ways it has turned out to be the making the attacking weapon we see now.
“Doing my ACL my first year at college, that was a bit of a set back for me and made me really reflect on what I want to do really because of not playing for 10 months and trying to work my way back to what I was, in that moment I decided to become a different player.
“I wasn’t unhappy with the way I was playing, but I knew I could become more. I worked a lot with Dean Georgio (of Kick Talent Management) on how I can approach my game differently and unlock that mental side of it.
“That’s the biggest thing I learned that resilience, patience and determination.”
Despite being thousands of miles from home and still in her first year, Furphy says that the support she received at Santa Barbara during her recovering was excellent.
“My coaching staff and support staff were really nice about it. they even offered to fly me back home so I could be with my family, and they flew out my parents so they could help with my rehab.
“Living on campus, getting to rehab every single day obviously progressed it a lot to get back quicker.
“I got back in 10 months but still had a lot of issues coming out of that season because I did a pretty gnarly injury.
“I thought it was really great, they have so much fancy tech over there, so it was really good.”
The Furphy family has been a source of great support for the forward. The sporting household also boasts two brothers who played professional basketball and AFL respectively. Holly’s mother was an elite competitive diver and her father was an accomplished Aussie Rules footballer.
Despite sometimes being spread around the world, the family always watch each other games and support from near or afar.
“Those four people are my biggest influences and biggest supporters,’ says the aspiring Matilda.
“Just seeing what they do in their own sports helped me become the player that I am now.
“We’re a very tight knit family. It was very competitive growing up, but not in a harmful way, it was way more fun than anything.
“I love competing and get so much joy out of that. Growing up with my brothers really fostered that.”
Furphy is part of an exciting group of rising stars at Melbourne Victory. She joins the likes of Rosie Curtis, Laura Pickett and Ava Briedis as players to make big impacts this season, while her former FV Emerging teammate Alana Murphy earned a Matildas call up. At it’s most successful, Victory has supported and promoted young footballers and Furphy is the latest and possibly most spectacular example.
“One of the appeals in coming to Victory was I knew so many of that girls from playing with them or playing against them.
“It was awesome having close and familiar faces in the side. They’re such an amazing bunch of girls, I’m just so grateful to be part of this team.”
With thanks to Kick Talent Managment for their assistance in producing this interview.
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