By Alyce Collett 3/5/25
Above: Jeff Hopkins. Photo Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory coach Jeff Hopkins spoke to the media ahead of the team’s trip to face Adelaide United
It is a very big day for Melbourne Victory today, who kick off their 2024/25 A-League Women’s campaign with part one of a two leg semi final against Adelaide United.
A very calm Victory Women’s coach Jeff Hopkins spoke to the media yesterday, and believes that the team’s processes will hold them in good step for this two legged series.
“I think we’ve got a good formula at the moment,” Hopkins said.
“We look after our team very, very well, and when we’re together, we’re together for a little bit longer. We can make sure that all the finer details are looked after when we travel together, when we’re in the hotel together, we get to do a little bit extra. So I think that’s why out of all the teams in the league, we have the best record in away games for the season.”
Playing multi legged series is not a common thing in Australian football, but Hopkins certainly has a plan for how to approach the series.
“They are two separate games, but you’ve got to have a strategy and not get carried away with the result of one game,” Hopkins said.
“We’ve done a fair bit of scenario training last week. We’ll have rather than a team meeting, a strategy meeting as well before we play, so everyone kind of understands that. Being a goal up or a goal down in this game, it’s a little bit different to a normal game.”
Ahead of the match, Hopkins had good news to share on the injury front, noting that Emily Gielnik and Ellie Wilson were both ready to go after missing the club’s final match of the home and away season against Brisbane. He also confirmed that he had a “full quota” of players to choose from for the semi, including Lia Privitelli for the first time this season.
One of Adelaide’s strength is no doubt its attacking prowess, but Hopkins has strong belief in his defensive system – both players and structure – and is confident that they will neutralise those threats.
“They’re a good side … they’re scoring a lot of goals, creating a lot of chances, and their front five, whoever plays there is quite formidable,” Hopkins acknowledged.
“But like I said, we’ve got a very good back line, goalkeeper, and defensive structure really, so we want their best team to come and play against us. We want to test ourselves against the best.”
Although they got so close to winning the premiership this season, Hopkins said that the fact that they did not doesn’t add any motivation factor for the finals series, saying that who won the premiership “doesn’t really interest me or motivate me”, rather “what we’ve done this year is motivating me.”
He noted that “clean sheets, the, the record run of winning games, that’s what kind of excites me and I want to keep that going. If this team can prove itself to be the best team ever put on a Victory Women’s shirt, I think that kind of motivates me and it motivates players.”
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