by Ben Gilby (15/10/25)
Above: Perth Glory head coach Stephen Peters talking to the media at today’s season launch event. Image: Perth Glory.
Perth Glory head coach Stephen Peters has underlined how continuity and a specific focus on beating the side’s difficulties on the road can be the springboard to ending the club’s long absence from Finals football.
Speaking today at the Western Australian side’s season launch event in Kings Park, Peters said: “The continuity from last season is great. Essentially, we had our team picked from June, so I only had one or two spots to choose from then, which was a pretty unique spot for us to be in, and that’s put us in good stead. We’ve got to address the away form first, but if we can do that, we are a Finals team.”
With the majority of last season’s squad returning, including a good number of locally produced players, and most of the new arrivals finalised ahead of pre-season training, it has led to a stability, unlike the vast majority of recent campaigns that saw new arrivals arriving throughout the build-up to the season.
“Players know what they are walking into,” Peters emphasised. “When you have mass changes, it’s like little ecosystems within ecosystems that you have got to address, so this time, it’s easier, more tangible.”
The Glory boss went into detail about how he and his staff have been focusing on how the team can improve its away record, which saw them fail to win outside of Perth last season.
“It’s a mentality. It’s always been just accepted that it’s a difficult thing, but the reality is we have to fight for points away as much as we do at home. We have to address that.
“The key part that we’ve looked to address is that we have to have more options to pick from, so we can manage players’ loads a bit more and have rotation for different games. I know we only play one game a week, but given the travel that the players go through, it’s probably an important step for us.
“We were previously doing train and travel. We changed that at the latter end of last season when we trained the night before and travelled fresh, and we’ll stick with that to start with, and hopefully that will give us a good outcome.”
Glory’s head coach also highlighted another aspect of the travel that has a big impact on his side, and that of Wellington Phoenix – the league’s two outlying sides.
“When we went to Wellington, we copped an absolute barrage, and when they came to us, I remember speaking to Paul Temple (the then Nix head coach) afterwards and he talked to me about how difficult it was for them to manage the time zone differences and the kick-off times – what time it was in Wellington at kick-off time and all those sorts of things, and we have to capitialise on that.
“I think teams are getting smarter with that. There’s a couple of teams that I think managed it well last year. I think Melbourne City managed it very well and Central Coast managed it very well, so we also have to be on guard that…it’s something we have to capitalise on.
Peters went into last season with attacker Susan Phonsongkham on the sidelines with a long-term injury, and this year, both Megan Wynne and Nat Tathem are recovering from ACLs. There are also some short-term concerns among his creative midfielders.
“Georgia (Cassidy) picked up a hamstring from the Australia U23s, and went into the NPL and did a grade one hamstring, so she’s still coming back from that, but she’s on track for round one.
Charli Wainwright tweaked a groin at training, so she’s working through that. Then we have the couple with ACLs…they are looking at February, March is the chat, but there’s a long way to go…we feel that we have two players in every position.”
Perth Glory captain Izzy Dalton has high expectations of her teammates this season as they look to once again capitalise on home advantage, buoyed by what she believes is an exciting amount of firepower at the club.
“My expectations are pretty high given the group that we’ve got, the culture that we’re building. I think we’ve got the talent to actually do something good this year.
“One of the things we lacked (last season) was a few goals, I think. Injuries didn’t help – both Gabby (Hollar) and Megan (Wynne) got injured…but we’ve got some firepower this year – Rola (Badawiya) and Bronte (Trew) have got pace and they’ll bring a different dynamic to the team and that will give us a lot going forward.”
Like head coach Stephen Peters, Dalton pointed to the importance of keeping the vast majority of the squad from last season together, meaning the team has been able to hit the ground running – literally – in pre-season training.
“I think given that we’ve retained the core of our group, that helps. We’re not having to build relationships from the start…with the pre-season being only five weeks, there’s not a lot of time…
“Stephen has done a good job in building the culture where we can have open conversations and honest feedback. He’s managed to keep most of the team he wanted (from last season), and I think that says a lot about him as well and about the girls who are loyal and want to stay at Perth Glory.”
Whilst a lot of the attention has gone on the need to boost Glory’s away form, Dalton is well aware that repeating their powerful home record will be the foundations of a Finals push. She emphasised just how the team and fans can come together to create a hostile atmosphere at the Sam Kerr Football Centre once more in 2025/26.
“No one likes coming to Perth. I was once a player with Brisbane, and I hated coming to Perth! That’s an advantage to us and the home crowd we get is good. That’s a hard atmosphere to come into and play.”
The 28-year-old, a native of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, is now in her third year at the club, and feels that Western Australia’s City of Lights is her home away from home.
“I wanted to stay in Perth, and to sign a new contract until the end of the season is important for me. I love the place, I love the club, and the people around it. The team that we actually have got this season is something special.”
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