Search the world of football and you’ll be hard pressed to find a harsher contrast in form than that which bookended Melbourne Victory’s W-League season.
Victory were thrashed 5-1 by Sydney FC in a Grand Final rematch back in Round 1, but fast forward three and a bit months and they exacted revenge at last, beating the Sky Blues 3-2 to put themselves into a second straight W-League decider.
With Sundays 2-0 triumph again Brisbane Roar, Melbourne banished the demons of grand final’s past, as well as those that lingered from the start of season 2013-14.
The man behind it all, coach Dave Edmondson believed from the start that his girls had the right attitude to win the league, despite the clubs more than shaky start.
“Obviously it’s a great feeling to have won and that first game [against Sydney] probably makes it even better, the fact that we’ve added to the squad from that first game and we’ve put a lot of work in since,” he said.
“I said to the girls before the game that hard work wins you games of football and they’ve worked hard this year.”
That message clearly struck a chord with the girls who, according to Edmondson, showed incredible work ethic over the W-League season.
“We’ve trained four-five nights a week, all year, didn’t have any time off over Christmas and New Year,” the head coach said.
“They’ve put the work in and you get the results of hard work and they’ve got that result in the best possible way, a home grand final and a win, so yeah it’s fantastic.”
Whilst the side put in the hard yards all the way throughout the season, Edmondson was particularly pleased with the work his side put in during grand final week, and the way in which they dealt with the usual fan fare distractions.
“We talked about [the distractions] all week, loads of media attention, loads of extra stuff to do but we said the four times that we train this week, that needs to be the focus,” he said.
“They’ve just got down and they’ve trained during the week, and today’s game, I could tell to be honest before the game, because there was no excitement about it being a final.
“It was the usual excitement that they have about playing football because they love playing.”
He was also glad to have the big game experience of Lisa De Vanna and Jess Fishlock on his side, an avenue in which his younger players were able to draw upon during the week.
“They have a massive effect. I talked during the week that their effect is bigger than what they do here on the game day,” Edmondson said.
“They have a massive effect during the week and they show a level of professionalism, and they show the local girls what it means to be a professional women’s football player.
“So from that side of things it’s massive that they are here but whether they come back or not, there are other players around.”
Whilst the future of both Fishlock and De Vanna may be up in the air, there is a little more certainty for their coach, who departs to take up a role as head coach of top flight Bristol Academy WFC in England.
The Englishman leaves our shores on a high, and is hoping to repeat his success in the Women’s Super League, albeit dressed in something a bit warmer.
“It’s a whole new challenge and the hardest things is probably leaving on a day like this where I’m in my t-shirt and it’s beautiful weather,” Edmondson joked.
“But you know there’s a great bunch of players at Bristol as well.
“I was there a couple of weeks ago for a weeks training and there’s some real quality players there as well with the same sort of attitude and spirit that these girls have.
“So this is the end of one chapter and Bristol’s the start of another that hopefully can be as successful as this one.”