Despite being the youngest member of the Melbourne Victory back four, 17-year-old fullback Annabel Martin has arguably been their most consistent performer.
The right-back – who has performed admirably regardless of the team result – has been pleasantly surprised with the game time afforded to her in her debut season, where she has yet to miss a minute of play in 2015.
Her presence at fullback has brought an air of consistency in what has been a largely inconsistent season for the Victory, which has seen heavy changes at both centre-half and left-back throughout the season.
Thea Slatyer and Melissa Barbieri have proved to be the experienced heads holding together a relatively young defensive unit, which has lacked stability so far this campaign.
Alex Natoli has been utilised both through the middle and on the left this season, while Jess Pitts, Jamie Pollock and Gulcan Koca have spent time as Slatyer’s partner in the heart of defence.
“Everybody is super supportive,” Martin said of her older statesmen.
“I know I’ve got cover in the back, Bubs [Melissa Barbieri], Thea [Slatyer], experienced players who just know what to do with a game.”
Martin isn’t worried about the lack of consistency in selection alongside her in defence, as the youngster re-affirms her faith in the ability of all her teammates to do a job at the back.
“I’m not too worried about that, I don’t think any of my teammates are,” she said.
“We know when someone is put into the position where they can play [the ball], we have trust and faith that they will do the job they can.”
The ability of her teammates were on show on Sunday afternoon, as a vibrant second half performance nearly saw them secure a share of the spoils against Sydney FC.
She admits the team was sluggish coming out of the blocks, largely disappointing given they’d put the onus on themselves to start the game well.
“We knew [Sydney] would come out firing after last week,” Martin said.
“Our plan was to come out [and start fast] so we perhaps didn’t execute that well enough. But I thought we really fought back and put all our effort into it, which was good.
“Obviously we didn’t have the start that we had planned, but I thought we really came out and showed our true spirit and kept going at it – we had plenty of chances to put away. It was a good comeback.”
Martin is grateful for the faith shown in her by the coaching staff of Dave Edmondson and Kat Smith, but admits she still wants to be winning games, targeting the last couple of games as the perfect opportunity to do so.
“Obviously I want to come out and win games, that’s what I’m about – I like to win. I’m sure most of the girls [are the same],” Martin said of her season goals.
“In terms of opportunity and game time, I think we’re all pretty happy with the effort that we’re all putting in and the faith that the coaches have in us to do the job.”
In terms of mentors, she’ll now also link up with former coach Vicenzo Ierardo – who coached her in the under 15 State Development Program – for the state league season, having signed on with Galaxy United as the club embarks on its maiden NPLW campaign.
“It’s fantastic to be linking up with Vince again at Galaxy United,” she said.
“My focus this year was on the W-League and making sure I fully concentrated on that in my first season at W-League level.”
“Once the season is over I’m looking forward to focussing on Galaxy”.