It’s been a long wait for W-League fans in Melbourne, as there has been no news since Victory’s amazing run to the Grand Final last season. However, The Corner Flag can finally reveal exclusively that a squad has been drawn up for the 2013/14 W-League season. Contracts have yet to be officially finalised but if all goes well, fans should be in for a treat. New head coach David Edmondson has assembled a team peppered with international stars and exciting youngsters, as they look to go one better than last season and get another crack at lifting the first piece of silverware in the club’s history.
Defending champions Sydney FC are first up this season and the Melbourne Victory team will no doubt be raring at the bit to avenge their Grand Final loss, but this will be a vastly different yet familiar looking side that fronts up at AAMI Park on November 10. Without further ado, we take a look at some of the players who will hopefully be wearing the navy blue this season.*
International Pedigree
The international picks have always been eagerly anticipated and this season is no different for Melbourne Victory. While fans will be shattered at the news that Victory Medal winner Petra Larsson is not returning to Australia this season, they might find some solace in the quality of her replacements.
Welsh captain Jessica Fishlock was a revelation during her guest stint last season, wowing everyone with her energetic performances and football skills that seemed to be from another planet compared to everyone else. But of course Fishlock is a world-class superstar who has taken out awards at the highest level for club and country, and her signing last season was something of a coup for Mike Mulvey and the Victory team. Her impending return this year on a full season contract is partly down to the warm welcome adoring W-League fans gave her during the last campaign and we can certainly expect to see plenty more fireworks from this midfield dynamo.
Larsson’s absence this time round has opened the door to her fellow Linköpings FC teammate Jessica Samuelsson, who will become the second Swedish footballer to join Melbourne Victory. The 25-year-old fullback has more than 10 caps for her national team and has been an integral part of the Linköpings first team since 2011. Victory No. 1 Brianna Davey has been full of praise for Samuelsson while playing alongside her in Sweden the past few weeks, and has spoken highly of her ability and the impact she will have when appearing in a Victory jersey.
Last but not least and completing the trio of international signings is New Zealander Katie Hoyle. The 25-year-old midfielder is already an experienced international for her country, with more than 70 appearances in New Zealand colours. Playing primarily through the middle, the diminutive Hoyle (her 1.61m frame is only 3cm taller than Fishlock) is a deep lying playmaker who looks to set up attacking moves for her teammates though she is not adverse to going for goal herself if the occasion calls for it. Hoyle was also part of the Football Ferns squad that beat Brazil 1-0 last month, the first time they had beaten any team in the top ten of the FIFA Women’s rankings.
Interstate Signings
All eyes are on the one and only Lisa De Vanna as she appears in Melbourne colours this season. One of the most talented players to ever play for Australia, the mercurial forward delights and frustrates in equal measure thanks to her fiery temperament. Victory just missed out on her signature last season, as Mulvey contacted De Vanna a day too late and had to settle for her Linköpings teammate Larsson but Edmondson looks to have got his player this time round. Matildas fans will rave about her tremendous turn of speed and insane dribbling skills, and there is no doubt that the striker will offer Victory a real bite going forward.
A no less impressive capture is that of young defender Emma Checker from Edmondson’s old club Adelaide United. The 17-year-old prodigy has drawn rave reviews with the Lady Reds and is seen as one of their most promising prospects to come out of South Australia in recent memory. Checker won her first Matildas cap against Hong Kong in November of last year, and is blooming into a top notch central defender. Her 1.75m stature and composure playing out the back helps too, and she will surely be challenging for a starting spot despite her tender years.
Returning Heroes
A fantastic season at centre-back saw Rebekah Stott packing her bags for Germany at the end of last season, as she signed a two year contract with 2. Bundesliga club SC Sand. Many fans thought that it was the last we’d seen of Stott in Victory colours, but the defender appears to have decided to make the move back to familiar surroundings. There is still the small matter of sorting out her SC Sand contract, but it is a huge boost for a team that has lost old hands Danielle Johnson and Maika Ruyter-Hooley from the defence that contested last season’s W-League Grand Final. The dual-nationality defender (she holds both New Zealand and Australian passports and hence does not take up a visa spot) is underrated in some quarters still, but make no mistake about it, her return to Victory is brilliant news.
The team had a poor record with injuries last season, with the particularly horrible game against Brisbane in Round 2 lingering long in the memory. Not only did Victory suffer defeat in that match, but lost two important players as Louisa Bisby and Ashley Brown limped off with season-ending ACL injuries. Jacqueline Vogt was also to fall victim to an ACL injury later that season, but it is Brown out of the three who retains a Victory contract while she continues her rehabilitation from the debilitating knee injury. One of the most exciting young Victorian talents alongside teammate Stephanie Catley, the 18-year-old is an excitement machine on the wing and was sorely missed as Victory came agonisingly close to Grand Final glory. A fit again Brown would be a very potent weapon in the team’s attacking arsenal.
Young Guns
While much attention will be focused on the bigger names, Edmondson has also seen fit to award contracts to two youngsters who could very well form part of the next Australian generation of footballers – Beattie Goad and Emily Hulbert. While their signings might be seen as something of a left-field gambit by the Victory coach, there have been plenty of signs from these two in the past year to make it a calculated risk. Neither might see much first team action, but training with established internationals in a semi-professional environment might just be what it takes for them to take the next step up.
The younger of the two wunderkinds is 16-year-old Beatrice ‘Beattie’ Goad. The gawky teenager might not look like much at first sight, but this is a highly talented youngster who’s already been capped at U-17 level with Australia. One of four Victorian representatives in ‘Mini-Matildas’ team that contested the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Women’s Championship in China this past September, Goad has gone from strength to strength this year. Playing under Edmondson’s tutelage in the NTC/EAP squad, the fleet-footed winger has been tearing it up against Victorian Women’s Premier League (WPL) squads all season.
But it’s even more of a fairytale story for Emily Hulbert, who’s gone from a excited fan on the sidelines last season to part of the Melbourne Victory 20-player squad this time round. A Monbulk Rangers product, the 17-year-old has been plying her trade in the WPL with 2012 champions Box Hill United. Originally a pacey wing prospect, Hulbert’s move into the middle this season looks to have paid immediate dividends as she’s morphed into an elegant central midfielder. A year in which she was named to the National Futsal Championshops All-Star team just got even better for the young prospect.
Melbourne Victory Provisional Squad List:
Brianna Davey, Cassandra Dimovski, Stephanie Catley, Jessica Samuelsson, Emma Checker, Rebekah Stott, Alex Natoli, Jessica Humble, Gülcan Koca, Cindy Lay, Emily Hulbert, Katie Hoyle, Jessica Fishlock, Enza Barilla, Tiffany Eliadis, Ashley Brown, Beattie Goad, Caitlin Friend, Laura Spiranovic, Lisa De Vanna
Ins:
Jessica Samuelsson (Linköpings FC), Emma Checker (Adelaide United), Rebekah Stott (SC Sand), Alex Natoli (Adelaide United), Katie Hoyle (Eastern Suburbs), Jessica Fishlock (Seattle Reign FC/Glasgow City), Lisa De Vanna (Sky Blue FC/Perth Glory)
Outs:
Maika Huyter-Rooley, Jacqueline Vogt, Danielle Johnson (USA), Georgia Koutrouvelis, Louisa Bisby, Amy Jackson, Petra Larsson (Sweden), Rachel Alonso, Jessica McDonald (USA)
*Melbourne Victory W-League are expected to announce their finalised squad sometime in the coming weeks in collaboration with Football Federation Victoria, so keep an eye out for developments!