It’s been a tumultuous pre-season to say the least for Melbourne Victory W-League, who between drinks have turned over a coach, large chunk of their squad and even their ownership – and that’s skirting past the fact they now have a state rival to contend with in the form of Melbourne City.
But with all things put aside, a return to the football pitch on Saturday afternoon was met with a louder chorus of positivity than we’ve seen since last season.
Despite looking a little underdone in the fitness stakes, a dogged performance by the Victory saw them toil relentlessly against the star-power of Perth Glory, even taking the lead before eventually succumbing to a 2-1 loss.
For returning coach Dave Edmondson – who won a Premiership with the club in his last stint in 2013-14 – there was enough shown in their performance at ABD Stadium to suggest the season might not be as tough as first thought.
“Things have changed a lot [since I last coached the Victory]. That second Melbourne team coming back has changed things,” Edmondson said.
“In terms of me being back, I love this club and I love Melbourne to be honest. When the opportunity came up, it was a bit of a no brainer. One or two people have probably questioned my decision when you see the names that have left [in the pre-season] but I don’t really care who’s left.
“It’s who we’ve got here. Looking at today’s performance and the 14 who have played today, if that’s what we’ve got to look forward to for the rest of the year, then I’ve made a pretty good choice.”
Only four players remain from Edmondson’s last spell in charge, Gulcan Koca and Cassandra Dimovski – both of whom didn’t see game time – Enza Barilla and goal scorer Laura Spiranovic. While only Dimovski, Koca, Alex Natoli and Christine Nairn remain from last season.
As a result, Saturday saw six players handed a W-League debut, three of whom started and played the entire 90 minutes.
Understanding of this fact was Edmondson who signalled the opening fixture as one that would always be tough for his young charges, but admitted he was proud of the way they matched Perth Glory throughout the contest.
“I thought it was a real danger game if I’m honest – a lot of the girls having their first game at this level and it being against Perth who are highly fancied with the team that they’ve got,” Edmondson said.
“I thought our young and new side did really well. The first 5-10 minutes was a little bit of a shock to one or two, but I really think they showed their quality. They were able to adapt quite quickly and it was really positive.
“It’s a tough one because you have to be disappointed when you lose, and I’ve said as a coach I’ll be honest to players, but if I thought we were poor and had been outclassed today, I would have told them.
“It’s a difficult one when you go into a team-talk; you can’t be pleased about losing but you can be pleased with the result.”
With Matildas Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord ever-present forces on the wing for Perth, it was always going to be a tough afternoon for the two debutants at fullback, Annabel Martin and Briar Palmer.
Although the pair’s quality eventually shone through – as they grabbed a goal each to seal the come from behind win – there was plenty of promise shown by both players to suggest a long-term career ahead in the top-flight in Australia
“Obviously it’s not Briar [Palmer’s] preferred position, but that’s the way that things are in the squad at the moment. We’ve got Gulcan Koca to come back into the squad and one or two other people and we’ve still got a space in the squad,” Edmondson said.
“So we are looking at different alternatives, but at the moment that’s what we’ve got. We’ve got Annabel [Martin] as a real young player at right back and I thought she was excellent today. Briar is still young herself and has got much more of an attacking focus to her game.
“In other games we’d be able to get her more forward, either from that left back position or change things around and play her on the wing herself. It really couldn’t have been much more of a baptism of fire for both of them and I said that to them – but they’ve managed very well today.
“Both of them were disappointed – blaming themselves for little things – but I think that really goes to show the type of people they are; they’re not settling for [second best].”