Derby victory for Ante Juric’s side in front of record crowd made clear Sky Blues are ready for title defence despite key exits.
It was a night where everything felt different and everything felt the same, when records were broken but long-standing storylines resonated more strongly than ever.
As a crowd of 11,471 streamed out of Allianz Stadium at the end of Sydney FC’s victory in the derby, there was a sense that they had seen the past and the future, and all of it was thrilling.
Every one of those attendees knew they were part of history, the biggest crowd to attend a domestic women’s football match in Australia. As the afterglow from the Women’s World Cup continues to cast a warm light, those football fans in Sydney – plus thousands more in Gosford hours earlier – had listened to the calls to turn the wonder of the World Cup crowds into something sustainable and long term.
At the stadium where a number of those World Cup games were played, the fans came to prove that women’s football can resonate long after the FIFA circus had packed up and left. This was a taste of what the future could look like, on the field and in the stands.
The masses saw a contest that told us much about where these two teams are at, where they came from and where in the months ahead they might be heading. For Sydney FC, double winners five months ago, there are numerous new faces after the exit of various key personnel keen to test themselves in Europe.
Perhaps most critically, Mackenzie Hawksby and Sarah Hunter had gone from the heart of the Sky Blue midfield. For years they had learnt every nuance of the system that Sydney coach Ante Juric has evolved so successfully, and the changing of the guard was a real test for Juric’s ability to identify talent and absorb it into his team.
This was the part of the night that felt unchanged and familiar, a Juric-coached side set up to dominate a contest in crucial areas and attack with speed. With four new players in the starting XI and more on the bench, Juric estimates this has been the most disruptive off-season in his six years at the club, but the intensity of their opening exchanges augers well.
“They’re good players,” Juric noted afterwards. “I was a little bit nervous in the midfield, maybe not nervous but I was thinking they hadn’t picked up what we were trying to teach them. First half though they were exceptional, Zara (Kruger) and Lucy (Johnson) in particular, that’s the hardest job.”
Juric demurred at the idea of giving away his blueprint, but couldn’t resist a hint or two. “Hard work is probably the key. It’s mostly defensively to be honest with you, but again, I won’t give that away,” he said.
“That’s why we’ve done well for six years. I’m an ex-defender. so it’s certain things about where you stand, when you press, when you don’t.
“It’s a lot of little things, the key to when you do press. Especially in women’s football, not a lot of teams do it or players. So we’ve got our little thing which we do and it can take time.”
Time is a precious commodity that Robbie Hooker can only dream of. Brought into to coach Western Sydney’s Liberty A-League team barely a week before the start of the season, once the club’s leadership lost patience with Kat Smith, Hooker will need every ounce of his extensive experience.
The problem is the sense of déjà vu for the Wanderers team which still has only reached the finals once in its history. Coaches come and go, players too, but still the burden of seeking success seems too heavy to wear.
Even in a competition extended to 22 games, a full home and away season for the first time, no team can afford to drift for any length of time. There were signs of promise here, at least in the second half, but they largely revolved around stopping Sydney play.
The almost overwhelming challenge for Hooker, beyond the foundations of defensive structure and the team’s mentality, is to define what their style of football is, or at least aspires to.
“The first expectation is that I want to improve every player individually if I can do that, if our staff can do that,” he said. “Our team’s going to improve in terms of what is the standard that’s going to be a measure of success in terms of points, league position.
“We obviously want to make the finals, that’s a no brainer. You ask any coach at this time of year, what’s the goal, well it’s to make the finals.
“That would be a measure of some success, but that’s not always a measure of the total success. This is game one of 22 games. You can’t win the championship or make the finals in game one.”
That much is undeniable, and it would be foolish to draw too much from the opening game of the season. “There’s a good momentum but we need to capitalise today,” Juric said and he could have been talking about his team, or the crowds who had come in such numbers.
“I’ve been around for a long time, 40 or 50 years whatever it is, we need to capitalise and not sleep on it. Because this is good but we’ve got to keep pushing and the Australian (football) family and community need to keep pushing.”
