If the wait for August 8 seems an eternity, spare a thought for Jeff Hopkins and his Queensland Roar Women squad as they continue their long build-up to their Westfield W-League title defence.
Hopkins speculates the new season will kick off two months after the Roar-s Hyundai A-League opener, but has had his team training since February in order to improve their domestic and international prospects.
With a number of Australian senior and youth team hopefuls in the squad, the Roar Women coach is catering for the preparation needs of several different groups.
“We-re in a funny sort of situation,” the former Welsh international said.
“Our major competition is still five months or so away but we-re looking at trying to get our (Australian) under-20 girls ready for World Cup qualifiers, then our under-17s are away at the end of October for a World Cup qualifier.
“Our main focus is for the beginning of October for the W-League but through that phase, as well, there are Matildas camps and the girls are trying to cement a place in the squad for the World Cup qualifiers in May.
“So there-s a lot going on, it-s not just as simple as aiming for the first week of October. There are a lot of other things to take into account.”
Hopkins said the squad was essentially in pre-season mode, mixing gym work with regular training and games in the Rebel Sport League under the banner of the Queensland Academy of Sport.
“We are playing games but we-re going into games a bit tired because the emphasis is on our fitness at the moment,” he said.
Training camps in the coming months will give Hopkins a chance to run his eye over potential recruits for the coming campaign.
Following the success of last season in which the Roar picked up the Premiership and Championship, Hopkins is hoping to assemble a squad of similar depth, while keeping the core of the group together.
“After the season we had, I-d be silly not to,” he said. “Right through the squad there were some really outstanding performances.”
Describing a batch of talented youngsters in the mix, Hopkins said he would consider loaning players to other clubs to build their experience.
“There-s a fair bit of talent in there,” he said. “I guess what we-ve got to look at is whether it might be a little bit too early for them this year to be pushing for a place in the W-League squad.
“Laura Alleway went down to Melbourne last year, played 10 games and came back to us as a completely different player so we-ll be hoping to do that with one or two of the younger girls just to help in their development.
“We-ve just got to be careful that we think about the development of these younger players but also about the strength of the squad as well. So there are a few decisions to make over the next month or so.”
