On this week’s episode of the Official Liberty A-League Podcast, legends Catherine Cannuli and Rhali Dobson celebrate the career of retiring 40-time Matilda Teigen Allen.
On Saturday evening, Teigen Allen laced up the boots for the final time at Liberty A-League level.
The 29-year-old full-back announced her retirement in the lead-up to Newcastle Jets’ clash with Sydney FC, joining teammates Tara Andrews and Claire Coelho in playing their final game at Allianz Stadium.
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Since debuting in 2009 for Sydney FC as a 15-year-old, Allen has enjoyed a stellar career – at both international and club level.
At international level, she earned 40 caps for the Matildas, was called up for two FIFA Women’s World Cup squads and was part of an Asian Cup winning team as a teenager in 2010.
While at club level, Allen tallied almost 130 Liberty A-League appearances, won the double with Sydney FC, along with taking home a second championship at Melbourne City and premiership with Melbourne Victory respectively.
KEEPUP’s Campbell Johnson was joined by Catherine Cannuli and Rhali Dobson on this week’s edition of the Official Liberty A-League Podcast. Catch the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.
“Unbelievable. Words can’t explain what a professional Tegan Allen is,” her former teammate, opponent and coach Catherine Cannuli said on the Official Liberty A-League Podcast.
“Whether I was playing with her, against her or coaching her, she always is such a professional… she worked so hard. She’s always doing those extras. She’s always fighting fit to try and do the best that she can possibly be.
“I was really sad to see her at the young age of 29, step away from the game now and sort of move on to the next part in her career and in life, but I think over the years the battle of battling so many injuries and rehabbing. I think sometimes it sort of takes its toll on you.
“We can’t go past… she played 40 times for the Matildas… I think she was one of the youngest to go to a World Cup and has been around for a really, really long time and from the start, like 2009.
“So Teigen, if you’re listening out there, thank you for everything that you’ve done for women’s football. You’re a great role model, a great mentor to the younger players as well and the game is going to truly miss you.”
After playing with Allen, Cannuli coached her at Western Sydney Wanderers between 2020-21 and spoke about the extra effort that the former Matilda would go to – particularly when it came to hosting training sessions and being a role model to the younger generation.
“No matter when I call upon her, to come and do training sessions for the young kids or come and talk to the kids and the next generation,” Cannuli said.
“She’s always the first one to put her hand up and be there and she’s always bringing a bunch of clothes as well to give to the kids and donate all her old kits and that.
“You don’t realise now, but later on when you sort of look back and reflect on your career, by giving even a pair of socks to one of those young kids… what you can change for that kid’s future whether it be in football or in life. Because we are role models, we’re mentors.
“All these young kids look up to us as players and Teigen is always the number one person there to help out especially in grassroots or whatever case it can be.
“I really truly hope that we at some point keep her within the game and keep her involved because people like Teigen is is an important key to the puzzle of us continuing on our legacy of women’s football.”
Allen’s debut came all the way back in the early days of the Liberty A-League, getting her start as a teenager under the tutelage of Allen Stajcic and playing alongside Cannuli, Kyah Simon and Matildas legends Sarah Walsh and Heather Garriock.
One of her many opponents throughout the journey was Rhali Dobson, who went toe-to-toe with Allen on many occasions throughout her career, given they both started their respective football journeys at around the same time in the A-League Women’s.
“She’s an absolutely beautiful human being and she’s one of those old souls and she’s very much there, not for herself. She’s there for everyone else, and she’s there for her team,” Dobson daid.
“So she will do whatever is possible to have herself in the best possible stead. So she can contribute to the team in whatever aspect that you asked her to. She’s been capped 127 times in the A-League Women’s.
“It’s going to be very easy for players to do that now. But she’s part of that cohort, that we were starting playing when it was only eight games in a season.
“To really achieve what she has at multiple clubs, and to push through so many of the barriers that has been faced by female athletes in the process.
“She really is an iconic figure of our game and it’s she’s going to be very, very much missed, for what she brings to the game. And what she brings away from the game as a person as well.”
Dobson detailed just how difficult it was to play against Allen, who was one of the best full-backs in the league for a long-time while she was at the peak of her powers – describing her style of player as a “dying breed”.
“I think for me, when I was playing with Newcastle I used to always have to come up against ‘Teigy’. She always had to mark me and I [mark] her and it was always such a physical battle,” she said.
“I have photos from playing against her and half the time neither of us was standing or we were either both left our feet. There was stud marks galore because we were just constantly at each other and that’s what I feel is very much missing from the game.
“She brought this physical presence that was so athletic, and she made your job hard and she made you not just think I’m going to do things as I normally do, because she can read you as a player very well. And that’s something that a lot of people don’t necessarily do anymore.
“She carefully watched how you play and she adapted and forced you certain ways and… she’s very much almost a dying breed as a defender. She’s an old school one as well and that’s what I love about her.
“But then after game, you were really good friends. She’d be like: ‘oh, are you okay? Just want to make sure’. I have so much respect for her.”
