PREVIEW: Ahead of this weekend’s Liberty A-League Grand Final between Melbourne City and Sydney FC, we set the scene for a blockbuster with so much more than the trophy at stake.
“You won’t realise what this is for five or ten years. They (critics) are going to be bitter, they are going to hate it. You don’t have to like Melbourne City, but you should respect what the girls have done because it won’t happen again.”
That was Wales icon Jess Fishlock speaking after securing a Liberty A-League Championship three-peat with Melbourne City in 2018.
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It’s fair to say her prophecy has come true – and if there’s anyone who knows it, it is City’s opponents in this weekend’s Liberty A-League Grand Final.
In fact, the Sky Blues were on the losing side that day, as Fishlock scored one and created the other in a 2-0 victory. Extraordinarily, they haven’t missed a Grand Final since. This weekend will be their seventh decider in a row.
That in itself is a freakish achievement – one that may never be repeated.
Yet, despite reaching six Grand Finals on the trot, each of which came under the leadership of arguably the most successful coach in the competition’s history Ante Juric, they boast the same number of Championships as City. Four apiece.
Reading their respective records on the biggest day of the season, the contrast is immediately apparent and it sets up the ultimate storyline for this year’s big dance.
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Sydney FC: 4x Championship winners, 6x runners-up.
Melbourne City: 4x Championship Winners, never runners-up.
Where Sydney FC have become the bar for consistency in the Liberty A-League seemingly always reaching the final day of the season, Melbourne City are the team who simply win on the biggest stage.
And so, we reach the 2024 Grand Final.
The two will face off at AAMI Park on Saturday with so much more than a trophy on the line. This showdown is about the all-time pecking order and who will stand above as the most successful side on the biggest stage in Aussie women’s football.
It’s Sydney v Melbourne. It’s the veteran coaching master Juric against the rising challenger Dario Vidosic, the Socceroo eager to follow in his father’s footsteps and bring another trophy home for City.
It’s also a chance for the Sky Blues to take their revenge after City pipped them to the Premiership on the final day of the regular season.
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On the pitch, it will be a match-up dripping with narrative.
City captain Rebekah Stott started in every single title in that historic three-peat and her return to the club this season represents the link between the current City team and those heady days of old.
She clinched those titles alongside the likes of legends like Jen Beattie, Kim Little, Fishlock, Jodie Taylor, Lisa De Vanna, Lydia Williams, Aivi Luik, Steph Catley and Kyah Simon. Now, she’s leading a new generation in their footsteps.
Among them are rising stars like Daniela Galic (17), who has been touted as “the future of Australian football” and is living up to the tag, with seven goals and six assists in the most effective season by a teenager the Liberty A-League has seen.
Bryleeh Henry (20) has a Matildas cap under her belt already and has thrived in a new role at full-back in recent months. Junior Matildas captain Shelby McMahon (15) has burst onto the scene and already looks at home at senior level, alongside the likes of Naomi Chinnama (19), Leticia McKenna (20) and Caitlin Karic (19).
Around them, Vidosic has an experienced cast of pros.
Hannah Wilkinson is a World Cup goal scorer; Emina Ekic is a Bosnian international; Rhianna Pollicina has come into her own as a playmaker; Taylor Otto, Julia Grosso, Laura Hughes and Leah Davidson are models of consistency.
City also boast what may well be the most experienced goalkeeping duo in Liberty A-League history; between them, Barbara and Melissa Barbieri have 162 international caps, have been to nine World Cups and five Olympic Games.
For Sydney FC, Princess Ibini will play in her seventh consecutive Grand Final on Saturday, and record eighth in total. That in itself is ridiculous. Particularly, given she’s only 24 years old.
This time around, she’ll have the added honour of captaining the Sky Blues, who have undergone something of a rebuild since last year’s decider after a string of high profile departures.
One of which proved only to be temporary.
It’s fair to say the return of creative force Mackenzie Hawkesby from WSL side Brighton and Hove Albion in December has been the biggest turning point in this Liberty A-League season. Despite missing the first nine rounds, the 24-year-old has created more chances than any other player in the competition.
‘The Hawk’ also scored both of the Semi Final goals that sent the Sky Blues into the Grand Final – and her importance cannot be understated.
Having said that, Sydney’s undoubted X-factor comes in the form of Matildas World Cup hero Cortnee Vine, who decided to stay at the club this season after becoming a household name despite plenty of offers from abroad.
Vine is rapid, she’s direct and has enjoyed her most productive A-Leagues campaign to date with 10 goals and six assists.
Despite losing captain Nat Tobin to a devastating ACL injury after Round 1, Sydney still have a strong defensive core to rely on, headlined by Charlotte Mclean and import Jordan Thompson, alongside Tori Tumeth and Abbey Lemon, who has slotted in seamlessly since an injury to young gun Kirsty Fenton.
At the back, Jada Whyman has been a purple-clad brick wall, keeping nine clean sheets – more than double any other goalkeeper in the competition.
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Where Galic is the rising star from a City perspective, Sydney FC will deploy their own teenage dynamo in Indiana Dos Santos, who will feature in her second Grand Final despite being just 16 years of age. She’s skillful and has great vision as well as maturity and composure well beyond her years.
In midfield, Margaux Chauvet, Shay Hollman and Taylor Ray will compete for a starting berth alongside Hawkesby, while the likes of Shea Connors, Maddie Caspers and Caley Talon-Henniker loom as game-breakers off the bench.
There has been very little to split these two teams this season.
Their first meeting ended 3-2 after a lightning delay. The second ended 0-0 after an inspired penalty save from Barbieri to deny Ibini. You get the sense this could be a war of attrition, one that goes on longer than 90 minutes.
Make no mistake, the winner of this match will take more than Grand Final glory.
They’ll take a record fifth Championship and etch themselves into history, nosing ahead on the all-time leaderboard.
If Sydney win and go back-to-back, Juric and the Sky Blues will give themselves a shot next year at proving Fishlock wrong. In the meantime, those 2018 comments set the scene for a historic battle at AAMI Park this Saturday. Get your tickets now.
