Melbourne Victory’s quest for a Championship three-peat came to an end on Saturday afternoon, falling to a heartbreaking 1-0 Preliminary Final defeat to Sydney FC.
Melbourne Victory coach Jeff Hopkins says his side will turn to the drawing board in the off-season, as they plot a path back to winning silverware next campaign.
Victory bowed out of the Liberty A-League finals series after losing 1-0 to Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium, courtesy of a late Madison Haley strike.
Now, Hopkins and his charges will turn their attention to the off-season, as they come into the next campaign as the hunters instead of the hunted for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign.
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For the second straight season, Victory eked their way into the finals, finishing in fourth place which they did on goal difference ahead of Canberra – despite only losing three games for the entire season.
However, draws at crucial junctures proved costly, as Victory were forced to go the long way again in the finals series – but lightning was unable to strike twice as they fell in the Preliminary Final.
“If you look at the last 18 games, up until today, we lost our first two games of the season, but we lost one in 18 since then,” Hopkins said.
“We’ve been consistent, but at times we just didn’t have that little bit extra to get us over the line. I think we had eight draws in that period of time.
“First of all, I’m really proud of the the players, of our ability to finish in the top four again to get to the second last weekend of the finals, but I guess now it’s about having a real good, in-depth analysis of the season.”
Victory were also hindered by being unable to field a full-strength side for the majority of the campaign, due to a series of key injuries and departures.
Attacking duo Melina Ayres and Catherine Zimmerman along with veteran defender Gema Simon were sidelined for lengthy periods due to injury, while Elise Kellond-Knight’s season was ended prematurely due to a ruptured Achilles.
Fellow national team representative Alex Chidiac also departed as her loan spell came to an end in February, as did striker Rikke Madsen’s injury replacement contract.
Hopkins said they will take these into consideration when they review the season and plan their course of attack for next campaign.
“I think we know we weren’t quite right,” he continued.
“We did lose a number of players through injury and we had to send a couple of players back to to their clubs as their loan periods ended, so maybe we’ll have a look at that as well.
“Most probably, looking at what we need to do, and what we need to add to our group to turn four or five of those draws into wins next year, which will get us a Championship and the Premiership, and that’s what we’re after.”
