Kerr leads the line in Westfield W-League’s lethal trio

It’s hardly surprising, but Sam Kerr showed once more why she is the main protagonist of Perth Glory’s lethal trio, and the Westfield W-League, following their 2-2 draw with Adelaide United on Thursday night.

The Westfield Matilda was in the thick of the action and led the line with a first-half brace which appeared to give Perth all three points in a memorable clash. 

While Veronica Latsko’s brace dashed Perth fans’ hopes, the performance of  Kerr, Alyssa Mautz and Rachel Hill is proving to be perhaps the most valuable trio the league has ever seen.

EXTRA TIME: Hill reveals the chemistry behind her deadly partnership with Kerr and Mautz
READ: ‘Kerr’ific performance for Perth but Latsko brace saves Adelaide
PLAYER PROFILE: Michelle Heyman – Adelaide United

https://players.brightcove.net/5519514572001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5976255879001

Don’t take our word for it though, Kerr herself could only praise her teammates, particularly Hill who had an incredible 90 minutes.

“Hilly’s a gun, she’s one of the best teammates to have on your team and she works hard the whole time,” said Kerr.

“It was hard in the second half – we didn’t really touch the ball – so we just worked hard on the defence. But she’s a great teammate and an even better player so we love having her here.

“We try and focus on our forward line [when preparing for games]. We think if we play well we can beat any defence in the league.”

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It turns out we have the Opta stats to back up Kerr and the glowing endorsement of her teammates.

Overall, the trio have 13 goals and seven assists in their first five games, with only two of Perth’s goals this season not directly involving either Kerr, Mautz or Hill.

Kerr produced eight shots in the match against Adelaide,two of her four shots on target producing crucial goals. Add to that the three chances created by Kerr, and it seems the 25-year-old could have had a hat-trick of goals and assists.

But of course a trio is only as good as the sum of its parts, and Bobby Despotovski has proved to be the perfect mechanic.

Mautz, 29, created three chances and provided Kerr with the assist for her opening goal. The exchange was something out of the training ground, as she found an inch of space out on the right flank and whipped in a delicious cross straight to Kerr.

It was harder for Kerr to miss than score and the Westfield Matilda took her chance with aplomb.

Perth Glory

Not to be outdone, Hill picked up from where she left off in the 2017/18 Season, mirroring Mautz’s stats. The American is still as creative as ever, as seen in her assist for Kerr’s second goal.

The assist to Kerr is more than a statistic, though. It’s testament to Mautz’s quality as she had the awareness to see Kerr’s run, before nailing a 40-metre cross-field strike that by-passed more than four Adelaide United players. 

While the game at Marden Sports Complex may not have produced a victor, it confirmed what fans and players had believed for a long time now: Perth and Adelaide may just be a big feature come season’s end.

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