Brisbane Roar forward Sharn Freier speaks to aleagues.com.au after her incredible rise from an NPL gem to a breakout Ninja A-League star, Matildas debutant and an Olympics bolter.
Sharn Freier was in the stands as a fan when the Matildas made history at the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
If you had told her then that within 12 months, she’d be representing her nation at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, she’d have never believed you.
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Freier’s meteoric rise from a young Brisbane Roar prospect with immense potential into a Matildas debutant and a star of the Ninja A-League happened so fast that the 23-year-old is still grappling with her new reality, having returned to the club where she put her name on the international map in one scintillating season in orange.
“It’s been a little bit crazy,” Freier told aleagues.com.au.
“It’s shocked me, in a way. I didn’t think that was where my career was going right then and there. With everything that has happened so quickly, I’ve had time to come back and be like: ‘Holy crap, that just happened!’
“I was in the crowd at the World Cup games, idolising the players on the field at the time and being a fan. I enjoyed every moment of that as a fan. Because of how well they did, I didn’t expect much to change, it definitely was not something I thought I could do – especially at that time. I never pictured myself going to the Olympics that close after the World Cup. It wasn’t something I thought would happen. I think that makes it even better.
“Honestly, I was shocked, but now I’m just enjoying it as much as I can. I’m soaking up the short time I’ve had in the national team.”
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Having blitzed up and down the wing for 22 games at Roar last season, Freier scooped the club’s Best and Fairest award (along with three more individual accolades) and ended the campaign as one of the competition’s standout players.
Her club form caught the national team’s attention and by April, Freier was a capped Matilda, making her debut against Mexico in her first taste of senior international football.
Selected as a travelling reserve for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, an injury to Tameka Yallop opened the door for Freier to come into the 18-player squad.
Just days after her 23rd birthday, the Roar winger was brought off the bench against Germany in Australia’s first game of the tournament.
“On the bus to the stadium, it was a different feeling,” Freier said.
“I’d experienced a couple of games with the national team but it was a different feeling knowing it was the Olympics. In a tournament, knowing you’re going for a medal. You see the signs for the Paris Olympics and it all comes to you, and you think: ‘Okay, this is what an Olympics feels like’.
“I was up against (Alexandra) Popp from Germany at one stage… I was like: ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m playing against such a stacked team in a tournament like this’.”
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The last game of Brisbane’s 2023-24 season was in late March, and within five months Freier had made her Matildas debut, scored her first international goal, and broken into the Olympics squad where positions are at a premium.
The pace at which her international career took flight was only fitting for a player who attacks each and every Brisbane Roar game at breakneck speed.
“Having a breakout season and doing okay played in my favour,” Freier said.
“Roar gave me the opportunity to show what I could do without the external pressure of trying to prove a point – I just felt like I was able to play with freedom and get the minutes I needed consistently.
“To do that at home, I felt like there wasn’t as much pressure coming from Brisbane Roar, it’s my home team, it’s where I’m from and I loved it and as long as I can play for Brisbane I’ll always enjoy my time here.
“It’s good to know if you play good football and do what you have to do in the A-League there’s a possibility you’ll get a call-up… if you have a breakout season, you can still get recognised by the national team and you don’t have to be overseas to get that first recognition.
“That’s a good feeling for me and for any player, because every player has a dream of playing for the Matildas.”
Freier has harboured that international dream since she was a kid growing up in Brisbane, playing football in the backyard with her twin sister, Laini.
The Freier sisters are teammates at the Roar this season, uniting in the Ninja A-League for the first time having spent their whole lives playing alongside one another at home, school, in age-group teams and for various NPL clubs in Brisbane.
Since as early as Freier can remember, football has always been the game for her – despite her mum Julie’s best efforts to introduce her twin daughters to a different sport at an early age.
“I did initially start with netball,” Freier said.
“My mum played netball and she thought we’d be interested in it. We lasted about a month and hated it!
“We changed very quickly to play football. I’ve never even considered another sport, to be honest. I just love playing football and every season that came I took the opportunity to play wherever I could and keep going.
“Laini and I grew up playing in the backyard a lot and netball, I just found it boring. You can’t move with the ball. From playing in the backyard Laini and I were a bit rough, we wanted to tackle each other.
“We’d played with our friends in primary school and it was always with the boys. It was just fun, it wasn’t boring and you could get in there and get rough with the boys as well.
“We’d always be in the backyard kicking balls and it always got competitive. It would normally turn into a fight by the end of the afternoon. But any chance we could after school we’d be out the back kicking the ball around.
“We’d get competitive and there’d be a few scraps – Laini was always a tiny bit bigger than me so she’d always flog me. Growing up I would personally say she had it over me for a long time.
“Ever since we’ve played football we’ve been in the same team. I don’t think we’d ever change that. In the off-season if I was playing NPL, I’d go wherever Laini is.
“To have Laini with me has made football 10 times better.”
Through backyard kickabouts and schoolyard games to stints at several NPL clubs in Queensland, the two sisters have truly been through it all together.
From the highs of securing titles and lifting silverware, to the lows of season-ending injuries like the ACL tear Freier suffered while playing for Moreton Bay United – an injury which, after her first full season at Brisbane Roar, ruled the young forward out of action for the entire 2021-22 Ninja A-League season.
Sharn’s sister Laini was watching on from behind the fence on that night in 2021, and was first on the scene when the injury occurred.
An ACL tear has the potential to halt the development of any young player – particularly a player like Freier, who attacks football with explosive pace – but in this case, it was a mere blip in the road.
Freier returned to the Roar in 2022-23, and the rest is history; in the most recent off-season, fuelled by the high of an Olympic debut, Freier returned to the NPL – this time with Brisbane City – and together with sister Laini, fired the club to the NPL Championship.
A Grand Final goal scored by Laini and assisted by Sharn capped off a remarkable season for both players – a season that led to the twin sisters uniting at Brisbane Roar for the very first time.
And that is the one thing Freier cherishes above anything else that came in the six life-changing months following the 2023-24 Ninja A-League season.
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“Laini is extremely supportive, you can just see how proud she is and I’m the same with her,” Freier said.
“Every Roar game, she’d be there. Every Matildas game if she gets the chance, she’ll be there. No matter where she was playing I’d be at NPL games no matter where. We are very supportive of each other.
“We are very biased of each other, and I’ve thought Laini should be in Roar for a very long time… for her to get the opportunity now, I’m so happy for her, I’m excited and I know she’s going to kill it.
“I’m excited for her to perform and let everyone see what she can do. I can’t wait for her to create her own name. We’re not just twins – this is Laini and how she plays, and she’s an absolute gun. I’m so excited for her to show what she’s got because it’s something special.
“Mum, she’s over the moon, our family are very, very proud. The emotions are a little bit high, mum and dad are ecstatic about it.
“We are very lucky to have had mum and dad take us to trainings and do what they did for us. Playing at Roar after a game, my mum will honestly cry after every game, whether I played awful or even if I didn’t get on – if she sees us in a Roar uniform, she’ll start crying.
“To see how proud she is, it’s a good feeling to know you’re doing her proud and it’s been worth it. It’s such a good feeling to see the emotions of mum and how proud she is, it keeps you going. It’s part of the reason you do it.”
Freier and Brisbane Roar are next in action against Perth Glory in Round 3 of the Ninja A-League season. The Roar host Perth at Perry Park on Friday, November 15. Get your tickets here!
