This weekend, Brisbane Roar twins Sharn and Laini Freier could play a professional match together for the first time.
Brisbane Roar winger Sharn Freier has been rapidly ticking off career goals of late, from her breakout season in the Ninja A-League, to a CommBank Matildas debut and, in the past week, her first two ‘A’ international goals for the national team.
But this weekend, the opportunity presents for Freier to accomplish a feat she’s spent her whole life dreaming of: playing alongside her twin sister Laini in a top-flight Australian fixture.
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Together, the twin sisters grew up rising through the ranks at junior football clubs before starring alongside one another at various NPL clubs in Queensland.
Sharn Freier was the one who broke into the Ninja A-League first, and has since become a star of the competition and a Matildas debutant. Now, after impressing in Australia’s recent four-game international series, Freier has made a genuine claim to become a mainstay in the national team squad.
Freier hasn’t missed many of her sister’s footballing milestones down the years but, whilst on Matildas duty last week, she was absent from Porirua Park in New Zealand when Laini made her Ninja A-League debut for Brisbane Roar against Wellington Phoenix, after missing the first four rounds with a leg injury.
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This weekend, the Roar return home to take on Central Coast Mariners at Porirua Park, and with the two sisters both available for selection, the Round 6 Ninja A-League fixture could present the Freier twins with the chance to play alongside one another in the Australian top-flight for the very first time.
“Ever since we’ve played football we’ve been in the same team,” Freier told leagues.com.au in November. “I don’t think we’d ever change that.
“In the off-season if I’m playing NPL, I’ll go wherever Laini is. We play good football together and because we’ve always done it we have a connection that I value.
“I love playing on the same team as her, and we get to share all of that together. To have Laini with me, it makes football ten times better. We’ve always done it together.
“Laini is extremely supportive, you can just see how proud she is and I’m the same with her. We want what is best for each other and football competitiveness in terms of selections and teams has never got in the way of how we view football.
“We are very biased of each other, and I’ve thought Laini should be in Roar for a very long time but I already know how proud she is of me. 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.
“It’s been a long time coming and something she’s deserved for a long time but 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.”
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Having played together at various NPL clubs down the years, the Freier twins enjoyed a remarkable stint together at Brisbane City prior to the 2024-25 Ninja A-League season.
Laini Freier scored seven goals for Brisbane City in 2024, and formed a devastating partnership with her sister Sharn on the way to the NPLW Queensland Premiership/Championship double.
Two of Freier’s seven goals in the season came in the Semi-Final and Grand Final. Both goals were assisted by her sister Sharn.
Their chemistry on the field is a result of a lifetime spent on the same teams, and a childhood spent playing highly competitive backyard football games.
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“Laini and I grew up playing in the backyard a lot,” Freier said.
“From playing in the backyard, Laini and I were a bit rough, we wanted to tackle each other. And we’d played it at school 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.
“With our brother 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 but at the end of the day, we all loved it.
“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!”
At 23 years of age, the Freier twins are still up-and-comers in Australian football but to the sisters, this moment has been a long time coming.
Perry Park on Saturday evening could set the stage for both Sharn and Laini to share game time in a Ninja A-League fixture for the very first time – a prospect Sharn believes would wend emotions running high in the Freier family.
“Mum, she’s over the moon, our family are very, very proud,” she said.
“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 training 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.”
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