Ten years on, how much do you want to get back to being the best club in the land?
The aim is always to be the best and to win. The club started really well; we had a really good base when the league started more than 10 years ago. Other teams have come up in that time frame and we’re trying to push the barrier and get back to being that top team again.
Is it cool to think it’s just yourself, Clare Polkinghorne & Tameka Yallop that remain from that day?
Unfortunately, you lose players along the way for different reasons. To come back and play with them again as older players, with a bit more experience has been really enjoyable.
Knowing what it’s like to win a Grand Final, and to lose one too, does that give you extra drive to be back in another decider?
Other teams, credit to them, have lifted. A long stint without a Grand Final for Brisbane Roar should be making everyone more eager to get back, it’s where we should be and hopefully this is the year.
.jpg)
Tell us about what it’s like preparing for a Grand Final.
I was a younger player then, so you have a lot more nerves and as you get older you tend to learn how to use those for good. I don’t remember too much but I do know I would have been nervous. We had that eagerness to get the title back.
How much do you remember of that Brisbane Roar-Sydney FC rivalry, especially in the league’s earlier days?
It’s always been that typical State of Origin battle, it’s never an easy game. It’s always rough and physical, and we’ve got one more tough game to go this weekend, and that’s against Sydney FC. If we’re both on top at the end of the season it’ll be a good Grand Final.
Making three Grand Finals in three seasons in 2009-2011. Do you think you might have taken for granted just how difficult it is to make Grand Finals?
Coming as well from the base of players we had – we came through the QAS set-up back then and we were quite successful in that time frame as well. Coming in to the [Westfield] W-League then, there was already that expectation on us, so it was a disappointment in the second season when we lost [the 2010 Grand Final to Sydney FC]. We probably took it a little for granted.
