ALW Preview: Brisbane v City

Back on the road and looking to get back on the winners’ list, our City Girls take on Brisbane away this Saturday evening.

With returning superstars, a new face, a high-scoring history and a new month, it’s a great chance for the team to reset on a warm night at Perry Park with three points firmly in our sights.

Here’s what to look out for before kick-off!

The union grows

A difficult fixture and tricky run of form has meant a mixed start to 2024 for Dario Vidosic’s team, but they’ve steadied the ship in recent weeks with back-to-back draws thanks in large part to veteran shot-stopper Melissa Barbieri.

Our ‘keeper kept a clean sheet against Sydney FC and backed that up with a strong performance against Adelaide United to ensure we took a point from both games at home.

Bubs has more than held down the fort since Lysianne Proulx’s record-breaking departure to Bay FC, and now she’ll be joined in the pink jersey section of the changerooms by the arrival of 69-cap Brazilian international Bárbara for the rest of the season.

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The Olympic silver medallist was officially unveiled on Wednesday, and having trained with the squad for almost two weeks now, is a real chance to have her City bow in goal from the start on Saturday.

Riding it out

As previously mentioned, a tricky few weeks in the fixture department coupled with continuing player departures (both transfers and for national team duties) and ensuing positional adaptations have required the team to grind through results.

They’ll be in with a great chance to get back into the winner’s circle (and back into first place on the table should other results go our way) up at Perry Park this week against 10^th-placed Brisbane.

Having lost their last three games heading into this one, the hosts will be desperate for a return to form.

Saturday will mark our second meeting of the season following a 5-3 win at AAMI Park back in December.

Emina Ekic netted her first City hattrick, along with goals from Hannah Wilkinson and Rhianna Pollicina to round off the performance.

Guess who’s back!

Following the international break, we welcome back our two Kiwi stars, Hannah Wilkinson and skipper Rebekah Stott returning from national team duties with New Zealand.

Having secured OFC Olympic qualification for the Football Ferns, Wilkinson will slot back in up top after scoring twice in the qualifiers final, while Stott will slide back into both the captain’s armband and the heart of defence.

It won’t be a full complement available for selection though, with Young Matildas trio Daniela Galic, Tijan McKenna and Naomi Chinnama now in Uzbekistan for the AFC U-20 Women’s Asian Cup.

Wilkinson and Stott should cover the loss of Galic and Chinnama, but who replaces McKenna will be one of a few conundrums facing Vidosic this week.