In football, there are decades and there are decades, depending how one defines them. There are the kinds of stretches that yield unadulterated glory, like Sydney FC’s unbroken spell of finals appearances over the past 10 years, a period of time beholding championship trophies and all-too-close grand finals.
Then there are the kind of decades that highlight what has been missing. Not that there is much in Sydney’s case, though one thing stands out. The premiers’ plate keeps getting away, with second- and third- and fourth-placed finishes the main order of the day since their last plate in 2010-11 (they also won the regular season in 2009).
During the intervening years the prize has been passed around a bit between Canberra United (three), Brisbane Roar (two), Melbourne City (two), Melbourne Victory (one) and Perth Glory (one). But the next entry could yet read “Sydney FC” depending on Friday night’s result against Canberra and Victory’s hit-out with Perth on Saturday.
In Australia’s finals-happy sporting environment, the premiership matters less than the actual title. First-past-the-post purists will scoff over their scones and tea at such a suggestion, certain the course of a regular season is more indicative of a true champion.
So there are decades and there are decades. And while Sydney have fashioned themselves into the most successful W-League club to date, the club are nothing if not ambitious, and recent dressing-room team talks are almost certain to mention a prize so close they can just about touch it.
The past weeks they have moved with cautious confidence through an Aladdin’s cave of wonders, hoping they are the designated diamonds in the rough destined to emerge with the goods.
And so Ante Juric’s side sit two points clear atop the table with two matches to play. Were it not for mid-February’s 4-1 loss to Brisbane they might have it in their hands already; same goes for the 2-0 defeat to Adelaide earlier this month before a bye week. Those hiccups were anomalous in an otherwise undefeated season, but still the quest continues after Jubilee Stadium, host venue of last Saturday’s Big Blue against Melbourne Victory, succumbed to a flood-inflicted wash-out.
Jeff Hopkins’s Victory sit four points adrift in fifth but, by virtue of the same circumstances, also have a game in hand over the second-placed Roar (22 points) and fourth-placed Canberra United (21 points), while third-placed Adelaide United have already played 12.
In other words, this race isn’t quite run and, while Canberra are out of first-place reckoning, the Vicki Linton-led reawakening continues in earnest towards a return to the finals. At the forefront is the second coming of Michelle Heyman, who scored her 10th goal of the season in her 100th game for United to win 1-0 away to Newcastle.
Sydney’s version of Heyman (without the spell abroad) is probably Teresa Polias, who has been with the club for 10 years and, to stay on topic, has not won a premiers’ plate since her very first season. The understated 30-year-old primary school teacher is effectively the only familiar face from when she debuted in 2010, so much have positions around the midfield mainstay chopped and changed since.
Matildas regulars Alanna Kennedy, Caitlin Foord, Chloe Logarzo and Kyah Simon have come and gone, all in multiple stints. On that, this is the club which helped develop many of Australia’s best players. Before them it was Heather Garriock, Leena Khamis, Kylie Ledbrook and Danielle Brogan. There were many more stitches in the fabric over the years that make the Sky Blues what they are today.
That includes the coaches – Alen Stajcic (2008-14), Dan Barrett (2014-17) and Ante Juric (2017-present). The latter’s tenure has been one of evolution. It has helped facilitate the rise of last year’s joint golden boot winner Remy Siemsen, Princess Ibini and Ally Green, among others.
Much of the pre-season talk has centred around the league’s loss of stars and the mass exodus to Europe. But the effect for the Sky Blues has not been nearly as frightful as envisaged. Clare Wheeler, Cortnee Vine and Jada Whyman are now in the ranks of a team that already told a tale of consistency.
The Sky Blues are one of only two clubs (the other is Adelaide) to have retained 10 or more players from 2019-20 as well as eight or more from 2018-19. One of those is Siemsen, who played in Sydney’s grand final-losing teams in 2017-18 and 2019-20 but spent 2018-19 at Western Sydney watching Sydney’s most recent championship win from afar.
The “big learning curve” underscored the significance of silverware. “We definitely have a special group this year,” Siemsen told AAP last week. “We know what’s at stake, we’ve done the hard yards and we don’t want to give it up right now – we’re getting so close. We’re all very proud of the effort we’ve done this season but the job’s not done yet, at all.”
The club’s quietly sturdy foundations go some way to explaining where they are today and why they have qualified for the finals every season since the club was founded in 2008. In 2021 they could a first double since 2009 – all in a decade’s work.
