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Queensland Roar skipper KATE McSHEA is already convinced the competition is a blinding success
WHEN the Westfield W-League started, Queensland Roar were the team every other player pointed to as early favourites. With just three rounds left until finals, the side is six points clear at the top with a goal difference so vastly superior it would take a collapse of biblical proportions for the Roar Women not to claim the minor premiership, at the very least.
It-s no wonder captain Kate McShea is happy - almost.
“Yeah, in some respects; I got two yellows and was sent off (in the round seven 5-3 win against Perth) which puts a bit of a dampener on it. But it was real show of the character in our team to go 3-1 down and come back.”
It-s that character that has seen the side lose just one game all season - to Canberra in round two, a result McShea says is just as important as the come-from-behind win last weekend.
“We-ve got to be realistic. The Canberra game was a real eye-opener but also a real positive; it reminded us that we-re the team everyone wants to beat so if we don-t rock up and play on the day anything can happen. [Against Perth] we went 3-1 down because we lost a bit of concentration and were complacent.
“Although Perth are sitting at the bottom, it-s anyone-s game. From week to week, teams are pulling out really good scores and performances and it-s just a good sign of how strong football is here now. I-m comparing it to the old NSL and it-s worlds apart.”
There is no arguing the Westfield W-League has been a huge success; while crowds may not have been as big as they would have liked, this much is true for sport across the board. For McShea the proof is in the response from people she meets every day. “You can walk around in the streets and people want to talk to you about it and know that the competitions going on. They-ll say, ‘Oh, we watched the televised game last week- and that-s just totally unheard of in the past.
“There are young girls lining up to get our autographs, and we had a girl last week who said to me, ‘I went out to get the Never Say Die Matildas DVD-, so obviously they know who we are.”
But there will be plenty of time for reflecting on the effect of the competition in the future; for now, McShea-s focus is firmly on her team performing at their peak and getting past the fixture against second-placed Melbourne Victory this weekend.
“We-ve had an unlucky run with injuries, so we-ve lost some key players, but the performance against Perth was really good to see that some of the younger girls - like Tameka Butt and Elise Kellond-Knight - have really started to step up.
“I-ll be watching it at home on TV (because of the yellow cards) but there-s actually a fair few Queensland girls that play for Melbourne. They got drafted at the start of the season, so there-s always a bit of rivalry and a bit of trash talk happening at training.”