Opinion
Melbourne City asserted their dominance in the derby while some non-football stories also reared their heads in Round 4 of the A-League Women
Melbourne City’s dismantling of Melbourne Victory
Hannah Wilkinson created a little bit of history on the weekend. The Kiwi international became just the second woman to score five goals in one game in the A-League Women.
Kate Gill had previously held that record alone when she bagged five for Perth Glory back in 2014. On that day the Glory annihilated Western Sydney 10-1.
Wilkinson’s clinical finishing heaped misery on Melbourne Victory, who succumbed to their first loss of the season.
Holly McNamara was also influential, teeing up the Kiwi repeatedly in what is blossoming into a lethal partnership.
Although it was in the attacking half where City shone, their defensive efforts were strong when necessary. Leah Davidson was able to nullify Alex Chidiac in the Victory midfield, applying pressure instantly and constantly.
City’s back five was also able to contain the attacking threats of Lynn Williams, Lia Privitelli, and Catherine Zimmerman.
It’s a system that is bearing fruit for City with the solidity of the back three – including Emma Checker, Winonah Heatley and Tori Tumeth – supported by the wingbacks Kaitlyn Torpey and Tyla-Jay Vlajnic.
Rebekah Stott was also influential in the midfield and played 77 minutes – her biggest output since returning to play.
While City did outplay Victory, the team in navy did themselves no favours defensively with turnovers, miscommunication, and poor marking all contributing to their woes.
Victory coach Jeff Hopkins was at a loss to explain the result post-game.
“Our performance really took me by surprise. But the commitment to the way City played and the way that they went about the game, it was a true reflection, the scoreline,” he explained.
The coach is hopeful that this result will be the catalyst for a turnaround in form: “sometimes you need a kick up the backside to actually make you see exactly where you are.”
The hair pull
It was the non-football moment that garnered plenty of attention.
Sheridan Gallagher pulled Taylor Ray’s hair as the Sydney FC midfielder turned away from the Wanderer. It was deemed a yellow card offence by the referee but social media was in disbelief at the colour of the card.
The Wanderers’ Sheridan Gallagher pulls the hair of Sydney FC’s Taylor Ray. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
The act of hair pulling is malicious and intentional. The vision of Ray being pulled in the opposite direction to her momentum and her head hitting the turf was unpleasant.
The hair pull can be thought of in the same way as a tackle from behind. Ray had no idea it was happening until she was falling backwards.
It was undisputedly a reckless act that has the potential to be really dangerous. But nowhere in the laws of the game is hair pulling mentioned.
It then becomes a subjective matter. Does hair pulling constitute unsporting behaviour – worthy of a yellow – or violent conduct, which constitutes a red?
In the laws of the game, violent conduct is applied to conduct that sees a player not challenging for the ball, which Gallagher wasn’t.
While this isn’t the first time hair pulling has occurred in women’s football, both here and around the globe, the way in which it is punished doesn’t seem to befit the act.
COVID walls closing in
COVID wreaked havoc in the A-League Men this round, claiming four of the six games.
While the Perth Glory and Adelaide United fixture in the A-League Women was already postponed and has been rescheduled, the women generally got through this round unscathed.
But the virus feels like it will claim matches sooner rather than later. Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Wellington was played behind closed doors after the men’s match in that double header was canned. Earlier in the day Melbourne City turned heads when their halftime talk took place on the bench.
City assistant coach Dario Vidosic confirmed that that was done out of an abundance of caution after a player tested positive on two rapid antigen tests pre-game.
She is awaiting results of a PCR test. The player also lives in a share house with several of her teammates – a common set up among young players and those who are from interstate or overseas – all of whom returned negative RATs.
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
“That happened this morning, where two rapid tests came back positive for one player that was in a house with about seven of the other girls,” Vidosic told media post-game.
“That certainly put everything into a bit of disarray and we had a set of girls from that house in a separate change room so we couldn’t have a team talk or anything – to keep that distancing.
“It was a bit of a crazy day but I think after that you have to give the girls so much applause for that. So many distractions, so much uncertainty and even now not knowing what the next few days will hold.
“We’re hopeful, we tried to do the right thing and we’re hopeful we can be ready for next week and we don’t have to go into an isolation-type situation.
“Thankfully for now there are no other cases. The girls, they wanted to play, they didn’t want to postpone either.”
While COVID disruptions help no one, they feel particularly perilous for the women’s teams. Not only is the share house situation something you wouldn’t commonly see in the men’s game, it has the potential to wipe out half a team.
Throw in the A-League Women players having second jobs and exposure to the community through those jobs and COVID can only be dodged for so long.
With bubbles and hubs not the ideal scenario for players who need to work second jobs, the ongoing COVID headaches for the league look like they won’t be dissipating any time soon.
What’s the deal with Canberra and Brisbane?
Now four rounds into the A-League Women, there are two unfamiliar names near the foot of the table. Brisbane Roar and Canberra United are perennial winners and two of the most successful clubs in the competition’s history.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
But this season they are nowhere near their best. While their 3-3 draw at Viking Park was entertaining and chaotic in typical A-League Women fashion, it offered no explanations or clarity as to why these two teams are where they are.
Both sides have attacks that can and should be firing. Allira Toby and Michelle Heyman showed in their first start together that they could become a deadly strike duo, while Grace Maher changed the game off her own boot.
Down the other end Shea Connors continues to impress for the Roar with Mariel Hecher, Anna Margraf and Larissa Crummer all asking questions of defences too.
With talented midfielders neither side was truly able to assert dominance or move the ball cleanly through the centre of the park.
Results don’t always reflect performances until they do, and there is still time for both of these sides to work out the kinks and build up some wins.
However that time is running out as is the nature of the A-League Women. With Canberra travelling to a Western Sydney side who held their own against Sydney and Brisbane heading down to face Victory who will be desperate to confirm the derby result was a one off, the task won’t be easy for either side.
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