The Women’s Super League returns after a week off, with Launceston United taking on the Kingborough Lions in focus as the Match of the Round.
With the competition having a bye last weekend for the National Youth Championships and United’s game against Riverside postponed due to weather the week prior, it means United haven’t played since June 22, presenting a challenge for the playing group.
“We’ve just had to do what we can to maintain fitness and focus through training," captain Katie Hill said at Friday morning's press conference.
"It’s not been the ideal preparation, but we’ve just tried to handle it as best we can.”
But Hill also suggested that the gap between fixtures wasn’t all bad, allowing a freshening up of the playing group.
“I think it has refocused the group, we’ve had some players who have had a high workload so it's refreshing to have a break, which is good for the bodies and minds," she said.
United have posted an even five wins and five losses from their ten outings so far in 2024. Hill admitted it had been a challenging season, but felt the group was in a good place to attack the second half of the season.
“It’s probably been a bit unsettled, we’ve had a lot of ins and outs due to injuries, and more unavailability than we have faced in previous seasons, though that’s not entirely unfamiliar as we’ve had a bit of a challenging time with that since coming into the league," she said.
"But there is a real sense of solidarity and unity and refocusing within the group.
"So we are really looking to put good results on the board heading into the latter parts of the season.”
United currently sit in fourth place, with a gap of seven points to the Lions and South Hobart, with closing that gap the group's aim for the rest of the season.
“Given our performances in the league in the years that we have been in it, it would be madness for us to be aiming for anything less than a top-three finish," Hill said.
Hill was relishing the prospect of what she expected to be a tough and physical encounter this weekend.
“Playing Kingborough is always a really challenging game, we’ve found that every year and every game that we’ve played them," she said.
"I think there are areas of the field where we are quite evenly matched, and I think there is a real hardness, in terms of wanting to get to the ball first, there is some good physical challenges going on and both sides know that.”
Lions star Danielle Kannegiesser agreed it would likely be a physical game, and said her side was looking to be better at the back than they were in the most recent WSL meeting of the two sides, a 4-3 win to the Lions back in Round 7.
“They are physically such a strong group, they are very experienced, especially in their backline," she said.
"So for us, we don’t want to be leaking goals, we’ve been really focusing this week on making sure our defensive structures are sound.
"It was great to get four in the back of the net last time, but we don’t to be conceding three in a game, if we can keep a clean sheet then that is great.”
Kannegiesser felt that last weekend's week off had come at a good time for the group.
“We are feeling refreshed, the week off last week probably came as a blessing for our group; we didn’t get any time off during the Cup run, playing all the way through to the final," she said.
"We are prepared and ready mentally, we’ve prepared our bodies physically and we are really excited to get on the field and connect as a team.”
The Lions will enter this game off the back of a five-match winning streak, their longest since the inception of the WSL, but Kannegiesser said it wasn’t something they were focusing on.
"We don’t really focus on the winning streak, because we always want to look forward and not backwards," she said.
"It’s going really well though, because we enjoy playing together, we love getting out there on the field. We can see that the things we work on at training are unfolding during the game."
But she admitted that the league title was certainly something firmly in the side’s sights.
"Absolutely, it’s really important to not put a ceiling on where you would like to go and what you would like to strive for; every game for us is a must-win game in that respect," she said.
Kannegiesser suggested the mentality of the playing group had been key to their upturn in fortunes this year.
"The girls are a very mentally strong group this year; we’ve got a lot of senior players that have experienced top-level stuff," she said.
"Hannah and Tilly have come in from the US and have been a big help to the younger cohort coming through.
"Mental strength is a big thing for us, and it has definitely developed in the group in leaps and bounds this year."
Key to the Lions' hopes of extending the streak to six games will be Hannah Walsh, who has arguably been the stand-out player in the entire competition this season, and Kannegiesser expected she might come in for some extra attention from United.
“Hannah is such a dynamic player; she just has this ruthlessness and fierceness in her playing style, she is very aggressive outside of the box and it's something any team is going to be looking at, as an opposition team you’d be silly to not put in some extra attention," she said.
"I think Hannah just finds pockets of space really well and that’s off the ball.
"She has been an awesome addition to the squad this season and a stand-out in the league as well.”
In other Round 13 action, the Glenorchy Knights play host to the ladder-leading Devonport Strikers, who still have a handy gap at the top, but were held to a draw at Valley Road the last time the two sides met, with Knights taking a shock 2-0 lead into halftime before the Strikers fought back.
At Lightwood Park, Taroona and Riverside will be eyeing a major opportunity for their first victories of the season when they take on each other in a battle of the competition’s current bottom two. Last time around they played out a 2-2 draw, with Taroona striking twice in the dying minutes to deny the Roos a maiden WSL victory.
Round 13
Saturday 13 July
Glenorchy Knights v Devonport, 12:00pm, KGV LIVE STREAM
Launceston United v Kingborough, 12:00pm, Birch Avenue LIVE STREAM
Taroona v Riverside Olympic, 2:30pm, Lightwood Park LIVE STREAM