Match of the Round for Round 17 pits Launceston United up against South Hobart at FloorWorld Park in a battle of second and fourth on the WSL table. With both sides having teams sitting within two points of them on the league table, it's an important match for both sides to hold their current positions.
The two sides have met twice this season in the league, with South Hobart winning on both occasions. The round 3 match between the pair was one of the games of the season, with South jumping out to a 4-0 lead before United launched an extraordinary late rally, cutting it back to 4-3 but ultimately falling just short of completing the comeback. The more recent matchup was a more one-sided affair, as Josi Mamic hit a hat-trick in a 5-1 victory for South.
Speaking at Friday morning's press conference, Mamic said she was looking forward to a competitive fixture.
“I think it's always a very competitive game against them, especially when we go up to Launceston," she said.
"It's always full of passion, it will be a full 90 minutes of pressing, running and playing our football."
Mamic suggested that decision-making would be the key to her side making it 3/3 against United on the weekend.
“Having always to make the right decisions is crucial. They have a really strong backline that is always difficult to penetrate, so we will need to take our opportunities,” she said.
When asked if her side was still in the title race, Mamic suggested that whilst unlikely, anything could happen yet.
“I’m not sure, I haven’t done the maths, I just take every game as it comes," she said.
"Anything can happen, the soccer ball is round, anything can happen in any game and that’s the beauty of football and the WSL league - it’s constantly changing."
When asked for her reflections on the overall campaign, Mamic praised the squad's resilience.
“It’s been a test of resilience for our team, keeping up with the challenges, when we’ve lost players we have to just keep moving forward - focusing on each game as an individual entity and coming at it with the right mindset,” she said.
Acknowledging the challenges player availability has presented this season, Mamic felt it was simply part and parcel of the long season.
“You just have to be able to adapt, I think it's an opportunity for the younger girls to come up and experience it for themselves,” she said.
United stalwart Katie Hill admitted it had been a challenging season for the side, but said the group was eager to finish the season well.
“I think essentially for us it's about finishing strong, we’ve overcome quite a lot this year in terms of managing player injuries and availability," she said.
"We have rarely been able to put our strongest 11 on the park, so we just want to be doing that and finishing as strong as we can."
The battle between United and Knights is on for fourth place, but Hill suggested it was not a priority target for the side.
“You’re always going to keep at least half an eye on the ladder, but ultimately it's about the work we do at training, translating that into games and ticking all the boxes so that we are working on our progress out of this season and into next season,” she said.
The experienced defender said that whilst it had been a trying season, there had been positives to take from the campaign.
“A massive positive has been the squad depth, when you are struggling to put out what has typically been your starting XI players, we’ve really reached into our depth across both the Northern Championship and WSL teams," she said.
"It’s given some really good opportunities for some young players who have really stepped up in what can be quite a daunting competition.
"So the depth and giving those young players opportunities has been a massive positive out of the season."
Hill said she was looking forward to the challenge that the second-placed South Hobart side would present the group.
“It’s a challenge we embrace, I really enjoy playing against South Hobart, when you play a quality opposition it's an opportunity to bring out the best in yourselves as a team, so not daunting so much as an opportunity," she said.
"So we are looking to be competitive for the full 90 minutes across the breadth of the pitch, on each of our lines working together, that has to be the focus.”
In Round 17's other two fixtures, Riverside Olympic will look to put last weekend behind them when they take on Glenorchy Knights in the battle of the two new 2024 sides, having claimed 1 of their 2 draws for the season against them back in Round 3. The Knights meanwhile could potentially move up into fourth place with a victory.
On Sunday the Kingborough Lions will look to make it 3 from 3 against Taroona for the season, but they may find it tougher this time around with the return of the brilliant Jessie Williams set to bolster the Pirates, having inspired them to a series of positive results upon her return in 2023. The Lions should be full of confidence however, after scoring fifteen times last weekend.
Round 17
Saturday 10 August
Riverside Olympic v Glenorchy Knights, Windsor Park, 12:00pm LIVE STREAM
Launceston United v South Hobart, Birch Avenue, 4:30pm LIVE STREAM
Sunday 11 August
Kingborough Lions v Taroona FC, Lightwood Park, 2:30pm LIVE STREAM