Liz Anton grew up in Auckland, New Zealand, and studied at Auckland University, where she obtained qualifications in Chemistry. Yet it’s another kind of chemistry that Anton has been drawn to since a young age: player chemistry on the football field, with plenty of international, overseas, and A-League experience under her belt. Anton anchors the Canberra United defence and, as the team’s vice-captain, is loving the environment during her second season in green.
By the time she was 20, Anton had participated in three junior World Cups: the 2014 Under-17 edition in Costa Rica (in a squad that included Deven Jackson, Daisy Cleverley, and Paige Satchell), the 2016 Under-20 edition in Papua New Guinea, and the 2018 Under-20 edition in France.
“It feels like a long time ago now, but I think those age group tournaments are always so fun because you’re with a two-year age group of people with whom you grew up competing and playing. It’s really cool to experience those growing up and having those things to aim for when you’re young. They’re just great to keep you focused and fit. I remember being at training every day growing up.”
Anton made her senior national debut for the Football Ferns in 2017 as a substitute against Thailand, and has played for her country on more than 20 occasions. She was a member of the Football Ferns squad for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and the 2023 World Cup. Her international playing minutes have come in friendlies, the SheBelieves Cup, and the Nations Cup, but Anton hasn’t yet taken the field at the Olympics or the senior Women’s World Cup. However, a recent season in Norway for Kolbotn will strengthen her chances of appearing in future major tournaments.
“Tokyo was my first big event, so I wasn’t really expecting anything from it, just the experience. And then the World Cup… it was obviously a pretty competitive squad to get into because it’s a home World Cup. So everyone’s really gunning for getting in. Honestly, I was pretty happy to get back into the squad.
“Then, last Olympics, I had a bit of a break from international football for about a year, trying to figure out where my priorities were with life and football. So now I’ve come back into the squad in the last year, and I’ve got quite a lot of minutes, which I’ve been happy with, and I’m really enjoying being in the squad and playing. For the next events, I’ll be trying to push for getting starts and getting game time.
“I’ve just got to keep pushing, and the squad’s always getting more competitive with new players coming in.”
Anton was on the right side of a Ferns back three in late November 2025 for the first of that two match series against the Matildas. She played 74 minutes in a 5-0 loss and is philosophical about the game.
“If you look on paper, not that there’s any excuse, but you’ve got most of the Australian squad playing overseas in top leagues, whereas we don’t have that at the moment, and that’s just reality.
“I think we still have a lot of work to do, but we’ve got a pretty young squad at the moment. We’re all excited for the future, just got to keep making improvements every game. I wasn’t super happy with my performance, but you’re not always going to have great performances, and it’s a good test to see where you’re at and where you need growth. It was cool to play in front of the sold-out stadium.”
Liz Anton’s introduction to the A-League came in 2020. Alex Epakis, the newly-appointed Perth Glory coach at the time, was tasked with assembling an A-League women’s squad at short notice. Anton was a late call-up and one of three New Zealanders brought in, with Malia Steinmetz and fellow Aucklander Lily Alfeld also signing for Glory.
Epakis told stuff.co.nz: “Liz has all the qualities and ability to be a real focal point in our defensive setup.
“She is comfortable with the ball at her feet and makes good decisions to go forward, but is equally strong in her defensive tasks.
“She comes with good international experience from the New Zealand under-17, under-20, and senior national team, and seems to be a very focused individual who is ready to make a good impression within the competition this season.”
While it was a challenging season for the new Glory squad, Anton quickly cemented her position as a central defensive lynchpin, earning Glory’s player of the season award.
Beyond 90 Perth correspondent Neil Bennett spoke to Anton during her second year at the Glory in early 2022 after her selection for the She Believes Cup. The piece forms a wonderful insight into her football career at that point in time, as a companion piece to this one.
Although the Glory came close to playing finals in Anton’s second season, after four seasons without reaching the top four, there was a time of transition at the club.
“When there was a bit of a change-up with [Glory] staffing, it turned out that I needed to look for another club, because they didn’t want to retain me. I had kind of set up my life there, my partner was there, and I had a job there outside of football.
“But sometimes you don’t know you need a change until it happens. Retrospectively, I think it was really good timing and probably what I needed.”
“I reached out to some clubs. Wellington contacted my agent as well, but it was quite late in the off-season. When I talked to Ant [Jagarinec], he was super keen, and I guess that’s what you want when you’re talking to a club. You want them to want you. So, I was, like, let’s do it. And then it happened pretty quickly.”
For the second time in her career, Anton followed up a move to an A-League club with a Player of the Year Award, as vice captain during Jagarinec’s first year as Canberra United Head Coach. The team finished fifth and was eliminated from the finals by eventual champions Central Coast Mariners in a game postponed due to torrential rain. Anton’s leadership, positioning, and ability to scramble in last-ditch defensive moments, in partnership with keeper Sally James’ remarkable season (you can read her story from last season here), kept Canberra United alive in games they might otherwise have lost.
Retaining 14 players from last season has proven beneficial in Anton’s second year wearing the Canberra United green. “Stepping into Canberra [in my first season], there had been a lot of turnover in the years prior.
“Ant and I had a discussion after I’d been here for a couple of weeks, discussing leadership. I think it was a big area that I grew last season, which I probably was missing a bit in Perth. I’ve actually really enjoyed that.”
“As a centre back, I feel like that’s what you should love: the defensive role itself, last-ditch defending, making it hard for attackers … as well as providing direction.
“Sally’s been great. I think she’s come along even further this year. I obviously want to do my job the best I can, but I know that she’s behind me, and if I do make a mistake, I know she’s there, and she’s ready. This year, we have Teegs [Tegan Bertolissio], Robes [Emma Robers], and Jazz [Jazmin Wardlow], so we’ve got really strong centre backs who are defensively sound and good with the ball, so I think that sets us up well as a foundation going forward. It’s been really cool to jump into [after returning from a season in Norway]. And yeah, I’m excited for the rest of the season.”
Anton and Robers have become good friends as well as centre-back colleagues, which is fitting given Robers’ sterling job in stepping into Anton’s centre-back shoes at the tail end of last season.
“We have a good friendship, and I think that translates onto the field as well.”
Anton’s return to the team in Round 4 of this season coincided with a change in formation from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2, one which helped push the team towards the top of the ladder at the midway point. Hayley Taylor-Young moved out of central defence, resuming her touchline roaming role, while Jagarinec settled on a midfield triangle of Josie Aulicino, Bethany Gordon, and Nanako Sasaki.
“Hayley can run all day, go at players all day, defend all day, and so can Sash [Sasha Grove]. Such good threats with such good engines, to gain territory. Then three sound defenders, also good on the ball. And the midfield has been really good. Coming in, playing with, and connecting with Nano and Josie, whom I haven’t played with before, has been really great.
“All three midfielders are quite different, but they work really well together, so that’s exciting.”
“Obviously up top with Michelle; Sienna [Dale]’s done really well, Emma [Hawkins]’s done really well when they’ve come on. And then, I think probably a big difference from last season is when people come on, they’re making a huge impact. I think you can see that with Christo [Sofia Christopherson] the last couple of weeks.
“If I, as a defender, had that [Christopherson] coming on [to mark], I’d be like, oh, my, gosh.”
“And then you have Mary [Stanic-Floody] and Darcey [Malone], who can create such good moments. In the Newcastle game, they were the ones who connected for that last-minute goal. Jazzy’s [Wardlow] been doing really great when she’s had her opportunities.
“It’s really good to have a competitive squad, and the formation that we’re playing at the moment suits our players and personnel.”
The semi-professional nature of the league is a hot topic at the moment, with the constant question each year of how players can make a sustainable living, especially in the four months each year that they are off contract and/or outside the season. Last off-season, Anton chose for the first time to compete in a Northern Hemisphere league, with Kolbotn in the Norwegian Toppserien (see our Nordic coverage here). One factor in making the decision was that the league is largely played during the A-League women’s off-season.
Anton captained the side for much of the season – another feather in her leadership cap. Most training and games take place on synthetic surfaces in Norway, and while it was great to have fellow Ferns Liv Chance and Jacqui Hand on the team, they were surrounded by very young players and were unable to avoid relegation.
“Kolbotn is a community-based club compared to ladder-topping, better-resourced Brann or VĂĄlerenga, and has a strong history of youth coming through. We had a very young side, with several Under-17 national team players.
“As a defender, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to go to a team that’s not in the higher part of the table. You get a lot of action, and you get challenged a lot. Honestly, I think it was good for my football, even though we didn’t do well.”
“It’s good to get exposed to a different football style. It was very fast compared to here – not so much physically, but in ball speed, handling, and movement – more fluent. Playing in the Australian summer as we do, it would be really interesting to see what playing in the cooler months would do for quality. Such hot conditions here make your decision-making and your focus harder.
“Standard-wise, it wasn’t a massive jump; it was just different.”
Does Auckland’s entering the A-League Women’s competition in the 2027-28 season come into Anton’s thinking?
“It definitely would be something I would consider. All my family is still there. I haven’t been back since last Christmas, so that’s probably the longest I’ve been away. I’ll hopefully be able to get back after this season for a decent amount of time.
“It depends on a lot of things, really. I hope I’ve got a fair few years left, so it’s probably something I would want to do towards the end of my career, just because it’d be a nice thing to play at home before you retire.
“But I’m really enjoying being at Canberra at the moment, and that’s where my focus is. You can’t really plan much in football because you’re only guaranteed what you’re signed on for.
“It’s awesome that they’re coming into the league and great for Kiwis as well to have two teams. Girls in New Zealand have something directly that they can aspire to, because, to be honest, when I was young, I didn’t really know much about the Women’s A League. It’s cool that they’ll have something that they can go and watch and aspire to. Auckland has such a big fan base in the men’s; there’s a big market for it. So, yes, it’s exciting.”
With an odd number of teams in the A-League for 2025-26, each team has two bye rounds, allowing the team to recharge ahead of the remaining fixtures.
“I think sometimes you get to a point where you just need a bit of a freshen up and reset. The bye couldn’t have come at a better time. We’re all really excited and want to keep pushing. I think it’s going to be a great season regardless of what happens in the end, we just have to keep enjoying it week to week and take each game as it comes.”
