Last Sunday, most of the WA Women’s football community’s attention was on the Hyundai Women’s State League Cup Final at Inglewood Stadium, but a catch-up game between Subiaco AFC and Balcatta AFC generated a large amount of interest as well. Matildas legend Lisa De Vanna pulled on a Subiaco shirt for the first time and played half a game. Joining her in the starting XI were fellow Matilda Ella Mastrantonio and ex-Young Matilda, ALW centurion and Women’s Champions League player Marianna Tabain.
Having three players of such quality appearing for a team that is currently sitting second from bottom of the WA NPLW has got many people talking. We asked Subiaco Head Coach Greg Farrell about the circumstances around getting such talented players on the pitch.
“Basically we had Lisa De Vanna come on board at the beginning of the season to help with coaching through the J and J academy, which is run by ex-Perth Glory player Branko Jelic and the club technical director Adi Juric.
“Marianna had taken four months off from the game and was playing a lot of futsal but wanted to get back to playing 11-a-side. She spoke to Lisa who suggested she come down for training. Ella was also in town and was hoping to get some minutes in her legs prior to joining Glory so they both came to training and really enjoyed it.
“It’s nice to have some more experience and the training level went up straight away, with the ball being pinged around faster than any other sessions we have had. They were also helping the younger players with their movement and timing and I’m hoping this will lead to the rest of the squad picking up for the remainder of the season.
“I’m also hoping that moving into next season the players will have learned a fair bit about what is required to not just be competitive at NPLW level, but to truly stand out physically and mentally.”
Tabain has now played three times for Subiaco, having made her debut in the round 15 clash against MUM FC which they lost 2-0, whilst Mastrantonio made her debut the following week in the round 16 game against Fremantle City FC which they lost 6-1. De Vanna, Mastrantonio and Tabain were all on the field in the game against Balcatta Etna FC last Sunday with Subiaco winning 4-3, courtesy of a Tabain hat trick.
Their next game is again against Balcatta, and their remaining fixtures will all be against Top 4 aspirants, with the exception of Curtin. Teams will be wary of playing Subiaco from now on, and they may well be the joker in the pack as others battle to make the Top 4.
