As the first-ever winner of the W-League goal of the season in 2008-09, and scorer of the 100th goal of the W-League against Sydney FC in 2008, Marianna Tabain is no stranger to creating milestones. Now the ex-Young Matilda has returned to the W-League after a two-season absence, intending to help her hometown team achieve their first-ever W-League title.
Tabain was not absent from the game in that period though, as she played for Croatian side ZNK Split, winning the league title with them in 2018-19, and becoming the first West Australian to play in the Champions League when she played against Bettembourg from Luxembourg and Belarussian side FC Minsk.
The W-League centurion was unable to return to Croatia in 2020 due to COVID-19, but Split’s loss has been Glory’s gain as the 116-game veteran has returned to become very much the senior player in coach Alex Epakis’ first-ever W-League side.
As a foundation player of the league and with two Grand Final wins to her name during her time at Melbourne City, the Perth local felt that after the 2017-18 season with Glory she needed a break and a fresh challenge. Being a dual citizen of Australia and Croatia, she decided to take the plunge and played in Europe with ZNK Split, a club based very close to her family’s original home of Korčula.
“For me, I needed a change of environment. I’ve always dreamt of playing in Europe and I’ve obviously got family in Croatia as well, (and) I think that all of those things aligned really nicely for me to make the move. I had a really good experience there and for me, it was probably needed and at the right time,” Tabain said.
Playing in the Champions League was also something that she very much enjoyed.
“It was just unreal, (obviously) it’s something that you can’t do here. I had a good experience and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
With COVID-19 restricting any chances of playing in Croatia in 2020, she joined local NPLW side Murdoch Uni Melville (MUMFC) for pre-season but then developed a niggling quad strain. Lacking the motivation to play locally and unable to shake off her injury, Tabain turned to futsal as a means of staying in the game, a move she thoroughly enjoyed and she was effusive in her praise for the shorter form of the game.
“I love futsal,” she said.
Any lingering doubts about her injury have been mainly put to rest, as she feels that the pre-season with Glory has been excellent. While Tabain is nervous about playing her first W-League game in two seasons, she was positive about the club’s preparations.
“We’ve gone through a pretty tough pre-season, so I am feeling quite ready. We’ve done all the running, done all the hard work and hopefully, when we get out there the adrenalin will push me (along) as well.”
This hard work has yet to be seriously tested in a real-game environment though with Glory only playing one intra-club scratch match as part of their build-up to the season. These have been constantly interrupted with players and coaching staff all having to face varying levels of quarantine as determined by the Western Australian government. Despite all of this, Tabain is upbeat and confident about the team and how it will go during the campaign.
“I think each team in the W-League would have liked a bit longer (for preparation), but I think that for the amount of time we’ve had together, we are gelling and obviously as the season gets further along we will hopefully gel more and more but I think we’re at a really good point at the moment in terms of team-wise and play-wise.”
Her return to Perth sees her become part of an experienced group of players at the club including captain Natasha Rigby, club stalwart Sarah Carroll and good friend Katarina Jukić. She acknowledged that as senior players this cohort will be very important in shaping the success or otherwise of the campaign.
“Hopefully (we can help), but we also have some really great young players coming through the system. We’ve got good people and we’ve got a good squad, and with the likes of Tash Rigby, Kat Jukić and Sarah Carroll stepping up we’ll just have to see how we go.”
Possibly the most significant influence on the success or otherwise of the season will be how the players react to new coach Alex Epakis’ methods and Tabain’s initial impressions of him have been very positive.
“(He’s) fantastic. He’s awesome. He wants to be here a lot, and he’s bought a lot of good values to the squad already.”
Considering that Tabain has been coached by people such as Alistair Edwards, Nicola Williams, Tanya Oxtoby and Joe Montemurro, this is high praise indeed.
COVID-19 has thrown up some massive hurdles for Glory as they embark on their first campaign in the Epakis era, but the big game experience and know-how of Tabain may prove invaluable in the weeks ahead.
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