Tony Gustavsson spoke to the media after naming his 25-player squad for the upcoming Cup of Nations, joined by Cortnee Vine and Tameka Yallop.
Watch in full in the player below, or scroll down to read the talking points from the press conference.
Speaking to media at the Cup of Nations squad announcement at the CUPRA garage in Sydney, head coach Tony Gustavsson talked about his 25-player team that will face Czechia, Spain and Jamaica this month.
"This has been one of the more challenging selection processes for us as a coaching staff. There's been a lot of outstanding performances as of late." Gustavsson said.
"I've said a long time ago that this country and this team are overloaded with attacking talents. I want to be clear that this selection for this tournament is based on the last two years, not the last two games or the last league." he continued.
"We've looked at 54 players in the senior national team environment. 17 debutants, this election is about the last two years."
Western Sydney Wanderers’ defender Clare Hunt earns her first call-up for the senior national team following strong performances in the Liberty A-League Women’s competition, becoming the 54th different player called up during Gustavsson’s tenure.
After missing most of last season due to a shoulder injury Gustavsson discussed Hunt's selection.
"We actually been keeping an eye on her for a very long time and she was meant to go to the AFF [Women's Championship] tournament last year but dislocated her shoulder."
"We think she deserves a shot in the national team environment to see if she can perform the same outstanding performance that she has had in the A-League at the international level."
Three notable absences to the first squad of the year, with Chloe Logarzo, Ellie Carpenter and Kyah Simon missing selection which Gustavsson talked about in detail.
"We have three injured players that have a huge experience that could be starters if they were fit and in form"
"For Chloe, in this case, it's not about her knee. She's back from that she's back playing, but she has a little bit of a foot problem. So she hasn't been really able to play 100%"
"Hopefully she'll be back in a couple of weeks playing again and she needs minutes to build up so that she can be available for selection in April." Gustavsson hoped.
"When it comes to Ellie, she's in progress where, again, we had a long debate whether we should bring her in again because she can actually train with full contact now, but she hasn't played in a minute."
Meanwhile, Kyah is in the early stage of her rehab and has been rehabbing her ACL injury with CommBank Matildas' physiotherapist Jaclyn Benz in Newcastle.
One player that makes a return to the squad after an injury is Tameka Yallop, with the midfielder missing Australia's last two international windows after having surgery on her ankle.
The midfielder was part of the squad that lifted the inaugural trophy back in 2019 and talked about how valuable tournaments like this are for the preparations for the FIFA Women's World Cup.
"I think I've got a fair bit of experience with major tournaments and, have also played in a lot of different leagues around the world and there's no comparison going into a tournament compared to playing round in and round out with the club," Yallop said.
"Being able to come here on home soil, where the FIFA Women's World Cup is going to be, it's a whole different scenario and it's a once in a generation and lifetime for me as a player."
Forward Cortnee Vine was excited about the prospect of kicking off 2023 with a bang, with all eyes on the year ahead.
"I think it's feeling like a bit more of a reality now that we've gone into 2023, and we're about to play a Cup of Nations. It's a massive year coming up, and I'm nervous and excited and hope they get to be part of it."
"Every home game we've had, we've got fantastic crowds coming to our games, and they help us drive on the field."
This six-match tournament provides an ideal springboard for Australia to host the FIFA Women's World Cup on home soil this year, Tony Gustavsson’s side will get the chance to fine-tune their tournament preparations in a number of different areas.
"My expectation is that we do a rehearsal of the group stage in the Women's World Cup that we get to train everything from this[media] to train the processes of three completely different game plans and three unique opponents in a very short time.
"The coaching staff get to practice the processes of delivering a game plan, a game review and a game plan again, in very short consecutive games, but also very unique opponents, but also that the players get a chance to practice that tournament mindset." he continued.
COMMBANK MATILDAS MATCH SCHEDULE | 2023 CUP OF NATIONS
CommBank Matildas v Czechia
Date: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Venue: Industree Group Stadium, Gosford, NSW
Kick-Off: 7.10 pm kick-off AEDT.
Tickets: Buy tickets!
CommBank Matildas v Spain
Date: Sunday, 19 February 2023
Venue: CommBank Stadium, Sydney, NSW
Kick-Off: 6.00 pm AEDT.
Tickets: Buy tickets!
CommBank Matildas v Jamaica
Date: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle, NSW
Kick-Off: 7.10 pm kick-off AEDT.
Tickets: Buy tickets!