Westfield Matildas midfielder Tameka Yallop will be back in Orange in 2020/21 after signing for Brisbane Roar for another Westfield W-League season.
Yallop, 29, is Brisbane's all-time W-League leading goalscorer, and will bring her experience and leadership back to the club for the upcoming season.
The midfielder, a foundation Roar player, has 118 appearances for the club, eclipsed only by fellow Matilda Clare Polkinghorne.
Yallop, the 2013/14 Julie Dolan Medal winner and two-time Westfield W-League Championship winner, is raring to go for another season in Queensland.
“It’s kind of crazy to see how much time has passed and how much Brisbane Roar has been there, the players and coaches who have come and gone,” Yallop said.
“It’s quite amazing. It [Brisbane Roar] is close to home and I love pulling on the orange jersey.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down leagues and closed international borders earlier this year, the plans of multiple Westfield Matildas players were thrown into chaos.
But for budding mum Tameka Yallop, the timing of the pandemic was fortuitous. It meant that, instead of travelling to Norway to join her club side Klepp for the upcoming Toppserien season, she stayed home with newly-pregnant wife Kirsty and their growing baby, Harley.
“I was pretty lucky because I was actually only meant to spend three days here in New Zealand before I was meant to head to Norway,” Yallop said.
“And the day I was meant to get on my flight, Norway closed its borders. Then a week later, New Zealand closed their borders as well. So I was pretty lucky to get stuck here with Kirsty and I think it was a blessing in itself because I got to see Kirsty grow through the nine months.
“Six weeks would have been okay – for us to know I was going to be away for six weeks or eight weeks, whatever it was going to end up to be – but the uncertainty [of borders] kind of meant I might not return until early next year, which was too much for us. I don’t think I could go that long without seeing them. That was the decider for us.”
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