The CommBank Matildas 24-player squad has been announced for the friendlies against Scotland and England in the April international window.
The squad sees the return of Ellie Carpenter and Holly McNamara after long-term ACL injuries tempered by the unavailability of others, including Steph Catley and Emily Gielnik.
Head coach Tony Gustavsson spoke about his thinking behind the squad.
“First of all, as always, the selection process is always a challenge for us coaches,” he explained.
“This is not just a selection based on the last few months of games, it’s a selection based on the last two years of investment in the depth of the roster. Like I always say, it’s not always about the best individual players, it’s about the best team.
“We need to make sure that we have different options in different positions, that we have depth in each line, and that we have different player types. That’s what’s behind this selection of the roster.
“It’s also based on the last performance in the tournament in February, where I think some players really impressed.”
It was back in September 2022 that Gustavsson spoke about the importance of consistent squads in the lead-up to the World Cup. He acknowledged that injuries and unavailability have made that difficult, but also that the challenges have strengthened his squad.
“Obviously as a coach, you always want to have all of the players available so that you can get some consistency,” he said.
“When Ellie [Carpenter] came back we were excited about that, but now Steph [Catley] is not available, so they’re not there at the same time. That means that come June/July, we haven’t had two of the world’s best outside backs together in the team for more than a year, which is obviously far from optimal."
“But it also tests the adversity of the team – how to deal with big challenges. I’ve used the quote before – sometimes it’s not the most intelligent that survives or the strongest that survives, it’s the one that’s most adaptable to change. This group of players has shown over the last two years, when we have invested in a lot of players, that they are adaptable.
“We have a very clear identity of what we’re about as a national team which means when there’s been some rotation in the roster, in the line-ups, we’ve been able to keep that identity.”
What has been pleasing for Gustavsson is consistency throughout starting line-ups. For example, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Katrina Gorry have established themselves as formidable midfield partners in recent times."
In terms of injured players, Gustavsson said that he and the Sports Science and Sports Medicine team at the CommBank Matildas have been working closely with clubs to establish the best possible outcomes for players.
“When it comes to Em Gielnik it’s an ankle sprain that keeps her out of playing time for a while now,” he explained.
“She’s missing the camp, but there’s also the uncertainty of how quickly she can come back."
“When it comes to Steph, it’s a non-contact injury in her foot.
“It’s too early now to comment [on World Cup availability]. We have to focus on the April camp now, and we’ll take it from there.”
He named Charlotte Grant, Courtney Nevin and Tameka Yallop as options to take on that left-back position vacated by Catley’s injury.
A player who is coming into the squad on the back of limited minutes is Alanna Kennedy. Gustavsson explained that, while she hasn’t been playing for her club Manchester City, she has been training at full intensity.
“Based on what we see at training, right now Alanna is training fully,” he said, explaining that coaching staff had gone to watch her train in person.
“The concern we have - which is natural - is that she has very limited game time and has had it for a long time. We’ll see when she comes into our environment what kind of form she is in terms of availability for minutes in the game. But she’s training fully, which we’re very happy with.”
Gustavsson was excited to see the return of both Ellie Carpenter and Holly McNamara to the squad.
“I have to say how excited and glad I am for Ellie,” he said.
“We’re all excited to have her back in the team environment because it’s not just that she’s contributing with world-class football qualities, but her personality is awesome for our group. She always gives so much energy and almost always a smile on her face. We can’t wait to have her back.”
On McNamara, he recalled how exciting her debut was at the Asian Cup, and how the quality and intensity of her minutes with Melbourne City has impressed the coaching staff.
“We need to work very closely with the club here to manage the load and the minutes because it is a step up going from club to country when it comes to intensity, but we’re very excited to see her in our training environment, to begin with, and then we go from there,” he said.
Finally, Gustavsson said that he is confident and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead against Scotland and England.
“This is going to be one of the toughest tests we have preparing for the World Cup,” he said.
“We’re going to play one of the teams that a lot of people are now talking about being the best in the world, England, and to do that in England is going to be a very tough challenge for us, but an important one which we need.
“When it comes to being happy about the selection and availability of the players, I’m actually very happy about the different qualities that we have. We have a lot of different profiles of players, so we can use different types of players in different positions.
“Just look at the tournament that we had, when I really emphasised how important the finishing 11 is, not just the starting 11. We saw game-changers coming into every single game in February and actually impacting the game from the bench.
“Different player types like [Larissa] Crummer with her physicality, her explosiveness, her ability to function in different roles, her work ethic; then you have [Alex] Chidiac with her spark, her technique, her smartness, her goal scoring abilities- that’s just two examples of many.
“I feel happy with the different profiles of players that we have, so we can change tactics without changing our identity, just changing the profiles of the players in the same positions.”