Sydney FC striker and Matildas star Cortnee Vine is confident that the Sydney FC Women’s team are able to be triumphant in their Grand Final this Saturday in Melbourne.
Despite narrowly missing out on the minor premiership, Vine believes that her side are able to clinch the 2023/24 Liberty A-League premiership in the Grand Final against Melbourne City away from home at AAMI Park.
“Obviously we missed out on the Premiership this year, which was devastating for us.
“But if we can get off the back of last year’s Championship, another Championship, I’m very happy with that,” she said.
“I’ve never played in a Grand Final away from home, so this would be really interesting for me, but, you know, I look at AAMI as a home away from home.
“I think we’ve had a pretty good track record there. I think we’re looking forward to the trip itself and to hopefully, win this Grand Final away from home.
“But yeah, I want more silverware. I want Championships.”
The Sky Blues see themselves in the final for a seventh consecutive year, which is an impressive achievement considering the multiple injury blows to their season, with stars such as Nat Tobin and Kirsty Fenton both affected by ACL injuries, and even Vine herself with a hamstring injury that set herself back.
Shea Connors and Lucy Johnson also spent time off the pich with longer term injuries never mind the star midfielder Maddie Caspers who has also joined the unwanted list. With all these factors, Vine believes that this Grand Final victory could be the sweetest of all.
“Just with the challenges we’ve had this year, the injuries we’ve had, it’s been very challenging for us, it was a big hurdle and I think to get to this point, it’s very sweet.”
Vine even mentions that coach Ante Juric himself has said it’s been a different and his most challenging year thus far, but she is still in awe of what he is able to achieve as he aims to win his third Championship.
“We don’t get to the places we’ve been without him being the coach.
“I think the girls, we all lost that game [for the Premiers Plate] and I think we all do wanna win this Grand Final.
“The girls that haven’t been in that situation before where they could have won the Premiership, are now like, “I wanna come away with something”.
“You could put all this pressure on it, but I think you just have step out on the field and get all of that out of your head, and do the things you can to calm yourself in those moments,” she added.
“I think we’re ready for the Grand Final. I think the team want it as much as I do.”
The showdown between Sydney FC and Melbourne City kicks off at 4:15pm AEST on Saturday, 4th May at AAMI Park, with the winner to be named 2023/24 season Liberty A-League Women Champions.
