WEBVTT - Inside the Success of the Matildas 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.440 We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.840 on which this podcast was produced, the Gadigle people of 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:09.959 the or nation. We pay our respects to Elder's past 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:10.479 and present. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:15.880 It's the year two thousand and we're with the sports 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:21.079 obsessed Lydia Williams, who is glued to her TV. The 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.840 twelve year old is fixated as the Olympics takeover Sydney. 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:29.080 Kathy Freeman wins gold for Australia in a four hundred 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:35.760 meter sprint. She watches on as Kathy wraps herself in 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:41.600 the Aboriginal flag during her victory lap. Something clicks in 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:46.920 Lydia's mind. Women can have a career in sports. A 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.600 First Nations woman can be a national heal. 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:53.880 Thanks and that the Maxieldas are better and football is 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.080 better for having had Lydia Williams inn. 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:03.080 But her path to success won't come without its struggles. 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:08.360 I'm Att Middleton and this is head game today. While 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:12.160 Lydia Williams was saving goals, the Matildas and the power 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:21.160 teamwork were saving her. Lydia Williams, I have a Matilda 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:25.040 in the building. Long time I see Lydia. I bumped 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.520 into yesterday at the Logis and at the Logis after party, 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:31.840 and here we are today. How we've made it, I 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.360 don't know, but it's great to see you. How are you, 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:35.039 oh man? 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.480 It's because we're both rock stars. That's how we made it. 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:40.200 Do you know what we are? And we lived like 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.880 rock stars yesterday. But it's great to have you on. 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.160 I remember seeing you last night, and yes, we were 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.000 on the podcast tomorrow and I was super excited to 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:50.000 not only see you, but to have you on because 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.680 cod talk about a phenomenal career and talk about head game, 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:57.400 you know, having the mindset of an elite athlete. It's 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.000 something that takes discipline, it takes ructure, it takes years 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.960 of experience to get to where you where you've been 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.440 in your career has been phenomenal. But take me back 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:10.600 to the very beginning when you were a little child 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.440 and you were running around the field or whatever you're doing. 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.359 Where did you Where were you born and where did 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.240 you just what was your family life like growing up? 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:21.560 Yeah? Well, I was born in Katanning, which is a 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:24.440 small really small town in w A. And then we 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:30.400 moved to Calgouli when I was eighteen months and that's yeah. 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.480 So that's where I actually grew up. And Kalgouli is 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:38.280 the biggest goal mining town in Australia of a big 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:43.520 population of thirty thousand people. And you know, there's a town, 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:48.720 but then surrounding it's red dirt desert, just barrenness. 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:50.160 Did you move there? 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:53.079 Well, it's biggest city than Catana. 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.240 That wasn't a career move for your parents. Let's move 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:58.000 to a bigger city. 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.160 Yeah, And yeah, that's just kind of how I lived 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:05.160 my life is you know, sport was always on the weekends, 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:09.720 as you kind of do in small country towns and everything, like, 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.000 you have a really good foundation of family and friends, 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.280 and weekends are dedicated to being outside and doing that. 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:18.600 So that's really how I found my love for sport 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:25.200 and passion for just being active. But my mum, she's American. 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.360 She grew up in America, ended up going and working 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.680 on Wall Street before coming to Australia to you, yeah, 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.360 to work as a missionary in the middle of the 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:41.800 desert to help indigenous women with domestic violence, drug and 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.080 alcohol abuse. So she left, yeah, the bright lights of 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.080 New York City to live in a tent and to 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:50.680 you know, help out people that needed it a little 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:55.160 bit more. And my dad that's where they met. 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.720 They met was so she went from the bright lights 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:02.839 to you know, from training to to living in a tent. 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.920 Yeah wow, and just helping women in the night that 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:10.200 needed help and somewhere safe to stay and whatever they needed. 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.720 Be kind of that that person for them. And my 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.120 dad he kind of, I guess, had a different upbringing 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.479 than my mum. He didn't know his father and he 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.760 was born and a part of the stolen generation. So 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:30.440 during that time, his grandparents raised him and they would 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.360 hide him so he didn't get taken away because some 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:37.720 of his siblings got separated from him and went to missions, 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:42.279 and his grandfather was making sure that whenever the police 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.400 came into town or any counsel, you know, he would 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.640 hide him and make Dad hide in the bush and 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.680 make sure that he didn't get taken away as well. Wow. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.839 So and how did they raise you, Well. 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:58.240 It was obviously a lot of difficulties and struggle they 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.280 had within their marriage. Of all of a sudden, it 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:07.640 was a very white American woman marrying a very dark 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:13.839 indigenous bush like man, and so from both sides of 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.440 the family they had to deal with a lot of racism. 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:19.480 And you did you did you see. 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:21.960 That or no? By the time I came around, it 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:25.520 was yeah, they were you know, madly in love and 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.120 dealt with a lot of that that struggle. I kind 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.240 of saw them all from my dad's point of view. 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:36.000 Is I'm more white presenting than what my dad's color was. 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:40.440 So when I'd be at football or we'd be walking 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.680 out around the street and you know, like my dad 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.640 will be holding my hand or whatever it was, you 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:48.880 get you know, you get double looks or people you know, 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:50.960 my dad's watching. You'll be like, oh, is that your dad? 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:53.640 Oh who's that black man watched? Like watching the game? 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:54.679 Like is he okay? 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:57.960 There's something that's completely normal to you. Was just being 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.360 thrown at you in little little segments like that. 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.120 Yeah, And it's like almost like what I would say, 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:07.360 kind of like naivety of racism, Like it's just casual 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.800 racism being thrown out. But for me, it was like 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.320 I don't understand why I have to keep explaining that 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.080 that's my dad, Like don't we look alike? Yeah? 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.840 Yeah, you must be relentless and must be horrible to 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.840 keep doing that. And also it highlights the fact of racism, right, 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.640 it's there in your face, you know, you think you 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:27.320 know it's casual racism or people just at it's like wow, 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.720 actually when you look at it, for you to keep 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:31.799 chipping away. You like that from such a young. 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.160 Age and it really affected me, I think when I 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:41.880 was early teens, because I was white presenting, but I 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.560 had a desert slang and we spent every year, we 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.160 spent at least a month out in the desert where 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.760 I'd camp under the stars, learned how to light a fire, 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:57.520 learn all about desert culture, bush life, elders, everything Aboriginal 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:00.279 and indigenous that I could think of. And then I'd 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.719 come and be in calculate a town and I'd have 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:09.640 all these desert behaviors and it wasn't obviously accepted by, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.120 you know, people that weren't familiar with it. But then 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:18.440 also because I was white presenting, then like if a 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.239 black person saw me, then they'd you know, be double 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.640 look as well. So it was almost like people knew 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:25.880 me because of my parents, but if you just looked 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:30.280 at me, you wouldn't really know what your culture, where 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:32.440 are you from? And I really had kind of an 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:36.720 identity struggle of I just wanted to be one or 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:39.920 the other and I couldn't. It was like not accepted 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:40.400 either way. 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.720 And how did that affect your relationship with Did you 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:45.760 take one side or the other or were you just 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:48.800 trying to find out who you know where you sat? Really? 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:50.800 Yeah, I think it was more like trying to figure 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:52.640 out where I sat. When when I was eleven, we 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:57.000 moved to Canberra as a family, and all of a sudden, 0:07:57.200 --> 0:07:59.720 my desert lingo was. You know, I was in bush 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.400 of like a lot of trees and there was no 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:07.880 red red dirt. It was like grassland and mountains and 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.600 it was really cold and so like that was a 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.000 really big culture shock to me. But then I still 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.520 had a desert like twang. So all of a sudden 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:20.320 things I would normally say or do or how I 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.080 would sound now I've had to change how I speak 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.760 to people because they wouldn't understand me. 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:27.640 Got you so? 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.600 And then during that time as well, I'm a you know, 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.840 young adolescent girl, and I don't want anything to do 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.760 with my dad because he doesn't know anything about you know, 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.599 female hormones or anything like that. So then all of 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.280 a sudden, I've become I guess more white. But I'm 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.080 also in a culture or an area that I don't 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:51.840 get to, you know, express my indigenous heritage that much. 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.640 What was that like growing up? How would you? Were 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.920 you jumping between two identities? Were you? Were you sort 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.960 of questioning who you were? Was? It was tough? Yeah? 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.160 It was tough. And during that time, when I was fifteen, 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:08.000 my dad actually got really sick and fifteen yeah, so 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.680 in the in the midst of all this identity crisis 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:16.600 and you know, going through hormonal changes and just enjoying 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.920 being a teenager, my dad gets sick and within three 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:26.320 weeks of diagnosis it was he's got cancer to he 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:27.440 only has one day to live. 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.800 Oh wow. So he got diagnosed and within three weeks 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.440 he was no longer. Yeah, oh sorry to you that. 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.280 Yeah, no, it's I've processed it a lot, but you 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.000 know then that was an extra bit of. 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.320 I yeah, a big bit on top. Right. So not 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:49.160 only you going through this struggle with yourself, but then 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.920 that lands on your lap. Wow, and you sound like 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:53.480 you were really close for your dad. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:55.920 Yeah. I mean like my whole I kind of say, 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.320 like my whole childhood in Kalgarouli and growing up was 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.480 my dad was like I just loved everything about it. 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:06.920 He taught me all about the land. You know, I 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:09.120 talking to my mum. Now there's so much of me 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:11.600 that is my dad. So I think we have a 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:16.960 really big connection even through his passing, but then moving 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.200 to to Canberra and being in like a more I 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:25.640 guess white collar area, then I you know, drift to 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.120 my mom's side. So then really it was kind of 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.520 when when dad got really sick and passed away, it 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.720 was like, oh, there's there's a whole part of me 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.200 that felt like missing. Wow. 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.440 So your dad taught you, like you said, you know, 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:41.400 how to live in the verse, you know, to make 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:43.320 a five, et cetera, et cetera, you know all that 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:47.800 good their heretiage stuff that that that you loved. Who 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.080 taught you to to kick a football? 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:55.040 It was my dad. Yeah, he loved growing up playing 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:58.120 He was actually a fl loved AFL. So I remember 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.679 we go to pub in Kagarli and I'm like a 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.920 little six to eight year old and we'd go into 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.640 a pub and meete whoever West Coast Eagles person was there, 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:11.679 and Dad would be like, hey, she's going to be 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:15.640 playing sport one day and blah blah blah, and yeah 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.840 Dad was a real, real big, I guess, advocate of 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.960 me being outside and playing sport. Mum was very big 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.040 on education, but both were really big on supporting me. 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:32.000 And what age were you at when you started really 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:36.160 enjoying Is it soccer or football? Here is soccer football? 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:37.840 Yeah, we have the World Cup, so it has to 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:38.360 be football. 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.199 Yeah. What age did you actually realize I'm pretty good 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.080 at this and I want to take this seriously or 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:48.319 it was you just a kid kicking a ball around 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:50.640 and you just played for a team. How did it 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.920 progress into the obviously the phenomenal career that you've had, 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.720 which we touched on, but how did it progress into you, 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:59.480 you know, getting your first sort of serious contract to 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.760 rolling into represent your country. 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.720 Oh it's actually mum. So I went when we first 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.360 came to Canberra, I came late to registration and basically 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:11.000 they were like, do you want to be in Division 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:14.400 one but there's only a goalkeeper position left? Or Division 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:16.000 four and you can play wherever. And I was like, 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:19.800 why would I ever go to Division four? Yeah? So 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.400 I was like, yeah, we'll rotate, and it just we're 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.439 not rotating and I remember I went to a goalkeeping 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:31.560 clinic in Canberra which had about maybe thirty goalkeepers and 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:36.040 only a handful of girls within that, and the goalkeeper 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.120 instructor or coach whatever it was, he actually was an 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:46.760 ex previous soccer US coach and unbeknownst to me, he 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:48.480 actually went up to my mom at the end of 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:53.000 the whole clinic and he's told her, whatever you do, 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:55.680 do not let her quit. Out of everyone here, she 0:12:55.720 --> 0:13:00.360 has the most potential to be a professional and make 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.800 it for a very long career, so don't let it quit. 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.120 So I think that was just kind of something that 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.880 was in the background, and I just remember anything that 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.520 I went to, if it was national championships, would we 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.560 had to pay. And my dad never really had a job, 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.880 so we're on a single parent threshold and income, so 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.240 we had to obviously go to a lot of Aboriginal 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.160 funding or sports places and just asked to help for 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.800 like money trying to do that, and it was never 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.800 burdened late It's never was. I never knew that it 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:39.120 was like hard for them to raise that, and I 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:40.920 just I went to everything they made sure that it 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:43.760 happened that I got to be involved with everything that 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.000 I could and as possible that was there. So I 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:50.480 think that was kind of my mum and dad really 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.079 realized it, but never said it to me directly. 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:57.040 When did you realize it? When you go wow, you know, listen, 0:13:58.120 --> 0:13:58.560 I'm good. 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.679 You know it was Actually I told this story when 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.719 I had my retirement game to the girls and our 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:10.040 current goalkeeper coach. He was actually my very first goalkeeper 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.240 coach at a camp and it was it was in 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.880 two thousand and five, so my dad just passed away 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.000 and I went to this camp and it was a 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.280 selection camp before the team went to the Under twenties 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:27.760 World Cup in Thailand for the girls, and I was 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:31.600 a baby and there were three other goalkeepers who obviously 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:33.600 were going to go and play, but he pulled me 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:37.800 aside and he was like, don't quit, I'll see you 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:42.120 in like a couple of years. And I was like, oh, yeah, whatever, yeah, 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:45.080 And then literally like I was, I wasn't devastated because 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:46.760 I was like, I've only gone to one camp. This 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:48.280 is cool, Like I got to fly all the way 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:52.000 to Perth and then three months later I got called 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.560 into the national team at sixteen for my very first. 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.440 Hand seen you get called into the national team. What 0:14:58.520 --> 0:14:59.920 did it take me back to that? What did that 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:02.080 to take you back to that call? How did that happen? 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.280 They contact your parents, They tell you where were you 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:05.760 when you got that? 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:07.880 They contacted my parents because at that time, I was 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:12.600 actually training with the as boys, and the goalkeeper coach 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:18.120 for the Matilda's kept coming into training camps at the AIS, 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:23.160 and the coach at the time, Tom Somani, he kept 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:28.040 seeing my progression of like improvement and I'm training with boys, 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:33.000 I'm not training with girls anymore. And then he actually 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:37.640 called that coach and the goalkeeper coach and myself and 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.680 had a conversation with my parents and then they're like, okay, 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.480 you're going to like Matilda's camp. And I'm like, who's 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:50.080 Matilda's those girl the women that walked past, Like I'm 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:55.840 still in school, Like what like okay, So yeah, that 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.440 was my first kind of like introduction is like I 0:15:58.600 --> 0:15:59.440 was a schoolgirl. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:01.280 Was your father still alive? 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:04.400 No? My dad wasn't alive at that point, So I 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:06.280 kind of throughout that. 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:07.280 I feel about that. 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:16.680 It's hard, but I think through the difficulty in his 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:21.640 diagnosis to when he passed, Like I me and Mum. 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.440 It took us three years before we could both sit 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.160 down and talk to each other, like it was impossible 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:29.400 for us but your dad, yeah, because we were so 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:34.000 upset and afraid that we'd make each other cry. But 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.560 I mean we'd walk in to shopping centers together and 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.920 like Mum would just start balling, and I was like, 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:41.440 I don't even know how to help. I'm a fifteen 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:45.160 year old going through angst myself and I find it 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.239 really hard to open up. And I got sent to therapists, 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:50.960 but I'm like, I don't want to talk, like I'm 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.680 not I don't know what to talk about. And so 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.280 for a good six months, like I can't remember anything. 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:57.080 It's a blur. 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:01.760 Yeah, it's a blur. But I think in that I 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.879 took a lot of that pain and hurt and unease 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:08.440 and turned it into. 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:09.840 Sport, focused it on. 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.359 I love that, Yeah, And it just went from there 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:17.240 like it's I you know, it was something that I 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:20.200 could do. I could go wake up every training day 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:22.320 and go and be like, Okay, I don't have to 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.320 think about anything. Yeah, I'm just I enjoy this is 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.560 something I really like. People are there for me, but 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.760 ultimately I'm I'm an athlete and they're athletes, and we 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:33.840 have a job that we need to do. 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:38.919 Yeah, redirectioning those negative emotions onto a positive sort of 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:40.840 purpose really works, doesn't it. 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:41.200 Yep? 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.480 If you can tunnel let and focus on that. So 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:47.080 that's phenomenal. So how do you feel when your mom 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:47.600 tells you. 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:51.600 I'm intimidated because I firstly, I don't know what it entails. 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.439 Like I've not seen I don't know what a camp is. 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:57.760 I don't know where they go. 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.439 I don't know you're being thrown in deep ag. 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:02.840 Yeah, like I know a few of them from like 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:08.040 the academy training centers, but I don't I don't know anything. 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.320 I'm not. At that point in time, I was a goalkeeper. 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:16.879 I didn't really understand like technique and structure, and you know, 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.640 I just loved what I was doing. And I think 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:24.840 going into an environment that I wasn't sure, I was like, Okay, well, 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:26.600 I think I only knew one person. 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.679 And was it intimidating because your first Nations woman? Was 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:32.439 that was the part of that or was it just 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:35.520 intimidating just because of the magnitude of it, or was 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:36.240 it a bit of both. 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:38.520 At that point in time, I think because I was 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.400 still grieving about my dad and going through that process. 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:47.880 I think I really, I guess compumentalize the indigenous part 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.640 and really kind of didn't really want to talk about 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:54.680 being First Nations because that meant that I had to 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:58.200 open up about my dad, and for me, I wasn't 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:04.120 ready to do that. So I went in nervous as 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:09.440 a sixteen year old, and I'm now in an environment 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.440 with twenty five year olds, and I'm also someone who's 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:18.400 quite shy at that time and quite you know, still 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.280 trying to figure out everything that's going on. Of course, 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:22.119 So yeah, I. 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:25.520 Age you asking these questions, aren't you about yourself, about 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:29.080 the situation about other people? It's like, yeah, you've you're 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:30.800 trying to figure it all out, and you think at 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.160 that age you can you can figure it all out, 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:38.200 and ultimately you can't. It's yeah, it's a funny age 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:40.360 to be out. I remember being at sixteen seventeen when 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.240 I joined the military, and I'm just like so overwhelming. 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:46.800 Oh yeah, you just have to just take it each 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.200 day as it comes. But how does your life change 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:53.639 from that moment onwards? You know, what's your what was 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:54.800 there an obvious change. 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.880 No, like because I guess my life was still the same. 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:05.479 I'd be able to leave school and go to training 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:08.320 camps or tours that we did, but you know, I 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.120 mean I was still like at school hanging with my friends. 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:15.240 I'd miss you know, some weddings or birthdays or whatever 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:18.200 it was, and that would suck. But I was like, no, 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:20.920 it's like cool, I'll see you guys soon. And I'm 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:24.320 traveling and I think at that point we only flew 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.560 to like Asia, so it wasn't any huge flights away 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.080 and it was maybe like four times a year, so 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:32.000 really it was like, oh cool, Like I get a 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:34.080 little holiday and a break and get a little bit 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:34.480 of money. 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.080 And while you're doing that, you're obviously playing for local team. 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:41.199 Yep, yeah, who I was playing. It was like a 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.040 state team, so it was like, yeah, Canberra Eclipse I 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:47.199 think it was called back then. So yeah, and it 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:52.320 wasn't like full time like it was. I train mostly. 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:55.280 I think like I play on weekends and then just 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:58.479 train separately and then just be able to play with 0:20:58.520 --> 0:20:59.280 like a club team. 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:05.320 Back then, and I say back then, women's football it 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.080 wasn't taking that seriously as it is now it's obviously 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.520 you know, blown now, especially since the World Cup right 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:14.600 last year. But what was it like did you feel 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.280 like that that was it taken seriously or. 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.000 Was it you know, I think it was it was 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:22.720 because it was Everyone that was a part of it 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.040 did it because they had passion. Because there wasn't money 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:30.480 in it. There wasn't all these extras and sponsors. Everyone 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:33.240 that was a part of it, from coaches to medical team, 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:37.720 to gear people to the girls did it because it 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:39.320 was like a passion that they had and they just 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:43.719 loved it. So it was almost that rawness of like 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:46.040 we're just going to go out and have fun. We 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:50.000 have something to prove, but like, what are we like, 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:51.760 Let's just go out and make sure that we make 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:55.960 ourselves really proud and happy, not the expectations of everyone else. 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:07.480 And when did it really start to ramp up for you? 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:11.600 You know when because obviously the more the exposure it gets, 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.000 the more you play that, you know, when did it 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:16.680 start to really ramp up where this is full time now, 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.400 this is you know, I'm in it. 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:21.920 It was my first club that I went to, which 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.520 was in the US. I went to Chicago and I 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:28.560 was a nineteen year old kid going overseas for the 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:29.120 first time. 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:30.320 How does that come about? 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:36.199 One of the girls was going there and they needed 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:40.240 another goalkeeper. And at that point I was playing youth 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.399 and was doing really well in the I call it 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:46.920 Young Matilda's and I was already established in the Matildas 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:51.119 now and it was an opportunity to go overseas. It 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:52.480 was the first time that they had it. I have 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:57.440 a dual citizenship, so, I mean, America uses a draft 0:22:57.520 --> 0:22:59.760 system where they do get a lot of college girls 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.600 to join teams to then develop them. So it was 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:08.480 basically I was a draft draft that had international experience 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:12.160 and was playing and training at a really high level, 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:16.240 Like why wouldn't you come get me? And you don't 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:20.119 have to worry about visas or anything like that. So 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:23.960 it was actually funny. The coach was m Hayes, so 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:27.080 she was my first, my first like proper professional coach 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:30.000 and now won a gold medal with the US so 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:35.120 but yeah, she recruited me over and brought me over 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:38.439 to the States, and that's when I was like, wow, 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:41.920 Like we're training twice a day, We're doing this, We're 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:49.120 drinking protein shakes, your nutritio. Yeah, yeah, and I was like, oh, 0:23:49.200 --> 0:23:52.200 we get to stay. You're paying for my apartment, like, 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:55.520 and you're giving me a car to drive around and 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:59.879 a salary. And and then I came home and I 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:02.560 remember feeling like I was on top of the world. 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:05.399 I don't play I played like maybe a few practice games, 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:07.880 but I mean I was on a great team where 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:11.200 I learned so much. And I came home and I 0:24:11.320 --> 0:24:14.920 thought like I was pretty pleasing with myself. Made it 0:24:15.119 --> 0:24:19.000 And initially I reckon yeah, and he lived on the 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:22.359 back of the year and got told that I was 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:27.600 basically nothing from some yeah not just needed to get 0:24:27.680 --> 0:24:30.960 rid of my arrogant attitude from some coaches that. 0:24:31.040 --> 0:24:35.000 The coaches, Wow, so did you get there? You get 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:37.280 you're a bit of cocky, you're getting a bit complacent. Yeah, 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:40.240 I've got everything at myfe because you've almost done the reverse. 0:24:40.320 --> 0:24:42.840 Normally people join a professional club and then they go 0:24:42.960 --> 0:24:47.000 onto the national team. You were in the national team. 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:48.600 That's why I said. You went straight to the the 0:24:48.680 --> 0:24:51.360 national team, and you've done the flip reverse right from 0:24:51.400 --> 0:24:53.920 the national team and then you went and played played professionals. 0:24:53.920 --> 0:24:55.800 So you get a clip around the ear in America? 0:24:55.880 --> 0:24:57.160 How does that how does that feel? 0:24:57.960 --> 0:24:59.639 No, I mean that was a bit rough. That was 0:25:00.000 --> 0:25:02.359 it was a it's what I needed. But at the 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:04.640 time I was like I didn't do anything, Like why 0:25:04.680 --> 0:25:08.719 am I getting like almost like punished, like here I am, 0:25:09.000 --> 0:25:10.840 But no, it was it was needed. I think it 0:25:10.920 --> 0:25:14.080 gave me a little bit of down to earth of like, 0:25:14.840 --> 0:25:18.119 look how good that person is and why aren't you playing? Like, 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:23.119 well you're not playing, so whatever your arrogance is, like 0:25:23.760 --> 0:25:25.600 I don't know where it comes from, because guess what, 0:25:25.800 --> 0:25:30.000 you're not actually on the pitch. And it was like, oh, yeah, okay, 0:25:30.200 --> 0:25:32.440 well what are they doing that I need to do? 0:25:32.960 --> 0:25:34.840 And I think that was awake. It was a quick 0:25:34.880 --> 0:25:38.240 wake up call. I think it was six months of cockiness. Yeah, 0:25:39.040 --> 0:25:41.200 and then it was like nope. 0:25:41.200 --> 0:25:43.080 Yeah, I remember when I joined the military and I 0:25:43.200 --> 0:25:45.960 passed out training best your cruit, best PT and then 0:25:46.000 --> 0:25:47.960 we go into my first unit and the same with 0:25:48.080 --> 0:25:50.320 me the first year, just like I don't need to 0:25:50.359 --> 0:25:53.440 do anything. And then the rude awakening of it seeing 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:56.000 people overtake you, seeing people getting promoted in front of you. 0:25:56.119 --> 0:25:58.760 See it's just like wow, I need I actually need 0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:01.400 this wake up cool. Yeah, because again, like you say 0:26:01.640 --> 0:26:03.720 I'm not on the pitch, they are what do I 0:26:03.800 --> 0:26:06.359 need to do to get there? And what did you 0:26:06.440 --> 0:26:08.240 do to get there? Oh? 0:26:08.359 --> 0:26:11.440 Well, then I came back and I was didn't go 0:26:11.640 --> 0:26:15.000 back overseas. I actually was looking for another opportunity, which 0:26:15.119 --> 0:26:17.840 it came in the form I had a year to 0:26:17.960 --> 0:26:23.159 be at home, and during that time we had I 0:26:23.240 --> 0:26:25.240 actually broke my wrist during that time. 0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:26.280 Oh wow. 0:26:26.359 --> 0:26:29.119 When I came back home, I was just training with 0:26:29.160 --> 0:26:30.959 the boys. It was a bit of a wet night 0:26:31.119 --> 0:26:34.960 and I went out to save a ball and when 0:26:35.000 --> 0:26:37.720 I saved it, it just felt something in my wrist 0:26:38.080 --> 0:26:43.760 kind of snap. So I actually then for the next 0:26:44.600 --> 0:26:49.600 eight months there was qualifiers with the national team and 0:26:50.680 --> 0:26:55.000 qualifiers with the youth national team, and so I had 0:26:55.080 --> 0:26:58.159 to put a splint on and then I was waiting 0:26:58.400 --> 0:27:00.800 until I could get surgery. So I played for eight 0:27:00.880 --> 0:27:03.920 months with a broken wrist. Just strapped it up, just 0:27:04.000 --> 0:27:05.679 strapped it up, sucked it up. 0:27:07.600 --> 0:27:11.080 You don't what I mean. Those opportunities, right, and just 0:27:11.240 --> 0:27:13.960 like don't know that you had a broken risk. Yeah, 0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:16.280 they wasn't something that you heard because you wanted to 0:27:16.359 --> 0:27:17.120 do your trials. 0:27:17.200 --> 0:27:19.200 It was just yeah, it was they were just like, 0:27:19.359 --> 0:27:21.280 what can we do? So I went to a risk specialist. 0:27:21.320 --> 0:27:23.000 They gave me a little splint to wear and I 0:27:23.119 --> 0:27:25.920 just wore it under my glove and just got on 0:27:26.040 --> 0:27:28.119 with it until I had time to actually have surgery, 0:27:28.119 --> 0:27:31.120 which was in twenty ten, so I had I think 0:27:31.160 --> 0:27:35.119 it was four months off doing rehab, got back into it, 0:27:35.200 --> 0:27:39.440 and then two thousand and eleven I went over to 0:27:39.480 --> 0:27:42.720 Sweden for my next club, and I was a two 0:27:42.800 --> 0:27:46.800 year deal and when I got over there, I had 0:27:46.960 --> 0:27:51.000 a great two months. And then the second game of 0:27:51.080 --> 0:27:54.120 the season, I ran out for a ball and tore 0:27:54.200 --> 0:27:54.720 my ACL. 0:27:57.920 --> 0:28:02.320 That's that's a pretty serious injury. Yeah, Carl, what was 0:28:02.359 --> 0:28:05.720 going for your head when you're on the ground? Yeah? 0:28:05.840 --> 0:28:07.480 Do you know it? Do you know? Do you know 0:28:07.560 --> 0:28:08.480 exactly what it was? No? 0:28:08.560 --> 0:28:10.600 I thought it was my hamstring at first, but then 0:28:11.240 --> 0:28:13.920 I got up and tried to move and my knee 0:28:13.960 --> 0:28:16.479 gave out, and I was like, what is that feeling? 0:28:16.640 --> 0:28:17.600 I hate that feeling. 0:28:17.760 --> 0:28:19.719 And you'd only just gone to Sweden. 0:28:19.920 --> 0:28:22.960 Yeah, only just gone to Sweden. And in my head 0:28:23.000 --> 0:28:25.920 I was like, I'm the furthest away that I could 0:28:25.960 --> 0:28:29.880 be from Australia. Literally, the furthest part of Sweden Airport 0:28:30.200 --> 0:28:34.720 I was, so it was to travel there. It was 0:28:34.800 --> 0:28:38.520 at least thirty hours. In my head, I'm like, oh 0:28:38.600 --> 0:28:40.760 my god, I ain't gonna have I need to get surgery. 0:28:41.560 --> 0:28:45.240 And I'm like, am I covered for surgery? Like is 0:28:45.360 --> 0:28:48.720 that the club covers that? Or do I need to 0:28:48.760 --> 0:28:54.640 go home? And they weren't actually sure of the diagnosis either, 0:28:55.120 --> 0:28:57.320 So then I had to be there and wait. And 0:28:57.440 --> 0:29:00.760 it was at a time in Australia when quite a 0:29:00.800 --> 0:29:03.120 few of the team started getting a cls, so it 0:29:03.240 --> 0:29:07.040 was maybe three girls on the national team had acls 0:29:07.080 --> 0:29:09.880 within that six months as well, so I kind of 0:29:09.960 --> 0:29:16.320 knew from talking to them when they had theirs done, 0:29:16.560 --> 0:29:19.800 like what it feels like, where were they? Did they 0:29:19.880 --> 0:29:22.520 come home? Whatever it was, And so in my head 0:29:22.560 --> 0:29:25.440 I was panicking because I was like, oh no, I'm 0:29:25.560 --> 0:29:30.280 like them feeling I'm seeing so many similarities and hearing 0:29:30.360 --> 0:29:32.240 so many things that like I need to get home. 0:29:33.440 --> 0:29:36.040 So that was a real hard time of I didn't 0:29:36.080 --> 0:29:40.320 really want to hurt my relationship with the club because 0:29:40.360 --> 0:29:44.040 I was only there for two months, and then I 0:29:44.160 --> 0:29:46.080 was like, but also I need. 0:29:46.040 --> 0:29:47.400 To sort this out. Yeah, I need to get get 0:29:47.400 --> 0:29:51.800 it done, and also being somewhere where you feel like 0:29:51.920 --> 0:29:54.640 it's home, you know, especially with an injury, you know, 0:29:54.720 --> 0:29:57.040 you don't want to be somewhere where you're not familiar with, 0:29:57.400 --> 0:29:59.880 you know, especially if you were covering, and so you 0:30:00.040 --> 0:30:00.600 fly back to. 0:30:01.320 --> 0:30:03.000 Yeah, so I ended up being I fly back to 0:30:03.080 --> 0:30:05.880 Australia to get surgery and I was there for three 0:30:05.960 --> 0:30:09.880 months to make sure that kind of the hard stuff 0:30:10.040 --> 0:30:12.640 was out of the way with a physio at home 0:30:12.800 --> 0:30:15.480 and I could be home. And I remember just being 0:30:15.640 --> 0:30:19.480 so like emotional and just I mean I wanted to go. 0:30:20.360 --> 0:30:22.880 I was loving it. I was loving being away from home, 0:30:23.120 --> 0:30:25.080 and I remember I had to be back home with 0:30:25.200 --> 0:30:28.760 my mom whilst nursing an injury, and it was just, 0:30:28.880 --> 0:30:31.120 I think, really hard for us both. That was the 0:30:31.160 --> 0:30:33.960 first time we actually spent time together since I left. 0:30:34.160 --> 0:30:37.320 And how did that affect your relationship with the Matilda's. 0:30:37.480 --> 0:30:40.120 That was fine because at that time we didn't have contracts, 0:30:40.240 --> 0:30:44.720 so and also the kind of like the talent pool 0:30:44.760 --> 0:30:48.960 that was coming in there was not much because the 0:30:49.840 --> 0:30:53.360 competition in Australia was only three months long, So really, 0:30:54.160 --> 0:30:56.120 where are you finding people they need to be in 0:30:56.360 --> 0:31:01.120 academies and state institutes to kind of get that, but 0:31:01.560 --> 0:31:06.000 there was no real kind of stepping stone to keep 0:31:06.080 --> 0:31:10.560 developing that turnover and that threshold. So yeah, I was 0:31:10.640 --> 0:31:12.960 fine for the matildas. That was all good. It was 0:31:13.160 --> 0:31:16.680 just kind of like get healthy, get fit again, and 0:31:16.760 --> 0:31:21.320 then I went back over and finished my Yeah, finish 0:31:21.400 --> 0:31:24.960 my rehab there. Next season was fine, and then the 0:31:25.000 --> 0:31:30.040 following season I went over to America again, and halfway 0:31:30.080 --> 0:31:35.720 through that season I redid the same ACL give me yeah, 0:31:35.960 --> 0:31:39.120 and that was right. I was in twenty fourteen, and 0:31:39.200 --> 0:31:42.680 that was ten and a half months out before the 0:31:42.760 --> 0:31:44.320 World Cup in twenty fifteen. 0:31:44.560 --> 0:31:46.000 And how did that affect your mindset? 0:31:47.080 --> 0:31:52.480 I remember telling the physio I've done it, and we 0:31:52.560 --> 0:31:55.320 walked right in. He goes, I'm not gonna test you 0:31:55.400 --> 0:31:58.080 here because it's going to be on TV and we're 0:31:58.080 --> 0:31:59.480 going to walk in and I'm going to test you, 0:32:00.000 --> 0:32:02.280 so I need you to get up and let's go. 0:32:03.040 --> 0:32:05.800 So up, I get walk with him in. He tests 0:32:05.920 --> 0:32:10.400 and he's like, yeah, we can get an MRI, but like, 0:32:10.520 --> 0:32:13.200 we'll get one, but we'll try and get you home. 0:32:13.960 --> 0:32:16.800 And I remember getting my phone and walking back out 0:32:16.880 --> 0:32:20.840 to the bench and calling my national team doctor and 0:32:20.960 --> 0:32:24.600 national team coach at the time, and going, I've done it. 0:32:25.760 --> 0:32:28.160 What do I need to do to get back for 0:32:28.400 --> 0:32:32.720 the World Cup? And at that time, I was the 0:32:32.840 --> 0:32:37.040 starting goalkeeper, so it was all hands on deck. They said, 0:32:37.080 --> 0:32:39.280 we'll book you a flight and we'll get you into 0:32:39.320 --> 0:32:43.520 surgery in a week, So I had two days to 0:32:43.640 --> 0:32:46.400 pack everything up. Oh. Actually, I was devastated that night, 0:32:46.480 --> 0:32:50.000 and I remember I was talking to Abby one back 0:32:50.080 --> 0:32:59.480 actually and most epic US footballer goalscorer, and she told me, 0:33:00.240 --> 0:33:02.360 let's have a drink tonight. You can cry about it, 0:33:02.520 --> 0:33:04.200 you can be sad, but when you wake up tomorrow, 0:33:04.240 --> 0:33:07.520 you're going to the World Cup. And I remember that 0:33:07.720 --> 0:33:10.800 the words that got me through that whole rehab. And 0:33:11.440 --> 0:33:15.120 I didn't have time to think in that time that rehab, 0:33:15.360 --> 0:33:20.200 I had zero time to think. I had physio. Yeah, 0:33:20.680 --> 0:33:24.200 I had no time to even doubt anything. And during 0:33:24.240 --> 0:33:27.400 that time, it would be like wake up, go to 0:33:27.480 --> 0:33:33.280 the gym, You're doing mobility circuit and a workout, and 0:33:33.400 --> 0:33:36.360 then after that we're going to go outside and do 0:33:36.840 --> 0:33:41.400 running or whatever, or go on the recovery center. So 0:33:41.520 --> 0:33:45.440 that takes me to lunchtime, go get lunch, drive back 0:33:45.480 --> 0:33:48.280 home and then you're going to do a goalkeeping session 0:33:48.360 --> 0:33:51.280 where it's just just catching, just whatever it is to 0:33:51.400 --> 0:33:53.720 keep the mind ticking over. Then you're going to watch 0:33:53.760 --> 0:33:57.240 some footage of you playing, and then it's study bedtime, 0:33:57.920 --> 0:34:00.840 and then you're doing that for a whole nine months. 0:34:01.560 --> 0:34:03.560 And then at that time, we were actually going into 0:34:03.640 --> 0:34:07.000 camp from about five months out of the of the 0:34:07.040 --> 0:34:11.000 World Cup, like literally five days in weekends off, five 0:34:11.120 --> 0:34:14.800 days in weekends off, and they wanted me in and 0:34:15.120 --> 0:34:19.200 to continue that process. But now I'm around the team. Wow, 0:34:19.280 --> 0:34:24.640 And it was the way that everyone banded together during 0:34:24.719 --> 0:34:27.759 that moment really makes me grateful that that would have 0:34:27.840 --> 0:34:29.839 been a make or break for me in I think 0:34:29.880 --> 0:34:34.120 in my career of mentally and physically and injury wise. 0:34:34.960 --> 0:34:38.480 But the way that they kind of banded together for that, yeah, 0:34:38.960 --> 0:34:41.560 it really got me through. I think what could have 0:34:41.640 --> 0:34:42.600 been something awful. 0:34:43.520 --> 0:34:46.480 So yes, teamwork that ultimately got you got you your 0:34:46.600 --> 0:34:50.160 mindset straight to think, right, we're gonna have a drink 0:34:50.719 --> 0:34:52.799 after this, We're going to prepare for the World Cup. 0:34:53.280 --> 0:34:56.600 How did that preparation go and when? How what was 0:34:56.680 --> 0:34:59.839 it like getting the called up or you know, did 0:35:00.040 --> 0:35:03.680 departing for your first World Cup wasn't it. 0:35:03.880 --> 0:35:07.120 Yeah, it was that I got through the rehab fine. 0:35:07.160 --> 0:35:09.360 I got to eight and a half months, which they 0:35:09.480 --> 0:35:13.600 kind of like they're like nine months earliest, very earliest. 0:35:14.120 --> 0:35:15.640 And I got to eight and a half months, and 0:35:16.120 --> 0:35:18.359 coach said to me, in order for you to play 0:35:18.400 --> 0:35:23.600 your first game in these next like four weeks, I 0:35:23.719 --> 0:35:27.680 need you to play ten games for me to feel 0:35:27.719 --> 0:35:30.759 confident that I can play, ready, that you are ready 0:35:30.840 --> 0:35:31.000 to go. 0:35:31.320 --> 0:35:31.520 Yeah. 0:35:32.320 --> 0:35:35.800 And so that basically was go to camp, play midweek, 0:35:36.080 --> 0:35:39.000 go home play on the weekend. Go to camp play midweek, 0:35:39.080 --> 0:35:41.320 go home play on the weekend. And I had to 0:35:41.440 --> 0:35:43.560 do that. And that was the one part that I 0:35:43.760 --> 0:35:46.520 was if I doubted anything, that would have been the 0:35:46.640 --> 0:35:50.160 only part, just because I was like, this is my 0:35:50.280 --> 0:35:52.279 first games back. I don't know what's going to happen. 0:35:52.360 --> 0:35:54.600 I'm playing at home with a boys team, like I 0:35:54.719 --> 0:35:55.520 had to find a team. 0:35:55.719 --> 0:35:56.560 Yeah, of course. Yeah. 0:35:57.880 --> 0:35:59.480 And so I was playing with boys teams and then 0:36:00.080 --> 0:36:03.359 the week day I'd be playing with the girls at camp. 0:36:04.440 --> 0:36:09.640 So that was hectic. And then getting that phone call, 0:36:09.920 --> 0:36:13.000 like it was face to face just saying Okay, you're going, 0:36:13.440 --> 0:36:16.279 we got you. Wow, you're going. It's fine. 0:36:17.120 --> 0:36:21.239 All that hard work. Yeah, that dedication and commitment. How 0:36:21.280 --> 0:36:23.719 did that feel when you when you were sitting face 0:36:23.760 --> 0:36:26.640 to face and you've got that cool up let's call it. 0:36:26.920 --> 0:36:30.680 Yeah, it's just validation, just validation that I had people 0:36:30.760 --> 0:36:34.799 had my back and people believed in me and at 0:36:34.840 --> 0:36:38.759 that tournament. Different now, but that was what year was 0:36:38.800 --> 0:36:44.200 at twenty fifteen. Fifteen, we actually made history back becoming 0:36:44.239 --> 0:36:47.920 the first Australian nation to make it past knockout rounds. 0:36:48.320 --> 0:36:50.160 So we beat Brazil in the knockout rounds and then 0:36:50.200 --> 0:36:54.480 we're facing Japan who ultimately won that World Cup. But 0:36:55.080 --> 0:36:57.799 that was the first time men or women we made 0:36:57.920 --> 0:36:59.080 history of getting through that. 0:37:08.680 --> 0:37:12.359 How would you describe teamwork, you know, coming from such 0:37:12.440 --> 0:37:18.120 an elite sort of high performance team, what would you 0:37:18.200 --> 0:37:19.200 say that teamwork is? 0:37:21.160 --> 0:37:24.120 The teamwork is just like you have to make sure 0:37:24.160 --> 0:37:29.200 that what yourself you are selfish with what your job is, 0:37:29.840 --> 0:37:32.600 but the ultimate goal is what the team's job is. 0:37:33.440 --> 0:37:39.520 And if you don't have a peripheral then it just 0:37:39.600 --> 0:37:44.160 doesn't work. If you're just purely focused on yourself, then great, 0:37:44.200 --> 0:37:46.279 you did, you did your job, but guess what we lost, 0:37:46.480 --> 0:37:52.080 So it doesn't matter. So I think, yeah, teamwork is 0:37:52.239 --> 0:37:54.640 like selfishly peripheral vision. 0:37:55.719 --> 0:37:58.319 Do you thrive in a team? You know, how good 0:37:58.440 --> 0:38:00.200 is it? How good does it feel to be of 0:38:00.280 --> 0:38:02.960 a part of a high performance team where they get it? 0:38:03.160 --> 0:38:05.080 You know, when people just just get it, They're not 0:38:05.120 --> 0:38:06.839 just there for the sake of it, going in doing 0:38:06.840 --> 0:38:08.440 what they need to do and buggering off that. You know, 0:38:08.560 --> 0:38:12.080 it's the whole atmosphere, the whole sort of coming together, 0:38:12.200 --> 0:38:15.520 the bonding of a of a proper high performance team. 0:38:16.360 --> 0:38:18.680 It just it just feels like things click, Like you 0:38:18.719 --> 0:38:21.520 don't you don't feel like you have to wake up 0:38:21.560 --> 0:38:23.680 and be like, oh, here we go again, Like you're 0:38:23.719 --> 0:38:26.040 like it's a hard day, I'm going to get through it, 0:38:26.160 --> 0:38:28.239 and then I get a rest or whatever it is. 0:38:28.840 --> 0:38:31.759 And I remember an old coach of mine one of 0:38:31.800 --> 0:38:34.000 the best things he's ever said. He's coached men and women, 0:38:34.440 --> 0:38:41.240 and his observation was for men, for them to like perform, 0:38:41.480 --> 0:38:47.880 they need to perform to belong. But for women they 0:38:48.000 --> 0:38:51.000 need for them to thrive is they need to belong 0:38:51.280 --> 0:38:54.680 to then perform. And that was the one thing that 0:38:55.160 --> 0:38:57.000 through his object you could just kind of you kind 0:38:57.040 --> 0:39:00.239 of see how it works, like yeah, like I was 0:39:00.400 --> 0:39:03.720 like no, like, let's fit in, let's form this trust 0:39:03.840 --> 0:39:06.880 and whatever it is, and now we're all performing. Or 0:39:06.920 --> 0:39:09.919 I can tell you now you need to do better 0:39:10.640 --> 0:39:14.880 and you don't find that threatening or intimidating where minutes 0:39:15.040 --> 0:39:17.920 you know you have to do it. If you don't, 0:39:18.440 --> 0:39:19.399 well we can bugger off. 0:39:19.520 --> 0:39:22.680 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you did the twenty fifteen World Cup, 0:39:23.920 --> 0:39:24.680 how did you perform? 0:39:26.040 --> 0:39:30.000 Good? That's that was a defining moment. I think for 0:39:30.120 --> 0:39:35.440 me just within myself getting through what I did and 0:39:35.600 --> 0:39:38.880 then us achieving what we did as a team. I 0:39:39.040 --> 0:39:44.359 just felt an overwhelming sense of strength, I think, both 0:39:44.600 --> 0:39:45.959 on the pitch, off the pitch. 0:39:46.760 --> 0:39:48.600 Just carry it throughout your whole demeanor. 0:39:48.880 --> 0:39:55.040 Yeah, because after that, we had our CBA negotiations enduring 0:39:55.120 --> 0:40:00.360 the Collective Bargaining Agreement. So seven years, four years prior 0:40:00.520 --> 0:40:04.480 was the first time that we had contracts and now 0:40:05.120 --> 0:40:07.880 we were it was up. It goes for four year cycles. 0:40:08.360 --> 0:40:10.360 Now it was up during the World Cup and we 0:40:10.520 --> 0:40:15.560 were getting ready to renegotiate and they halted the renegotiate 0:40:15.680 --> 0:40:23.160 the renegotiations and basically we were on twenty thousand for 0:40:23.520 --> 0:40:27.280 that whole work with national team for what we're putting 0:40:27.320 --> 0:40:29.799 in like we were nine to five. Basically we were 0:40:29.840 --> 0:40:33.879 on not a lot of money, we were below minimum wage. Wow, 0:40:34.480 --> 0:40:36.520 we were like and it just was stopped, like there 0:40:36.600 --> 0:40:39.800 was no movement in your country represent and we just 0:40:39.880 --> 0:40:45.000 did the most amazing thing and there was nothing, nothing happening. 0:40:45.920 --> 0:40:49.200 And I remember out of that, we were scheduled to 0:40:49.239 --> 0:40:56.600 play the US, we were world champions, and we said no, 0:40:57.080 --> 0:41:00.000 we had a strike. It was when do we get 0:41:00.200 --> 0:41:02.480 a change here? Like do you want to invest in us? 0:41:02.560 --> 0:41:06.680 Because we really believe in ourselves. And that was definitely 0:41:06.719 --> 0:41:09.960 a team effort of everyone being like, no, collectively, we're 0:41:10.000 --> 0:41:14.880 gonna say no. And there was so many phone calls, 0:41:14.920 --> 0:41:17.480 there were so many conversations that we had just to 0:41:17.560 --> 0:41:21.120 make sure everyone was either on the same page or 0:41:21.280 --> 0:41:26.360 just understood the stance on majority. And yeah, we had 0:41:26.440 --> 0:41:29.120 we had to strike and you know, got basically what 0:41:29.800 --> 0:41:34.399 we wanted, which was improvement. And then you know, four 0:41:34.480 --> 0:41:39.200 years after that, we're equal parody with the men. So yeah, 0:41:39.239 --> 0:41:40.880 that twenty fifteen. 0:41:41.280 --> 0:41:46.440 Stand was a pivotable turning point, right wow. And then 0:41:46.880 --> 0:41:49.200 so for the next World Cup, which is obviously four years, 0:41:49.239 --> 0:41:51.520 it's four years and World Cups you want the same 0:41:52.280 --> 0:41:56.960 pay as men. Yeah, that's a huge moldstone car. How 0:41:57.040 --> 0:41:59.160 did that feel? Oh? 0:41:59.280 --> 0:42:02.000 I just felt like we got now belief in our federation. 0:42:02.360 --> 0:42:04.920 Like before it was like we had belief in ourselves 0:42:05.000 --> 0:42:06.880 and then now all of a sudden, it's like more 0:42:06.920 --> 0:42:08.239 people come on for the right and. 0:42:10.160 --> 0:42:12.479 And you feel valued, right, Yeah, you know you're putting 0:42:12.520 --> 0:42:14.880 the hours in. You know you want to feel valued, 0:42:14.920 --> 0:42:19.360 and it's just yeah, that feel good. That feel good feeding, 0:42:19.400 --> 0:42:19.640 isn't it. 0:42:19.800 --> 0:42:21.719 Yeah? And also like the hard yards that a lot 0:42:21.760 --> 0:42:24.800 of us did, it was like validation for that, but 0:42:24.920 --> 0:42:27.279 it was also a stance on like if you want 0:42:27.320 --> 0:42:29.600 to now be in the national team, you've got to 0:42:29.680 --> 0:42:33.239 understand like this is where we're at. If you want 0:42:33.320 --> 0:42:35.920 that money, you need to perform or if you want 0:42:35.960 --> 0:42:38.440 to be up here with the big dogs, like you've 0:42:38.480 --> 0:42:41.719 got to make sure that we continue performing and we 0:42:41.840 --> 0:42:47.360 continue fighting. So yeah, I think through that trying to 0:42:47.600 --> 0:42:51.400 see as like the money or is the reward for 0:42:51.480 --> 0:42:54.880 you to work hard? It's not you working hard, like 0:42:55.120 --> 0:42:57.239 you get that money to work hard, it's you will 0:42:57.280 --> 0:42:58.399 get that if you work hard. 0:42:58.840 --> 0:43:01.080 And when did the first major come knocking on your door? 0:43:01.200 --> 0:43:04.440 Because you played for some c I was just looking 0:43:04.480 --> 0:43:07.120 through and I'm like, wow, phg as, I'm an Arsenal 0:43:07.160 --> 0:43:10.960 fanily So when was your first major club? When did 0:43:11.000 --> 0:43:11.640 they come knocking? 0:43:12.120 --> 0:43:17.759 It was actually during COVID so Joe Montemoruro it was 0:43:17.880 --> 0:43:19.799 the coach and he went over there and I had 0:43:19.880 --> 0:43:24.480 him at Melbourne City and he just kind of was saying, look, 0:43:24.840 --> 0:43:26.960 we have an opening spot for a goalkeeper. Do you 0:43:27.000 --> 0:43:28.759 want to come over? And I was like, I loved 0:43:28.840 --> 0:43:32.040 working with him, and it was just at a point 0:43:32.080 --> 0:43:35.920 in my career where I knew that I probably couldn't 0:43:36.600 --> 0:43:43.160 do like full seasons or probably needed to be at 0:43:43.200 --> 0:43:46.920 a place where I was cared for physically, because I 0:43:47.080 --> 0:43:49.640 could kind of feel my body starts shifting into a 0:43:49.680 --> 0:43:53.120 point of like your reach and the end of that hill. 0:43:53.880 --> 0:43:57.560 You're at the top of that and let's see what's yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:43:57.719 --> 0:44:01.200 So I was like, you know, so for me, I 0:44:01.280 --> 0:44:03.480 was like, yeah, you know what, that actually sounds pretty good. 0:44:04.600 --> 0:44:07.960 So flew over to London and got to be a 0:44:08.120 --> 0:44:11.880 London colony and you know, play with the girls and 0:44:12.600 --> 0:44:17.680 experience what life was like at Arsenal, which yes, it's 0:44:17.719 --> 0:44:19.440 just a different world. England is a different world with 0:44:19.520 --> 0:44:21.439 football they live. 0:44:22.239 --> 0:44:24.839 Yeah, and how was that culture change? 0:44:25.560 --> 0:44:27.040 It was good, Like I really enjoyed it. It was 0:44:27.080 --> 0:44:31.200 definitely different because it still was COVID and everything that 0:44:31.480 --> 0:44:35.480 was happening in between of COVID was you know, crazy, 0:44:37.000 --> 0:44:40.319 but it was, Yeah, it was. It was a great time. 0:44:40.400 --> 0:44:43.840 Like I mean, the world stopped. Football didn't stop, sport 0:44:43.880 --> 0:44:47.279 didn't stop, and so to be a part of you know, 0:44:47.440 --> 0:44:49.880 making sure that you know, we still had income, we 0:44:50.000 --> 0:44:54.680 still were doing our job was really nice. And being 0:44:54.719 --> 0:44:58.000 at a place like Arsenal to provide that to the players, 0:44:58.680 --> 0:45:01.600 it just felt like the lifeline of you know what 0:45:01.800 --> 0:45:02.839 basically stopped the world? 0:45:04.080 --> 0:45:08.320 How cool is that Arsenal football player? Man, did you 0:45:08.400 --> 0:45:11.680 have a did it ever sink in to realize the 0:45:11.800 --> 0:45:14.960 magnitude of who you're playing for? And because I know 0:45:15.080 --> 0:45:18.080 you say, the UK it has it's a different beast 0:45:18.120 --> 0:45:21.120 when it comes to football. But to say that you played, 0:45:21.200 --> 0:45:24.000 you know, you're an Arsenal player, that's that's that's a 0:45:24.080 --> 0:45:25.600 pinch yourself moment. Yeah. 0:45:25.600 --> 0:45:28.320 I think when we when I started really watching EPL, 0:45:28.400 --> 0:45:30.560 like I've always watched it, but just it was just 0:45:30.800 --> 0:45:32.880 you know, it's on all the time, like Sky sports 0:45:32.920 --> 0:45:35.200 BB see, like it's just on all the time, and 0:45:35.239 --> 0:45:39.200 I'm like really immersed myself within that culture and went 0:45:39.280 --> 0:45:40.800 to like a few of the men's games and I 0:45:40.880 --> 0:45:43.000 was like, heck, yeah, this is cool, Like this is 0:45:44.320 --> 0:45:47.040 so interesting and so different to what I haven't been 0:45:47.200 --> 0:45:48.080 exposed to before. 0:45:48.719 --> 0:45:52.839 Wow. So you go from Arsenal then to PHG, Yeah, 0:45:53.880 --> 0:45:58.320 now they're the Giants. Yeah right now, how did you 0:45:58.560 --> 0:46:00.719 do you poach? How did that get come? Of course? 0:46:01.320 --> 0:46:03.319 So I was kind of in the middle of, I guess, 0:46:03.360 --> 0:46:05.719 figuring out what I wanted to do next, and then 0:46:05.840 --> 0:46:09.040 another again, another opportunity. It kind of feels like with me, 0:46:09.520 --> 0:46:14.400 opportunities that have come around have been within like a 0:46:14.520 --> 0:46:18.320 month of needing, needing to make an answer and a 0:46:18.400 --> 0:46:22.360 decision within that like everything that I planned out probably 0:46:22.480 --> 0:46:25.880 hasn't worked out, But anything that's been like you have 0:46:26.000 --> 0:46:29.040 two weeks are you going? Are you not? Has been 0:46:29.440 --> 0:46:35.319 Arsenal has been PSG has been Whatever's next? But yeah, 0:46:35.360 --> 0:46:37.160 it literally was I was trying to figure out what 0:46:37.239 --> 0:46:40.560 to do. I was still in England, like in the 0:46:40.600 --> 0:46:44.239 middle of like contract negotiations or you know, talking to 0:46:44.320 --> 0:46:48.600 other clubs, and then PSG came through to my agent 0:46:48.640 --> 0:46:51.120 and was like, we have an opening. Is it yes 0:46:51.200 --> 0:46:54.080 or no? We need to figure it out. And I 0:46:54.160 --> 0:46:55.799 was like, heck, yeah, I. 0:46:55.920 --> 0:46:56.239 Want to go. 0:46:57.880 --> 0:47:02.000 So yeah, up, I packed everything and off to France. 0:47:02.080 --> 0:47:05.680 I went, wow, are you starting to now pick up 0:47:05.719 --> 0:47:10.200 sponsorships and is you know, immersing yourself as this this 0:47:10.400 --> 0:47:11.400 professional footballer. 0:47:13.320 --> 0:47:16.800 I think it was more I knew that I didn't 0:47:16.960 --> 0:47:20.000 have that much time left, like how long is this 0:47:20.120 --> 0:47:26.480 fairytale gonna end? Or when does this this end? So 0:47:27.520 --> 0:47:30.520 I really kind of had to sit down and I 0:47:30.600 --> 0:47:33.120 think around, you know, during this time is when I 0:47:33.200 --> 0:47:36.080 started thinking about retirement, what that looks like, when does 0:47:36.160 --> 0:47:41.560 that happen? Where am I going to be? And for 0:47:41.680 --> 0:47:43.800 me it was I had kind of a year and 0:47:44.120 --> 0:47:48.239 a bit with Brighton, Oh sorry, with PHG and then 0:47:49.920 --> 0:47:51.480 I was like, you know what that's that's going to 0:47:51.520 --> 0:47:55.560 sound really good. And then we were leading into our 0:47:56.440 --> 0:48:00.279 World Cup preparation and everything and kind I had a 0:48:01.080 --> 0:48:05.000 three YEP and I had a conversation with my coaches 0:48:05.360 --> 0:48:07.440 with the national team and they were like, you know, 0:48:07.600 --> 0:48:11.520 you're not really playing that much at PSG, which training 0:48:11.600 --> 0:48:15.520 environment was awesome. I it basically didn't really need to 0:48:15.719 --> 0:48:17.920 to play all the time kind of I guess what 0:48:18.200 --> 0:48:21.799 was optics and what I needed to do in case 0:48:21.880 --> 0:48:23.239 I needed to play. I needed to be at a 0:48:23.280 --> 0:48:26.120 place where I had that opportunity. So I had to 0:48:26.160 --> 0:48:28.520 make a decision what I wanted to do, and I 0:48:28.800 --> 0:48:32.319 left PSG and went to Brighton, back to the UK. 0:48:32.560 --> 0:48:34.879 Back to the UK. I didn't say it too many 0:48:34.920 --> 0:48:37.360 bad places London and Brighton, so I was cheering. I 0:48:37.400 --> 0:48:38.640 went to the best places I could be. 0:48:40.040 --> 0:48:40.759 You certainly did. 0:48:41.239 --> 0:48:43.040 But yeah, that was at a point where I was 0:48:43.280 --> 0:48:47.120 starting to think about what's next. But at that time 0:48:47.239 --> 0:48:51.359 also it was you know, getting sponsors and leading into 0:48:51.480 --> 0:48:54.520 what the World Cup was, and it was like, you know, 0:48:54.640 --> 0:48:56.680 I'm going to try and put in as much as 0:48:56.760 --> 0:48:59.560 i can in my body and in my like I 0:48:59.640 --> 0:49:03.320 knew that it was my last tournament. Sure in twenty twenty, 0:49:04.160 --> 0:49:09.680 we had the opportunity for the bid, and when we 0:49:09.760 --> 0:49:12.360 got it, the bid, and we're like, oh, we're actually 0:49:12.440 --> 0:49:14.520 doing it. Like obviously the men tried to go for 0:49:14.640 --> 0:49:17.440 the bid and blew it out and didn't happen for 0:49:17.719 --> 0:49:20.239 the Men's World Cup, and so I was like, we 0:49:20.360 --> 0:49:23.360 actually have a good chance because two other teams bowed 0:49:23.400 --> 0:49:25.840 out and then it was us in Colombia and I 0:49:25.960 --> 0:49:28.239 was like, oh my god, we can actually win this thing. 0:49:29.000 --> 0:49:31.239 And then I remember sitting in this boardroom. We're all 0:49:31.400 --> 0:49:34.319 like social distancing in the chairs at three am. We've 0:49:34.360 --> 0:49:39.719 been campaigning and media calling like from seven pm. And 0:49:40.239 --> 0:49:43.840 I remember the President FIFA coming on and doing the 0:49:43.920 --> 0:49:48.240 announcement and obviously going the you know, the rights holders 0:49:48.280 --> 0:49:51.480 for the FIFA twenty twenty three Women's World Cup is 0:49:51.520 --> 0:49:54.440 Australia New Zealand, and we went berserk, I can imagine, 0:49:55.120 --> 0:49:58.560 But it was just because we've been to so many 0:49:58.600 --> 0:50:00.920 World Cups and all we want and it was Australia 0:50:01.040 --> 0:50:04.680 to feel what we felt and see what it's like 0:50:05.320 --> 0:50:08.959 in Europe in places where we've been, and really wrap 0:50:09.080 --> 0:50:13.400 up in that culture. And honestly, like I wouldn't have 0:50:14.040 --> 0:50:17.239 You couldn't have paid me enough money to Like, I 0:50:17.320 --> 0:50:20.040 would have not won anything if you would have told 0:50:20.080 --> 0:50:22.160 me that World Cup would have gone the way it has. 0:50:23.080 --> 0:50:26.719 And just the the vibe and support and people like 0:50:26.880 --> 0:50:29.759 falling in love with the team and enjoying football like 0:50:30.640 --> 0:50:34.040 it's just everything we dreamed of and kind of can't 0:50:34.040 --> 0:50:35.919 believe that it happened that World Cup. 0:50:37.480 --> 0:50:41.920 The viewing figures were the biggest of any sporting event 0:50:42.560 --> 0:50:48.040 in the history of Australia. That is huge. The turning 0:50:48.120 --> 0:50:50.840 point for that because all of a sudden you're on 0:50:50.840 --> 0:50:54.320 the global map. Now was it? Was it that obvious 0:50:54.440 --> 0:50:56.600 for us? It was because all of a sudden, we're 0:50:56.600 --> 0:50:59.440 seeing it. We're seeing the matildas everywhere, We're seeing Australia everywhere. 0:50:59.520 --> 0:51:02.160 You know, it's it's in your face? Was it obvious 0:51:02.400 --> 0:51:03.960 for you guys on the other end? 0:51:04.400 --> 0:51:06.880 I think it grew as the tournament went on. The 0:51:07.080 --> 0:51:09.719 first game against Ireland, when Steph took up to take 0:51:09.760 --> 0:51:14.440 the penalty, started obviously with Irish fans. I mean, you 0:51:14.520 --> 0:51:17.040 know how Irish fans are. They're cheering the whole game, 0:51:17.080 --> 0:51:19.759 and I think people in the stands are watching us, 0:51:19.800 --> 0:51:23.759 they're like, oh, like okay, they're cheering, like do we 0:51:23.840 --> 0:51:25.480 need to cheer back? And then all of a sudden 0:51:25.520 --> 0:51:29.600 they started to understand, you know, how it looks like 0:51:29.800 --> 0:51:32.200 and how it works, and you know, and then Steph 0:51:32.280 --> 0:51:35.239 scores and then this huge eruption. It was like, wow, 0:51:35.320 --> 0:51:38.120 that's cool. And then as it progressed, it got to 0:51:39.520 --> 0:51:42.279 you know, us versus Canada and I must win game 0:51:42.600 --> 0:51:47.040 in Melbourne and then obviously the bat Stadium people were 0:51:47.120 --> 0:51:48.800 just cheering the whole time and it was like this 0:51:48.960 --> 0:51:51.799 is a cool vibe. And then we won that game, 0:51:52.400 --> 0:51:54.600 and then it kind of like people started to understand 0:51:55.840 --> 0:51:59.080 what it's like and how like you could almost see 0:51:59.120 --> 0:52:00.920 like people starting to get more and more into it. 0:52:01.800 --> 0:52:05.920 And then by the time the the England game came up, 0:52:06.239 --> 0:52:11.359 and just hearing the crowd when Sam scored that goal, 0:52:12.200 --> 0:52:14.960 like it was deafening, and I think that was just 0:52:15.120 --> 0:52:19.640 like so life changing. Definitely the France game life changing. 0:52:20.200 --> 0:52:22.239 The France game was definitely I think when everyone was like, 0:52:22.320 --> 0:52:25.040 oh my god, like they believe in us, and then 0:52:25.080 --> 0:52:26.440 all of a sudden that when it got to that 0:52:26.880 --> 0:52:29.799 Sam scoring that goal, but then it was like can 0:52:29.840 --> 0:52:30.320 they win it? 0:52:30.560 --> 0:52:33.759 And then there was true belief in the campaign. And 0:52:33.960 --> 0:52:38.680 what was it like coming back as national heroes? It 0:52:38.800 --> 0:52:39.440 was phenomenal? 0:52:39.560 --> 0:52:43.800 Right, Yeah, I mean never like it's it's weird because 0:52:43.880 --> 0:52:46.600 we've all known each other since we were children. It 0:52:46.760 --> 0:52:49.120 was like teenagers, we've all grown up together, we've all 0:52:49.160 --> 0:52:52.080 known each other, so for us, it's like, oh yeah, 0:52:52.160 --> 0:52:55.000 like these guys are the same, like, you know, we're 0:52:55.800 --> 0:52:59.239 gonna catch up with each other when everyone's retired. We're 0:52:59.280 --> 0:53:03.080 gonna make sure there's time for our families to get together. 0:53:03.239 --> 0:53:05.840 And I think that's the beauty of the team is 0:53:05.960 --> 0:53:10.480 everyone already has this relationship with each other from the 0:53:10.560 --> 0:53:14.799 hardships and from the things that happened before the World Cup. 0:53:15.320 --> 0:53:19.680 That when after the World Cup and everyone's looking at us, 0:53:20.200 --> 0:53:22.960 we're like, oh, yeah, this is cool. But like we've 0:53:23.000 --> 0:53:26.000 always been like this, We've always you know, done this 0:53:26.120 --> 0:53:27.919 and worked hard. It's just now we have more eyes 0:53:28.000 --> 0:53:31.600 on us, and now we nearly meant it, We nearly 0:53:31.640 --> 0:53:34.520 made it. Like we're we actually really believed in ourselves 0:53:34.560 --> 0:53:35.560 and you guys believed in us. 0:53:36.160 --> 0:53:39.719 Well it's phenomenal, it's well deserved and it's about time. 0:53:40.320 --> 0:53:43.280 And a final question for you, Lydia, what is next 0:53:43.840 --> 0:53:47.399 for you? Where are you going? What you're doing? And yeah, 0:53:47.480 --> 0:53:50.000 where's where do you see yourself now? 0:53:52.480 --> 0:53:55.480 Well, I'm definitely home, permanently home now in Australia, which 0:53:55.600 --> 0:53:57.960 you feel good, Yeah, it does. I'm still trying to 0:53:57.960 --> 0:54:00.719 figure out how winter works, haven't We've done that for 0:54:00.760 --> 0:54:06.160 a while. But no, I'm home now, I'm doing a 0:54:06.200 --> 0:54:09.800 little bit of speaking and joining the speaker's circuit and 0:54:09.840 --> 0:54:11.880 all that kind of stuff. But I do want to 0:54:11.920 --> 0:54:14.360 give back as much as possible, whether that's First Nations 0:54:14.480 --> 0:54:17.560 or football or you know, just empowerment. So that's kind 0:54:17.600 --> 0:54:19.680 of my big passion empowerment. 0:54:20.320 --> 0:54:23.600 Wow, brilliant, Well listen. All the power to you, Lydia. 0:54:23.920 --> 0:54:26.680 It's been great talking to you. Thank you ever so much. 0:54:26.800 --> 0:54:28.560 Keep inspiring. It's been a pleasure. 0:54:28.560 --> 0:54:29.239 Thank you, Thank you. 0:54:30.080 --> 0:54:34.319 Lydia. Williams is the author of Goal and Saved Our 0:54:34.400 --> 0:54:37.560 linked the details in the show notes. Thank you so 0:54:37.680 --> 0:54:41.240 much for joining me on Headgame. If you enjoyed this episode, 0:54:41.360 --> 0:54:44.160 make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss any of 0:54:44.200 --> 0:54:48.160 our incredible stories and leave me a review wherever you're listening. 0:54:49.160 --> 0:54:51.919 I'm Att Middleton. Catch you again next time.