Preparation vs Momentum -- City and Victory prepare for an unorthodox Derby experiment
It’s got to be one of the most unusual build-ups to a Melbourne Derby in its history. Multiple months into the season and one side is entering with literally twice as much football played as the other
It’s got to be one of the most unusual build-ups to a Melbourne Derby since the fixture’s birth. In the navy blue corner stands Melbourne Victory, top of the table after eight games and coming in off four nights’ rest after defeating the Newcastle Jets 3-1 last Friday. And then, across from them in the light blue corner, stands Melbourne City, sitting third bottom of the competition but only having played four times this season, with their last game coming nearly two weeks ago.
Yes, you read that right. Through a combination of City’s commitments in Asia, a last-minute rejig of the fixture following the ‘hibernation’ of Western United, some unfortunate postponements, and the layer of randomness that always tends to permeate A-League fixtures for both its men’s and women’s leagues, Victory will come into Tuesday’s game with literally twice the amount of league football under their belt – City’s latest reshuffle coming just last week when a wave of influenza hit Adelaide – too late to avoid a 1-0 defeat against Victory earlier that week – and forced the postponement of their clash last Thursday. It adds further load to the increasingly crushing fixture crunch that Michael Matricciani’s side, who are still active in the Women’s Asian Champions League and will therefore likely require further alterations to their calendar, will face at the end of the campaign.
But that’s a future problem for Matricciani’s unit. Right now, they’re probably just happy to actually be able to play a game of footy again, let alone arguably the A-League Women’s biggest fixture at AAMI Park. And there’s a more immediate conundrum to be confronted. Is it better to come into the game riding a wave of momentum, as Victory is? Or is it better to be well-rested and given ample time to prepare for what your opponent might throw at you, as City? Really, you can make a case for either scenario and, undoubtedly, could go out and find examples from around the world to support your hypothesis. And as one might expect, the views of Tuesday evening’s belligerents, at least publicly, are centred around their own build-up to the game.
“It is a little bit unusual,” Matricciani said. “We haven’t really been able to get into our rhythm of the season, that’s probably been the one thing, just the flow of league games. But it’s a big match, and what we have been able to do over the last eight or nine days is put a lot of loading in conditioning sessions. So we’ve worked the girls extremely hard, and we’re very prepared for this match.”
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Victory, for their part, does look like they’re maybe starting to find a bit of rhythm. Last Friday’s win over the Jets made it two wins on the bounce following their win over Adelaide the previous weekend, putting a defeat to Canberra that had left coach Jeff Hopkins almost incandescent with rage in the rear view mirror.
And whereas City, as Matricciani observed, does possess the requisite games in hand to vault straight to the top of the table if they win all of them, Victory does have the retort that, even accounting for the disparate number of games the two have played, they do possess the edge on points per game across the season’s opening months: registering an average of 1.88 points for each of their games – which is also good for top of the league – compared to City’s 1.75 points per game, which is equal third.
“We spoke about it last week and said a lot of [short turnarounds] depends on how you’re going,” said Hopkins. “We’re going very, very well. The team is moving forward in a lot of areas, and we’re looking forward to playing. We haven’t done a huge amount of training, a little bit of preparation tactically. We’re ticking over nicely.
“You know what you’re going to get from City. They’re a team that likes to keep possession, likes to build, likes to build from the back, and play through the thirds. But, again, they’ve also got the ability, with Holly [McNamara] up front, to go a little bit direct as well. So there’s always that threat there. They play in a way that we kind of understand. We’ve played them a lot over the years, and it’s going to be a cracking game.”
For Matricciani and his side, the build-up to this year’s Yuletide Derby has also been unusual in that, for the first time in the coach’s tenure, and the first time since March 2024, they’re coming into this game off the back of a league defeat: falling 2-1 to Canberra at McKellar Park ten days ago.
That defeat came off the heels of a 1-0 victory over Wellington that both Matricciani and his captain Rebekah Stott acknowledged they probably didn’t deserve to win – the Kiwi side rattling woodwork multiple times before Stott’s 86th-minute winner.
And while coach and skipper disagreed on the merits of their defeat at the hands of Canberra – the defender, a harsh critic, feeling they didn’t deserve anything from that game, either, while the gaffer felt they would have been worth a point – that there’s actual red in their ledger is indicative that the side are yet to find their footing this campaign and reach the levels that characterised the highs of their invincible campaign in 2024-25.
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Matricciani, nonetheless, feels that, compared to this same point last year, his side is well placed.
“In terms of last season compared to this season, last season, we started with two wins, two draws this year. We started with two wins, a draw and a loss,” he said. “So, I wouldn’t say our performances last year were that convincing early either. There are a couple of things we definitely need to improve on, but overall, I actually think in a tactical way, and how we break down deep blocks, and how we find free players and three or four certain contexts, I think we’re ahead of where we were last season.”
Bryleeh Henry still out with a back injury, the City gaffer confirmed that Shelby McMahon will also miss the clash with Victory after suffering what he described as “a little knock to the knee,” while midfielder Laura Hughes will miss four to six weeks after undergoing keyhole surgery to remove a piece of loose cartilage in her knee.
Victory, for their part, will be without Poppy O’Keefe after the youngster suffered a concussion while playing with the club’s NPLW Victoria side, but that, despite sporting a very impressive shiner earned in the win over the Jets, Nikki Flannery had avoided the same malady and was able to play. After recovering from illness, Sienna Saveska is also in line to make her first appearance on the season in navy, with Hopkins of the belief she can play up to 45 minutes if needed.
Fresh off netting her fourth goal of the campaign via a stunner in the Hunter, Rhianna Pollicina is also in line to play her first game against a City side she won two premierships with. And after keeping a close eye on her in the build-up, her coach hasn’t felt the need to gee up ‘Mini’ any further.
“I kind of sussed her out over the last few weeks; how much I can kind of stir the pot a little bit,” said Hopkins. “I don’t think I need to, at the moment. I think she’s got her own motivations around playing against City. And she’s also got some really good memories of the club, so I don’t want to jump in there and say too much that might go against kind of how she’s preparing for the game.
“She’s a professional. She knows how to get herself ready for the game, and I know she will perform, and she’ll perform really well, even if I don’t really know or understand her motivations.”