"We don't like Melbourne Victory. They don't like us." - The ALW Melbourne Derby rides again
City's time in the ALW has been defined by success. But even at their height, none have proven more capable of consistently bloodying their nose than Victory. And on Saturday, hostilities resume.
Melbourne City’s early years in the W-League were defined by dominance, sweeping all before them on the way to four titles in five seasons. In their shadow, Melbourne Victory toiled, falling to the foot of the table and scraping to bloody the noses of their new foes amidst their efforts to rebuild. And while plenty has changed since then, with Saturday evening’s meeting of first against second reflecting the more modern face of the contest, it was in these early exchanges where Victory coach Jeff Hopkins believes the seeds for the A-League Women’s biggest rivalry were planted.
Since they entered the A-League Women in 2015-16, City has faced no opponent more than their crosstown foes – Saturday’s clash representing the 22nd meeting between the two belligerents across both the regular season and finals. And while it is the side in light blue that has the edge in the head-to-head, winning ten of those meetings, nobody has beaten them more in their decade of existence than Victory, either, whose eight wins are two clear of next-best Sydney FC.
Amidst back-to-back wooden spoon seasons, the second of which was Hopkins’ first year at the club, Victory’s first win over City in round 12 of the 2016-17 campaign almost threatened to derail their quest for back-to-back titles, goals to Natasha Dowie and Christine Nairn forcing them to win their last two games of the season to sneak into the finals in fourth. They did it again the following campaign as they finished seventh, goals from Melina Ayres and Christina Gibbons cancelling out Aivi Luik’s opener and forcing City to once again win on the final day of the season to ensure they would pip Canberra to the final playoff place.
In the years since, Victory have rebuilt themselves, won silverware, and won the only two finals meetings between the two sides – the second, a penalty shootout win in the 2022-23 semifinal arguably the greatest A-League Women's game of all time. But for Hopkins, it was the experiences of these early fixtures against Death Star City sides fielding the likes of Kim Little, Jess Fishlock, Steph Catley, Lisa De Vanna, Kyah Simon, Ashley Hatch, and Rebekah Stott – many of whom had once played for Victory before City’s entrance and significant early investment blew the league away – that not only forced Victory to lift their game but also set the tone of the rivalry.
“A derby is a derby, this is our derby,” said Hopkins. “Some of the games that have gone on in the past, especially since I've been here – we got our backsides kicked a few times by what was an absolutely amazing City side for two or three years.
“But within those games, we actually beat City quite a few times as well; backs against the wall, deep block, attack on that on the break, score with a set play. From those games came the mentality to do everything you can, that winning mentality in the derby was really important.
“The history of those games has been kind of fed through. We like to show a lot of the older games leading into the Derby so everyone understands what's what it's all about. Because it is still quite new; we have to stir the pot a little bit.”
Mariana Speckmaier’s 85th-minute strike securing City a 3-2 win when the two met in this season’s first derby back in November, both sides will enter Saturday’s re-match at Casey Fields knowing that the winner will take first place on the A-League Women table. Undefeated across their opening 13 games, Michael Matricciani’s side sits on 29 points entering the contest, their 27 goals scored in his first year at the club the equal second-best in the competition so far and 13 goals conceded the second most miserly. Victory enters on 27 points, their 24 goals scored equal third-best in the league and their 14 shipped the third-fewest in the league.
Of course, for City, this isn’t the first ‘Grand Final preview’ they’ve played this season. It’s not even the first they’ll have played in the last month. The last time they stared down an upstart second-placed challenger was all of three weeks ago, when they defeated Brisbane Roar 2-0 to cement their place atop the league and kickstart a run of three-straight defeats for the Queenslanders that has seen them slide down to fifth on the league table.
“If you'd asked me a few weeks ago [if this was the biggest game of the season], at that stage it was Brisbane – they were hot on our heels at that stage,” Matricciani said. “Victory had had an amazing season as well, along with us. And I think it's going to be a really good battle.
“You can see there's a different buzz within the group, that's for sure. Everything that we bring, like the level of preparation... nothing really changes in that sense. But you definitely get the aura of the importance of this match and this derby. And being a supporter of the league over the years, you know this rivalry.
“I'm just glad to be involved in it as the head coach now and lead this proud club. We won last time, and let's see. I think it's going to be a good spectacle either way.”
This season’s previous derby was highlighted by its bruising nature, Victory’s midfield pairing of Alex Chidiac and Alana Murphy coming in for close attention and soon-to-be-Matilda Laura Hughes running roughshod. “It’s been noted,” Hopkins remarked when this was raised, with the Victory coach succinctly remarking that it “Won't happen twice.”
As one might expect, given the way she plays with her heart on her sleeve, City attacker Holly McNamara, who scored in her first start since returning from an ACL injury in City’s win over Western Sydney last week, made no bones about the coming contest being likely to be physical, or why it would be so.
“Derbies are games we look forward to,” she said. “They're 100% physical. We don't like Melbourne Victory. They don't like us. It'll be a physical game, but, hopefully, we can come out on top.
“It's such a big game. You've got Western United now in the league, but facing Melbourne Victory is the original Melbourne Derby.
“We want to be the best team in Melbourne. We want to be the best team in Australia. And to do that, we have to beat Melbourne Victory, who are second. So I think that's what makes it so big.”
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