Melbourne City FC shot-stopper Lydia Williams has commended the Club’s approach to Women’s football ahead of City’s third straight Grand Final appearance.
Patrick Kisnorbo’s side will be looking to create history as the first club in the history of the competition to win three consecutive Westfield W-League Championships when they face Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.
City has been become a pioneer in football for providing equal opportunities for all its players and teams to succeed, which has seen the W-League team excel in recent years.
“Obviously the more the league matures, I think it comes down to the players and the calibre of how each club is run,” Williams said.
“I definitely think now that we’re getting into the [W-League’s] 10th season, City is still leading the forefront in that and it’s proven in the results – it’s our third straight Grand Final appearance, that’s a testament in itself,” she added.
“It’s a pretty crazy feeling [the prospect of going back-to-back-to-back], I don’t think any Women’s team in the world has really done it, apart from maybe one or two so to do it in Australia – where our league is still quite young – would be pretty amazing.”
Williams has praised the mental strength of her teammates as well as their ability to stick together as they go in search of their third straight Championship win.
“A lot of us are actually quite experienced playing with each other, on national team duty or in the league for a long time,” she said.
“I think in the second part of the season we really kind of showed that calibre and a lot of people probably wrote us off half way through.
“But you know credit to the girls, everyone stuck together and everyone is really encouraging of each other and we’re also hard when we need to be too,” she added.
“That’s just a testament to each and every one of us.”
City will be looking to make it three Grand Final wins on the trot when they face Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Sunday, kick-off 5:00pm (AEDT).
