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“Exciting times coming up” – Garriock

November 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Heather Garriock

Sydney FC’s W League side rose to second place with a 4-1 win over Newcastle Jets at Adamstown Oval.

Capped 125 times by the Matildas, midfielder Heather Garriock is a crucial cog in the Sydney FC system and integral to Sky Blue ambitions of finishing atop the table come seasons end.

Garriock was very pleased by the win, especially after the defeat by Canberra United the week previous.

Drawing comparisons, Garriock said, “It was a completely different game. Canberra outplayed us in the first half, as did Newcastle last weekend. We’re definitely struggling with out first half performances.”

“But in both games, we’ve totally outplayed them in the second half. The biggest difference was that this week we finished our chances, whereas we didn’t against Canberra,” she added.

Garriock, along with Sarah Walsh, Thea Slatyer and Caitlin Foord, was on the scoresheet against Newcastle, but she says there is still plenty to come in terms of her own personal performance.

“I’ve had a slow start to the season. I was coming back from injury, which made things difficult. Every week can get better, I’m not playing my best football but I will hopefully be back at my peak soon”, she admitted.

Garriock has, however, been impressed by a number of her teammates. “Caitlin Foord is having a huge impact off the bench. Estelle Johnson was outstanding last week and our goalkeeper Allison Lipsher has really kept us in some games,” she commented.

The mood in the camp is positive, despite a mixed start to the season. Garriock credits this to the coaching of Alen Stajic.

“It’s been really positive, even if we’ve lost. Alen (Stajic) thought the match against Canberra had been our best so far, even though we went down,” she said.

“There are some exciting times coming up. Leena Khamis is back from Denmark today, Caitlin Foord will probably get a few starts in the coming weeks and Kyah Simon will also be back,” she added.

The W League side have the weekend off, with their next fixture against Adelaide United on November 26. Garriock said that it would be a good chance to refresh the bodies and minds of the squad.

“It’s nice to have a bit of a rest. It’s a chance to regroup and refocus and kick on for the rest of the season,” she said.

It is a season that promises much for the W League squad and the experienced Garriock is central to their hopes.

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Football still No.1 for Sarah Walsh

November 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Sarah Walsh

Sydney FC striker Sarah Walsh needs three diaries to keep up to speed with where she needs to be on any given day.

When she’s not scoring goals for the Sky Blues in the W-League, the 28-year-old can be found working at Football Federation Australia as an education officer.

And then there is a university bachelor of business degree (marketing) to juggle.

Throw in training, gym sessions, physio appointments and duties with the Matildas and Walsh could be forgiven for waking up each morning wondering what day it is.

“You have to get your time management skills in place…I still haven’t fully mastered it yet,” she said with a laugh.

“I am still rushing around here and there but I am lucky that all three are fairly flexible.”

“It keeps me busy and it’s tiring at times but so far it’s working out pretty well.”

Football remains the number one priority and, at the moment, Walsh concedes that could be going better.

Still getting over the disappointment of the Matildas failing to qualify for the London Olympics, Walsh is not convinced Sydney have started the W-League in top shape.

They drew 1-1 with defending champions and grand final nemesis Brisbane before bumping off Victory 2-1.

Not bad but Walsh wants to see an improvement in coming weeks, even if she acknowledges it’s not guaranteed given the lift in quality across all teams.

“Results wise we’re probably on track and where we thought we would be,” she said.

“But we’re not that happy with the way we’ve performed – we’ve under-performed, especially against Brisbane.”

“That might have something to do with the standard rising across the board.”

“That’s brilliant for the league but we want to be playing better.”

Walsh’s on-field commitments give way to off-field responsibilities a couple of days a week, with football still a sharp focus.

Alongside fellow Matilda Sally Shipard, Walsh helps implement FFA’s Alcohol and Illicit Drug Education program.

“We’ve trained up 40-50 A-league, W-league and Matildas players and sent them out with the presentations to deliver in the football community through secondary schools,” she explained.

“Sally and I are given different regions to work with and we co-ordinate all the programs so we are kept pretty busy but it’s very satisfying work.”

The word ‘busy’ is reoccurring in any conversation with Walsh but unfortunately that won’t be the case when the London Olympic flame is lit next year.

The Matildas have missed out on qualification for the second campaign running.

“It hurt last time and I’m sure it will hurt again not being there when it all starts,” Walsh confessed.

“There’s not much on the international horizon now until the Asian Cup (qualifiers next year).”

We’re sure Walsh will have no problem filling in what little extra time she has.

Via Football Australia.

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Women’s game needs longer season

October 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Sarah Walsh

MATILDAS star Sarah Walsh believes female footballers will eventually catch up to Lauren Jackson’s eye-popping wages – but not during her career.

Walsh, 28, pulls on the Sky Blues shirt for Sydney FC today in the W-League season-opener against champions Brisbane Roar at Leichhardt Oval.

Jackson made headlines this month, when the Canberra Capitals agreed to a $1 million three-year contract with the basketball superstar, but while Walsh hopes the deal has broken through a glass ceiling, she admits it’s going to take time for other female athletes to catch up.

The best W-League players will earn about $7000 a season, and a player like Walsh – who plays for the national team, a W-League team and in the US professional league – can accumulate an annual salary of about $90,000.

Asked whether the gap between those sorts of figures and Jackson’s salary can ever be bridged, Walsh replied: ”I think it can. It’s going to be long time coming, 10 years or even more.

”We’re progressing very slowly, but we are progressing… We’re so much further advanced than we were even five years ago … but at the moment we’re far off that [Jackson's] sort of money.”

Read more at the SMH.

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Sarah Walsh and Women’s Professional Soccer (USA)

August 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Matildas striker Sarah Walsh has spent this season playing football (soccer) for Sky Blue FC and St Louis Athletica in the USA.

Red the full interview over at The World Game.

Walsh will be returning at the end of the football season in the US to strap on her boots for the W-League which kicks off next month.

W-League draw

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Matildas Selected in WPS Draft – Soccer

September 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Sarah Walsh, Heather Garriock and Lisa De Vanna have all been selected in the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) 2009 international draft held in the U.S yesterday.

Each team in the U.S is allocated up to 5 international players as well as 3 players from the U.S. Women’s National Team.

This selection does not reflect and actually commitment on behalf of the players, rather it’s the beginning of negations of a contract.

You can read more about the U.S. draft over at the WPS blog.

The season in the U.S kicks off in April 2009 – well after the completion of the W-League here in Australia… so we won’t be missing out on seeing our Matildas in action on home soil.

Other international players seleced include Brazil’s Marta and Cristiane.

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