Above: Clare Polkinghorne in action against Iran. Image: Kris Goman for Impetus.
By Genevieve Henry (28/11/24)
A legend of the Matildas, Clare Polkinghorne is preparing for a “really special” final game in green and gold. The most-capped Australian will say her goodbyes to the professional game (at least as a player) in her home in Brisbane against tough rivals Brazil.
“It’s really special for me to be able to come back to Brisbane and play one last game in the city that I grew up in, in a stadium that means so much to me, and in front of my family and friends and all the people that have helped me along my journey who I wouldn’t be here without today. So (it’s) an opportunity for me to thank them for everything that they did in my career and yeah, just really special to be able to play one last game here at home.”
Looking ahead to the game tonight, Sermanni spoke of sending out his best lineup and the fitness of the group. Even with some of the European-based players having little preparation time, Sermanni and the players themselves are looking forward to a tough match. “They want to be out there and they want to be out there for 90 minutes, so we will be putting out our strongest team possible.”
“With the group that we’ve got in here, everybody, touch wood, at this stage is fit and healthy. Unfortunately, leading into the camp, I think we’ve had seven players, for a variety of reasons, that have been unavailable, so that’s been a little bit challenging. But other than that, everybody’s fit and healthy.”
“The reality is that if you feel you’re not in a place to turn up and play and be ready to play, whether that’s physically or mentally, it is important to make those decisions and for us as an organisation, it’s important to keep supporting those players and to make sure that they come back fit and healthy and ready to play, and hopefully have real long careers ahead of them.”
Polkinghorne said, “I think for me, the main thing is the team comes first. So whatever Tommy decides, that’s up to him. It’s just about being part of the night and enjoying it and celebrating the career that I’ve had.”
“I think a lot of my focus will probably be on the game itself. Obviously, it’s another opportunity to represent your country and playing a team like Brazil. So they’re always tough, challenging games for us and games that we look forward to.”
Sermanni joked, “Well, she’s not playing!”
The Matildas interim head coach heaped praise on Polkinghorne, saying, “it’s a very, very special night. You know, in elite sport it’s not often that a player or an athlete gets to sort of go out on their own terms in such special circumstances. But if there’s anybody that deserves it, it’s Polks…”
“We use the word legend very loosely these days, but I think it describes her. She’s been not just a stalwart within the team on the field and off the field. She’s been the absolute team player. I know from my times in charge that I’d play her anywhere and everywhere, and she just did it with aplomb, shall we say. It’s going to be a fantastic night and a great way to finish a fantastic career.”
With Polkinghorne only days ago announcing that she will not only be retiring from international, but club football as well, this could very well be her last series of games. “Yeah, I don’t think it’ll quite hit me until after. But yeah, I think the focus for me the next week or so is just to enjoy the last few games. I’m really excited about my next chapter.”
“Something I would love to pursue in the future is coaching and just staying in the game. Football’s given me so much in my life and I think it’s really important for me that I’m able to give back, and continue to help the game grow, and help the players grow, and hopefully pass on a little bit of my experience and knowledge to the next players coming forward.”
Sermanni commented, “I think she’s ready to go into that next stage and that red hair will probably turn my colour if she goes into coaching.”
With a remarkable and record-breaking 167 international caps, Polkinghorne will be departing the game as one of the best to ever do it. Polkinghorne has high confidence that her record will soon be overtaken. “I think it’s definitely going to be eclipsed and probably sooner than we think. I think there’s going to be a number of players that will play many more games than that and I think it’s just a testament to the growth of the game that we’re playing more international games. It’s going to be really exciting to see how this team continues to grow.”
An international career spanning an incredible 18 years, Polkinghorne has been there through it all in the development of women’s football. From a financial standpoint, as well as dozens of others, the game has had incredible growth, but it’s still not enough.
The defender commented, “there’s a lot of players that came before me that did a lot of hard work to get the conversations going, and throughout my career under the Matildas we have really pushed in that space. Hopefully, we can continue to grow so that players can be full-time professionals, both at club and international level and not have to worry about that side of things; they can put all their focus into football and being the best athletes they can be.”
But, as much as it’s grown, Polkinghorne won’t be set for life like a male player with a fraction of her influence would be. She laughed, commenting, “I’ll definitely need a job, for sure.” With the impact she and the Matildas have had over the past few years, hopefully that financial security is not far-off.
Sermanni praised Polkinghorne’s illustrious career, saying, “Eighteen years, which is enormous. If a player gets 10 years as a professional or 10 years in the national team, they’ve done extraordinarily well and Clare’s done almost double that, so it’s a phenomenal achievement.”
“For her to be able to continue to progress during that time, because as a player you can’t afford to stay still, you’ve got to keep progressing. I think that’s what Clare’s done, fantastically, and her ability to be as flexible as possible on and off the field, to be reliable, to know that what kind of performance you’re going to get out of her, and to be able to maintain that level of performance over the development of the women’s game, which has been quite significant, particularly in the last four or five years, is just a huge achievement.”
Polkinghorne commented on the full-circle nature of Sermanni’s reintroduction as the Matildas coach. “It’s amazing to have Tommy back. It’s where my career started, with Tommy in charge and so it’s really special that he’s here at the end as well. But I think he’s brought a lot back to this team…He allows the players to be creative and be themselves and that’s something we’ve really relished.”
“I think when I was at the start of my career I was lucky enough to come into the team, and there (were) a lot of successful players, probably Di Alagich was someone who I really looked up to, Cheryl Salisbury, Kate McShea, (Alicia) Ferguson. All these sort of players who have been really successful at the international level, and been in the game and in the Matildas for a while, so to have them sort of nurture me as a young player was something that I’m really thankful for, and to get the opportunity to play with them was something I’m really proud of.”
“Over the years I’ve played with a lot of amazing players that have really inspired me to be better, so it’s hard to name a few players, but it’s definitely been a highlight to be able to share the field with a lot of these great players that we produce in Australia.”
As stalwarts such as Polkinghorne and earlier, Lydia Williams, retire, Sermanni realises the importance of developing youth talent domestically.
“Kyra Cooney-Cross and Mary Fowler are two that have burst onto the scene of late, and so they’re probably the two that stand out and who have over recent times really become established players in the senior team. I think that’s something that we need to do a little bit better moving forward, is actually start to expose and to look at some of the younger local domestic players, and put them in an international environment and see which ones push through.”
Polkinghorne is confident, however, that she is not starting a trend of retirements. “Yeah, I think you sort of base yourself around a four-year cycle and the Asian Cup is the next major tournament so I think I’d be pretty confident in saying most of the team, if not all of them, would hang around for that. Not hang around, but that would be involved in that tournament and then, yeah, obviously from it’s the World Cup and Olympics so there’s a lot of exciting tournaments to prepare for and I know that there’s a lot of motivation within the group to continue to push towards the results that we want as a national team.”
Polkinghorne is leaving the Matildas at a great point in their timeline. “The team’s in a really good spot, we’ve got players playing in the best leagues around the world, playing in Champions League, and playing top level football week in and week out. I think that’s definitely something that we’re going to reap the rewards of as a national team…Really satisfied with stepping away at this point. They’re definitely in safe hands and I’m just really excited to see how the team continues to progress.”
Whether we see a famous Polks celebration tonight or not, it will surely be the best occasion to say goodbye to a legend.
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