Dowie has not featured in the Lionesses set-up since 2014 and became Victory’s all-time leading goal scorer in their 4-0 win over Adelaide United on Sunday.

The Victory boss said he spoke to former England manager Mark Sampson about calling Dowie back up to the national team.

Dowie, now the captain of Victory, scored nine goals last season as they finished last on the table and Hopkins said interim England coach Mo Marley should consider the 29-year-old.

“I was in touch with the England coach last year about her just to let them know how well she was doing here,” Hopkins said.

“The reply I got was ‘everyone is on the radar’, so they knew she was out here, playing and scoring goals.

“Never say never, the more goals she scores out there, the better she plays. You never know, it might happen.

“I think you put her at the top of any team, she’ll score goals. I guess the better the team you put her into, the more chances and more quality she’ll be and why not?”

The former Everton and Liverpool striker hinted she may call Australia home for a long time as she lauded the W-League for what it has done for her career.

“Confidence wise it’s huge for me, I’ve fallen in love with this country and the city and every time I come out here, it’s like I’m a new player,” Dowie said.

“I just feel so confident and the coaching staff and players believe in me out here. I enjoy playing here so much, that’s why I come back here and I’m planning to do that for as long as I possibly can.”

Dowie also said finals was still realistic, but admitted they needed to get the ball rolling soon.

Victory got off to a flying start in Round 1, however struggled to get a win until Sunday and now sit seventh on the table.

The Big V skipper said she was noticing how much hungrier the squad is compared to season 2016/17 with the signing of Laura Alleway and Casey Dumont.

Victory have a bye this weekend, but take on Newcastle Jets at home on December 29 in a double header.

“For us against Adelaide, it was literally our season is over or it’s going to kick start,” she said.

“It was a must win for us and this is where we needed to see who the big characters were in our team and I think it just shows how good we are as a team and how close we are.

“I don’t want to be disrespectful to the players who played last year, we fought hard every single week, but we brought some experienced players in this season.

“The internationals are really strong this year and we’ve got some interstate players as well. As a team we’d like to think we’re a solid unit and then we’ve got a few individual players this year that can really turn a game on its head.”