Alleway enjoyed back-to-back championships with crosstown rival Melbourne City and started in all 14 games she played last season.

However the 27-year-old only played two games for National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) side Orlando Pride this year and mutually parted ways with the club.

At the moment Matildas coach Alen Stajcic has a variety of defenders to choose from, including Alanna Kennedy and Clare Polkinghorne

She said the decision to leave City and return to Victory for her second spell was to get minutes under her belt to break back into Stajcic’s team.

“I’ve had a really tough year mentally, my confidence has been down and I haven’t been playing to my potential,” Alleway told FourFourTwo at the W-League launch.

“As a result of that I haven’t been starting for the Matildas or Orlando. A lot of things haven’t really been going my way and I think the next step for me is to build back on my confidence.

“Honestly I thought I was training really well (but) from the first game I didn’t get given a chance and the two players playing in centre-back at Orlando and the Matildas were doing really well.

“In football sometimes you have fantastic players ahead of you, you might be used to starting but you don’t really get a break.

“You’re left waiting for someone to have a bad game or an injury, once things are going the right way, coaches won’t change that so I found myself on the bench and couldn’t dig myself out of the hole.”

Alleway has not shut the door on going back to the NWSL, but is eyeing a return to Europe after a brief spell with Lincoln Ladies in 2012.

The centre-back said returning to Victory to play under coach Jeff Hopkins was a contributing factor after spending time with him previously as a 16-year-old at Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS).

She credited Hopkins for her first breakthrough to the Matildas seven years ago after he advised her to join Victory and ended up staying for two years before joining Brisbane Roar.

“The first two seasons of the W-League Jeff basically told me, given the strength they had at Brisbane, it was in my best interest to go elsewhere,” she said.

“I ended up loving it and improving my game so much at Victory.

“I had the most growth in my career. I know how much he backs me, he played as a centre-back and he’s a very good coach.

“I figured I needed to get under some good guidance with someone who is going to build my confidence and put a lot of leadership on me and let me know what I’m worth.”

And with all the talk about City raising the standards of the W-League, Alleway said that Victory’s mentality has also changed for the better.

“Victory are starting to actually get more serious about women’s football,” Alleway said.

“Jeff’s first words to me were ‘you don’t want to be starting from scratch every season’ and it was happening like that, they were getting into this cycle. You’d get halfway through the year and all of a sudden everyone would be in a mad panic to try and put a squad together.

“This way they’ve got a foundation base, a lot of players they’ve signed for two years. You can build on that rather than starting from scratch every year.

“Everyone in the office was so welcoming and I felt like I was at home when I stepped across the door.

“Now it’s been taken over by Victory (formerly under FFV) and they’re doing their best to make it equal.”