My fisrt game for Australia was against Hong Kong and we won 8-1. I was only 17 when I made my debut and obviously there was a huge gap till my next cap. But I was still very proud and all the team were proud because it counted as our first senior cap.

It was around 2013 when I entered the Matildas squad as a fringe player and then I went away to the Asian Cup where we were runners up.

If I look at all my long term terms goals as a kid one thing I wanted to do was play for the Matildas and go to a World Cup and I did that when I went to 2015 World Cup in Canada.

Even though I didn’t get out on the field it was still amazing to be there and it was a fantastic experience. You are living and breathing what you love - football and you are seeing the best players in the world compete.

The recent inroads

The sleeping giant of women’s football is awakening and rightly so. The current Matilda team they have experience now and that is helping them get to the next level. The potential of this game not just in Australia but globally is huge.

With Sam Kerr we have the world’s best player – the sky is the limit for our country- we are seeing it all come together now. It’s a good start but we need to keep it going and I think it will.

My first goal in 10 years

The goal that I scored for Sydney FC last week is 10 years in the making and long overdue. I don’t really remember anything afterwards. I do remember  teh lead up, being in the middle of the pitch I combined with Cloe Logarzo, somehow the ball popped back out from her. It had a beautiful role on it and I had a dig and it went in top left corner. The rest that happened after that is history I don’t remember.

I’ve had some opportunities over the years I’ve hit some posts. I’m a defensive midfielder and it’s not the top of my priority list. Over the last year or so I’ve been getting a lot of stick from people asking me when I’m going to score. So, I got the monkey off the back so you never know maybe the flood gates will open now. 

As told to Con Stamocostas