After breezing through the qualifiers undefeated which ended in March, the Matildas have only played three exhibition games since then.

Touching down in Brazil in July, the majority of talk coming from the camps is how excited and ready they were to step onto the world stage.

Two months ago Co-captain Lisa De Vanna said the confidence felt real comparatively to past feelings, the veteran is the only player in the squad to have played in the last Olympics campaign in 2004.

Catley came into the scene in 2012 and made her first World Cup appearance last year. In between now and then she has surged to become one of the most recognised female athletes.  

The squad consists of nine players under the age of 23 including 16-year-old rising star Ellie Carpenter.

And as teammate De Vanna conceded a month ago, Catley reflected on past campaigns and felt the youngsters in the squad could produce what was needed under duress.

“I think we’re capable of big things, we’re at a stage where we have enough experience and enough youth that’s turned into experience,” Catley said.

“We can really perform on the big stage and start to get to those bigger games and get results out of them.

“Whereas in the past I think our youth has come into play and we haven’t performed well in the big games, but I think we’re definitely ready for that now.”

With the games being played so soon after the qualifiers the Orlando Pride defender believed they had an advantage because of it.

The squad managed to see the Arena Corinthians for the first time on Tuesday and the 22-year-old said she couldn’t wait to get onto the field.

“It’s been very quick since the Qualifiers, it was such a big moment for us to qualify and all of a sudden we’re here and a few days away from the game,” she said.

“It almost works well that this tournament is so soon after Qualifiers. We were in good form then and I feel like we’ve carried that over and we’re about to blow up here.”

Catley plays with two Canadian players at NWSL club Orlando Pride – Josee Belanger and Kaylyn Kyle.

Kyle however wasn’t selected, but Catley gave some insight on Belanger and the Canadians.

“A lot of her (Belanger’s) traits reflect what their team is like, they’re skilful and fast. I think it’s going to be a big challenge, they’ve got some great players and hopefully we can overcome them on the day,” Catley said.