Tuggeranong United midfield star, Sarah Daisley reached 100 Women’s National Premier League First Grade games on Friday night, as Tuggeranong shocked West Canberra Wanderers in the season opener at Melrose Synthetic.
A milestone game for Daisley was all the more memorable following a statement from Tuggeranong who scored two second half goals to claim a 2-1 victory. Daisley was a rock in midfield in a standoffish first half but participated in the build-up when Tuggeranong broke the deadlock through Sarah Matthews in the 54th minute.
Daisley has been with Tuggeranong since she was just 10 years old. Her story begins like many others in Canberra, testing herself in a variety of sports and following her older siblings’ lead into new ones. A testament to Tuggeranong’s family based approach to football, Daisley says playing with her sisters was one of the highlights of her career.
At a young age, Daisley didn’t think much of a football career but says her sister helped inspire her towards her 100th game. With Tuggeranong, Daisley took advantage of the many opportunities for young footballers in the ACT.
“I didn’t really think that much of it when I started playing soccer,” she reflected, “but I watched my older sister get to 100 games with this club and since then it’s been a goal of mine.”
“I feel like I’ve had a lot of good opportunities, I trained with Coerver (coaching) as a junior, until I was about 16, I travelled to Spain and London twice with them,” Daisley said. “Those types of experiences made me grow a lot in my game.”
The opportunities didn’t stop there. A special club to Daisley and home to over 440 MiniRoos (4–11-year-old footballers), Tuggeranong recently gave young players the chance to walk out with Sydney FC in the Liberty A-league. Tuggeranong president, Stan Mitchell admitted that opportunities like that are crucial.
“Kids need to have goals and understanding,” Mitchell said. “It allows them to see what the next step is and what they need to do to go the next step. That’s why we do so much work to get these kids the opportunities.”
Daisley revealed that she enjoyed the aggressive side of football from a young age, an attitude still prominent in her game today. After playing most of her younger career as a centre-back, Daisley has shuffled through midfield positions in most of her 100 games.
Tuggeranong Coach, Paulo Romero pushed her into defence towards the end of their opening game, a nostalgic memory of a position for Daisley, that she might be excited to re-explore.
“As a junior I played centre back up until I started playing in the Premier League,” Daisley said “Then I got pushed into the number ten role. And now my older sister doesn’t play anymore, I’m more of a six.”
“I haven’t played centre back for a while so it was fun to get back there.”
But Daisley is happy to contribute anywhere on the pitch, as Tuggeranong hope to continue these performances throughout the season and push for finals.
“The girls are all pushing for a top spot. That’s our goal this season. And Paulo (Romero) backs us 100 percent.”.
Tuggeranong look a team reborn, after winning the relegation battle last season. With top goal-scorer, Lauren Hall transferred to the Wanderers, Tuggeranong might’ve been expected to look toothless up front. But that wasn’t the case in their season opener, with goals and shots seemingly easy to come by.
After the Easter break, Tuggeranong’s next opponents are a newly promoted ANU WFC team, who lost their season opener. Daisley will continue with Tuggeranong into her next century of games, with hopes of finals motivating them on. You can follow Daisley and Tuggeranong’s season live on BarTV.com.
Words: Henry Ricketts