Adelaide United’s Ninja A-League Women’s Head Coach, Adrian Stenta, spoke to the media ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s clash against Western Sydney Wanderers, providing updates on the squad’s injury status, the week that was, and their upcoming opponents.
Stenta on squad updates…
“No new injury updates. We’ll probably have a couple of changes to the squad and get a couple of players back, and maybe see a fresh face as well that we haven’t seen yet this year. The squad’s getting healthier, and more options for me to choose from, so we feel confident about the team we’ve picked to get the job done for this weekend.”
Stenta on the return of Lara Kirkby…
“Lara’s had some great experiences over the last few years at college. She’s been a key player, captained the side, and played a lot of minutes. She’s an Adelaide girl, so we love that. She was keen to come back, and we were keen to have her. She’s a really positive, bubbly person and a strong footballer, so we’re excited to have her back.”
Stenta on whether Lara Kirkby will feature…
“It’s probably just a little bit too early. She’s only done a couple of training sessions with us since being back, so we’ll give her time to settle in and look at how we could potentially use her moving forward.”
Stenta on last week’s match against Melbourne City…
“No one wants to concede inside the first 30 seconds, especially when you start with the ball! But I thought we responded well, and while we were a bit fortunate to get an equaliser, we managed to get a footing in the game. This week, we’ve focused on being more threatening in attack, as we didn’t create as many clear-cut chances as we’d like, and also tightening up defensively after conceding some preventable goals in recent games.”
Stenta on the positives from the Melbourne City match…
“There are always positives to take. I’m the kind of coach that believes you can learn from any game or result. We want to ensure that we’re always in a position to take three points, or at least something positive from each match. We just didn’t have enough of those moments against Melbourne City.”
Stenta on facing Western Sydney...
“It’ll be a tough game. They’ve hit a good vein of form, and their last two games have been really positive. They’ve tweaked how they’re playing and lining up a little, which seems to be suiting them. It’s a bit strange playing them twice in the first eight weeks when we haven’t played some other teams yet, but they’ll be a threatening side, and we’ll need to be at our best to get a result.”
Stenta on Erin Healy’s recovery…
“We got some good news with Erin—the injury isn’t as serious as it could have been. She’s been able to get back out on the park this week and join in some of our training sessions. If she gets through, she’ll be in contention for selection.”
Stenta on long-term injuries…
“There are only a couple of long-term injuries—Dylan and Izzy—but they’re inching closer to returning to full training. Dylan had a really positive milestone on Christmas Day, where she was able to get back on the pitch and start running again. The squad’s getting healthier each week, and I’ve got a plethora of options at my disposal, which is a bit of a headache for me, but it’s a really positive situation for the team.”
Stenta on Christmas Day training…
“We had a bit of fun but also worked hard. There was a good vibe around the group, and everyone is excited about getting back out there.”
