The Reds are embracing the challenge ahead of Saturday’s must-win Semi-Final Second Leg against Melbourne Victory in Melbourne. Despite trailing 3-1 on aggregate, Head Coach Adrian Stenta says belief within the group remains strong, with the Reds determined to keep their Finals run alive and create history by reaching a maiden Grand Final.
Stenta on squad availability:
“Tiarna [Karambasis] is out with concussion and Zoe [Tolland] is still out with a hamstring, but apart from those two, everyone’s available.”
Stenta on whether he’ll change the approach:
“We’d like to obviously defend our set pieces a little better and take our chances, but I thought it was a really competitive first match. We’ll back ourselves to continue to play the way we’ve wanted to all year, and hopefully that’s good enough to get us back into the game.”
Stenta on the team’s mentality heading into the second leg:
“My message was just to believe anything’s possible. I know everything’s against us — we haven’t beaten them this year, we’re a couple of goals down, and our record in Melbourne is poor — but I’m not sure many people tipped us to still be in it at this point. This group has been amazing. They deserve the chance to go out and perform strongly on Saturday.”
Stenta on the importance of staying true to their style:
“In every game against Victory this year, we’ve had our moments. We’ve just decided to go for the win, rather than sit back and settle. That’s the way we want to play football, and that mindset bodes well for what we need to do this week.”
Stenta on defending set pieces better:
“We just need to execute. We’ve scored maybe 15 goals from dead balls this year, so we know we can pinch one or two back. Victory are a real threat from set pieces and we’re a little undersized compared to them, but it’s about doing our jobs and being smarter defensively in those moments.”
