Halfway between last year’s World Cup and the 2026 Asian Cup – the two home tournaments that will define this Matildas era – Thursday’s 3-1 defeat to Brazil in Brisbane was a feisty tussle between two football teams, and Australia’s past versus its future.
That was bound to happen on the return to the scene of the Matildas’ greatest triumph, just 15 months ago. Thursday was an invitation for reflection, a measuring of progress. And, as captain Steph Catley indicated afterwards, glimpsing back to the euphoria of that World Cup shootout victory over France remains alluring.
“It has been nice, we’ve been back in the same hotel that we stayed at, and obviously playing here, they’re some of the best memories of our lives,” she said. “As footballers, they were some of the biggest moments, and a lot of our favourite memories, so you can’t help but think about it. But yeah, football does move quickly.”
For Australia’s defenders on Thursday, it moved very quickly indeed. They found themselves in a 2-0 hole to the ferocious Brazilians – silver medallists in Paris – within 13 minutes.
To some observers, Australia’s pace of change isn’t quick enough. Since that famous victory over France in Brisbane the Matildas have mostly stuttered, underlined by their group stage Olympics exit. Ten of the 11 players who started on Thursday were veterans of both last year’s World Cup squad and the group who went to Paris.
Indeed, the whole of Thursday night was themed as a send-off for the most-capped Matilda, Clare Polkinghorne. This was an evening of historical indulgence, deserving as Polks may be.
Yet the one exception was significant – 23-year-old Winonah Heatley, who started for Australia for the first time, lined up in defensive midfield. Here was a young woman serving as a bridge not only between defensive and forward lines, but between ghosts of careers past and tournaments yet to come.
“I moved to Brisbane when I was 15, joined the Roar academy and Polks [Polkinghorne] was the one that I looked up to and idolised, and eventually I got to make my W-League debut next to her,” she said after the match.
The Cairns product had watched the France shootout in 2023 on the other side of the world, during pre-season for her club in Denmark, without any Australians by her side. Still, the moment’s impact was not lost on her. “My heart was just on the line the entire time, and when Courtnee [Vine] scored that final one – I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it – I was sobbing,” she said.
As a relatively new arrival to the Matildas setup, she sees no signs the team is satisfied with yesterday’s glories, however heavy. “Everybody understands the impact that they’ve had on Australia,” she said. “I think a lot of time that can get to people’s heads, but you watch this team, and I think they just want to give more.”
Interim coach Tom Sermanni – another caught in a time warp, in his third stint in charge – praised Heatley after the match, saying “she did ever so well”. About substitute Sharn Freier, another Queenslander starting to prove herself in international football, he was even more generous.
“She came on tonight, showed real promise with her pace and her ability to dribble – now, we didn’t know that,” he said. These next three friendly games against Brazil and Taiwan serve as a rare opportunity for fringe Matildas to solidify their place in the squad, and show Sermanni their worth. But he warned: “It’s a time in this cycle where you have to look at other potential players, but you also then have to have players that you feel are good enough to be looked at.”
Despite this underlying tension, the relationship between the Australian public and the team appears healthy. Football Australia called this crowd of 47,501 a sell-out, even though tickets were still available during the anthems and large swathes of so-called “stadium member” seats remained vacant throughout the match.
In the humid Brisbane evening, the supporters flickered from afar with the swaying of paper fans adorned with Polkinghorne’s face, trying to stay cool. And they displayed their passion and loyalty throughout the evening from when that same face first appeared on the big screen, remaining loud and engaged despite the home side’s uneven performance.
No victory was forthcoming, but they left with memories aplenty. An unusually unfriendly friendly, highlighted by a red card to Brazil’s Vitória Calhau. The goal of the night by a swivelling Caitlin Foord, made possible by a cunning leave from Emily Van Egmond and creative wing-play by Ellie Carpenter. There were the strong showings of up-and-comers Heatley, Freier and Daniela Galic. And of course there was the farewell for Polks, who was presented with a commemorative jersey by her childhood hero, rugby league player Darren Lockyer.
At the venue so rich in Matildas lore, captain Catley was disappointed with the team’s performance, and she is well aware the World Cup afterglow is fading: “I think you have to move forward,” she said. “Now, we’ve got an Asian Cup around the corner, which is going to be at home, and hopefully we can create some more wonderful memories there.”
