This was published 7 years ago
Jess Fishlock could be back in hunt for threepeat with Melbourne City
By Michael Lynch
Melbourne City's history making captain-coach Jess Fishlock could yet return to try to lead the team to a third consecutive W-League title next season, although no new deal has yet been confirmed.
"It's not a done deal right now, but probably," she says when asked if she will be returning. "Coming back here next season is an option, for sure.
"We will sit down and see what it looks like. I have to weigh up right now what's best for me, the whys and whats of coming back here. There's an element of me that likes a new challenge in a different way and different environment.
"However, I still believe that from my coaching and developing future this club is absolutely where I want to be.
Jess Fishlock celebrates her grand final goal.Credit: Getty Images
"The City Football Group, Melbourne, Manchester, New York, but right now, out of the whole CFG, Melbourne is absolutely where I want to be, it's the right fit for me in terms of my coaching experience," the 30-year-old says.
On Sunday night Fishlock was holding aloft the W-League trophy after leading her team to an historis back-to-back championship in a 2-0 win over Perth Glory
On Wednesday she will be flying out to Europe to link up with her international team, Wales, to be a key part of the squad for the Cyprus Cup, an international tournament that kicks off on March 1.
"After that I go to Seattle for our pre-season before the season proper starts in the NWSL (National Womens Soccer League) in America.
Jess Fishlock, right, celebrates City's latest triumph with her teammates.Credit: Getty Images
"My main season is in Seattle, after that I have to figure out what is best for me. It's not solely about football. It's about the game, life and the future.
"I am now 30 ... it's not young in the footballing world. I think I could stay playing until I was 35 if I really wanted but I want to transition to coaching, but in the right way. I don't want to cut corners. It's not how I believe it should be done.
Fishlock doesn't want to cut any corners going into her coaching career.Credit: Getty Images
"I have to learn and develop and be mentored and just really put the work in to be the coach that I want to be, because that's what I did to be the player I wanted to be. There are no short cuts."
Fishlock has been a big advocate for women's sport throughout her career, and the Cardiff-born soccer star believes that the huge start made by the AFL Women's competition is good for all women's sport, not just footy.
Nor, she says, does it represent a big threat to soccer, as some are claiming, because football has something Australian Rules doesn't have – the chance to play for your country and follow your dream around the world.
"The pull of that, of being able to play what you love worldwide for me is a huge thing. But AFL Women's is really good for women's sport and if you are a girl growing up here and you have all these options to be a successful sportsperson then I think it's brilliant what they have done.
"From a soccer perspective if you want to play soccer you want to play it. If you love it you will play it ... If you are an athlete you are an athlete, but it's the love of the game – it's the whole reason why the W-League even exists.
"In season one there wasn't much money, exposure, media or anything, but the girls did it anyway. That's what it is, the love of the game.
"I do think in a good way the AFL might push the W-league and the FFA to make a few changes to ensure that the growth of the league is the No.1 priority and we don't rest on what we have managed to achieve to this point."