Head Coach Jeff Hopkins spoke to the media after Victory’s 0-0 draw with Melbourne City.
On the performance:
“I think below par for us.”
“I thought with the ball we were lacking something, whether it was confidence, I don’t know.”
“I think the other thing was that we were maybe on feet a little bit too long this week and we underestimated what last week’s game took out of the players, in terms of the extreme heat.”
“But really proud of the way the back four and the goalkeeper worked today. Kept us in the game.”
“In general, when the players seemed like they had empty tanks, they dug deep and found something to finish the game quite well.”
On the occasion of the Derby:
“Maybe a bit of an emotional high.”
“We need to tap into those emotions to get the girls just at the right level, but sometimes you go too far and you go flat.”
“We had a number of young players that will gain a lot out of today’s experience.”
On preparing for the upcoming significant fixtures:
“I think (we prepare) as we have done right the way through the last five or six weeks.”
“We’ve only been taking it a game at a time, not really been looking at the ladder.”
On Emma Checker:
“There’s something about Emma that everybody knows about [her], and that’s number one the type of person that she is, and the type of footballer she is…you will always get 100{d37f3b5c0f45ab6344599bea986db5dbb532ffb1a96783d731021207b3d302e4} buy-in from her in everything that she does.”
“She’s a super professional person. She’s here at six o’clock in the morning, first one here.”
“Everything that she can do, she will do.”
“I’ve tried to work with her before this year, but I’ve really enjoyed the time with her this year.”
“I want to wish her all the best for the next chapter of her life.”
