As 2024 ends, a new chapter awaits the Matidas in 2025... or at least it should.

The Matildas have written not just the final chapter in their 2024 journey in recent months but, in a way, an epilogue of the past four years. But as 2025 beckons, a fresh page beckons.

Football doesn’t really operate on the same kind of calendar as the rest of us. It’s an environment where the weekend is where the work happens, that measures the passage of time less in weeks and months than it does in games, seasons, tournaments, transfer windows, and international breaks and where the laws of time work in a way that means you’re old at 30 and ancient at 35.

Yet even in a setting such as this, the end of a year can provide something of a natural demarcation point. And as the Matildas brought their 2024 to a close with a thumping 6-0 win over Taiwan on Saturday, there was an undeniable feeling, alongside the positivity of the result, that this was a moment that should serve to close one chapter and usher in another that will feature a home Asian Cup in 2026 and a Women’s World Cup in 2027 at its core.

Symbolically, it would be tough to find a more apt moment to reflect this than Clare Polkinghorne’s 64th-minute substitution. As the defender made her way off the park, she brought to close an 18-year career in Green and Gold, exiting the Kardinia Park surface in game 169 having left an indelible mark on the sport in Australia and, without question, departing it in a far better state than she found it. Yet, as she departed, Winonah Heatley and Tash Prior remained on the pitch, watching on, while Jessika Nash waited on the sideline to take her place and Alana Cerne, Courtney Nevin, Clare Hunt, Ella Tonkin, Grace Maher, Kayla Morrison, and Naomi Chinnama would inevitably have been watching from home. A new generation of players ready to walk the road that Polkinghorne had paved.

On her way back to the dugout, Polkinghorne paused to hug Tom Sermanni, the side’s interim coach who, once upon a time, had given her a senior international debut back in 2006. “I just said, ‘Can you believe we were both here?’” Sarmanni smiled as he recalled the moment. “I mean, who would have thought, from 18 years ago, and then suddenly it’s back to that stage again.”

When Sermanni walked back into Matildas' camp to serve as its caretaker, tasked with guiding the side as Football Australia searched for a permanent replacement for Tony Gustavsson, he describes the atmosphere that greeted him as being akin to that of a funeral; the mental toll of the side’s group stage exit at the Paris Olympics hanging over them like a dark cloud. Not only was it a major tournament that hadn’t met expectations, it had also marked the end of a four-year journey under Gustavsson, where the group had reached the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics and a home Women’s World Cup, only to crash back to earth in France.

Given the age profile of the Matildas, the crossroads confronting the side and the decisions that needed to be made were obvious. And given that two nations who had already commenced the difficult process of rejuvenating their squads in the United States and Brazil took out gold and silver, the challenge of ensuring that Australia wasn’t left behind in the rapidly accelerating global scene – and what this may mean for some members of a squad that has been defined by continuity for over a decade – had only heightened.

“What's been a success for me is the response I've had from the players and the staff,” Sermanni said. “When I [joined] the team in Switzerland for the first couple of team meetings, I thought I was turning up at a funeral, if I'm being honest. And what I've seen now is that I think the team has come back to life again. There's a bit more noise and a bit more enthusiasm around the team. For me, that's really important, and hopefully that'll that'll continue.

“If I'm sitting down and reassessing at the end of the year, and if I'm looking towards the SheBelieves Cup, there's much more competition for those 23 spots in the squad than I think there was a few months ago.”

Running from February 20 to 26 next year, the SheBelieves Cup will see the Matildas face off with rising South American powers Colombia, Asia’s best side in Japan, and the might of host nation the United States; the kind of opposition you wouldn’t want to face while gripped in a mire of morale.

High-profile opposition is nothing new for this side, of course. Scheduling opponents of a high calibre was a matter of policy during the Gustavsson tenure and it was deemed such a success that Football Australia moved to adopt a similar philosophy when sourcing opposition for the Socceroos during their run of friendlies post-2022 FIFA World Cup. And the opportunity that such foes present a side looking ahead to the future is obvious. If this is a group entering a period of rejuvenation and renewal, then three games against three strong, diverse opponents represent a perfect opportunity to establish baselines and begin the process of testing those who seek to become protagonists in the years ahead in the cut and thrust of international football.

But before that, however, the focus will, and must, turn back to Football Australia. Because having a new, permanent coach of the squad in place for that tournament looms as a critical inflection point for the Matildas.

Chief executive James Johnson has often spoken about the luxury of time his organisation has in conducting their coaching search, given that their next competitive fixture technically isn’t until the Asian Cup begins in 2026. But remember, time works differently in football. And while 2026 sounds a long way away, the SheBelieves Cup will mark the first of six international windows before that tournament commences, covering 18 possible games.

In other words, there will just be six squads named between now and the Asian Cup kicks off in Sydney: six opportunities to put in place a plan to not only integrate players into the Matildas squad but to also give them the necessary minutes to establish themselves as viable contributors come the continental showpiece and, if necessary, rectify any mistakes or misevaluation of talent.

Because it's minutes, not just camps, that are vital in bringing through the next generation and determining their long-term viability.

Take Kyra Cooney-Cross, her establishment in the Matildas midfield considered one of the major success stories of the Gustvasson era, especially given it wasn’t forced upon the side by injuries and a lack of options elsewhere. The Victorian started four of the five Matildas friendlies after coming off the bench at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, six of the five friendlies she featured in 2022, and by the time 2023 arrived, she was a regular member of the starting side. It was time spent in the middle of the park, not just in and around the group in camp, that helped establish the midfielder in the XI. And the same will be true of future rising players that are brought through.

If a new coach is going to be tasked with both overseeing a changing of the guard and maintaining some baseline of success – certainly, becoming Asian Champions on home soil will be a goal – then it’s critical they are afforded the chance to maximise the time spent with the squad, determining who is in their plans and who isn’t — remember, rejuvenation doesn’t simply mean turfing out every player over a certain age and managing and leaning on veterans and leaders such as Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Katrina Gorry, and Steph Catley will also be an important part of the job — and how to build towards the future.

While 18 games sounds like plenty of time to achieve this before the Asian Cup, that these are spread across six windows reduces the margin for error. Gustavsson would often bemoan the lack of contact hours as being one of the key reasons he needed to maintain a level of continuity in his starting XIs, so it can’t be said that Football Australia isn’t aware of how crucial these windows are, either.

And given the Swede’s departure, coming as it did at the end of his contract, would have been forecast a long way off by the federation and was followed by Johnson stating his organisation had been actively monitoring coaching markets soon after their hunt for a new coach began, that it’s now been more than four months with little to challenge the notion there’s been scant movement on the coaching front is bordering on incredulity.

Admittedly, when accounting for the lack of an immediate deadline, it would also be very easy for the federation to leave Sermanni in situ for next February. The veteran coach loves the Matildas, the sense of happiness in his voice when he spoke about lifting the side’s morale not carrying the air of a boast but instead, someone who cared for the players and was grateful to be able to help them when they needed it. As happy as he is to move on, he’s also made it clear that he’ll be there for them whenever they need him. He’s a loyal servant and if he does end up being in the dugout next February, it won’t be because he’s been lobbying to do so.

Yet as we look ahead to 2025, the Matildas find themselves in a position wherein Football Australia needs to act with a level of clarity and purpose. If the tail end of 2024 was about Sermanni writing the epilogue of this side’s journey under Gustavsson, then the coming year needs to be about starting a new story. If it isn’t, it risks hampering the chances of a happy ending in the years ahead.

Header Image: Football Australia