Both teams have just walked out onto the pitch - sans Australia’s captain for tonight, Lydia Williams, who has just strutted out there solo and to rapturous applause from both teams and the crowd, which is still filing in. Looks like there’s going to be a nice little presentation here before we have the anthems. Get ready for some football very soon.
The NSW Blues will attend tonight’s game. The Matildas enjoyed a game-day stroll around the Sydney Olympic Park precinct on Monday, with a few trying to take a sneak peek through a fence as the Blues trained. Not only are both teams staying in the same hotel, but on the same floor.
Penrith co-captain Isaah Yeo said he had not met Mary Fowler, even though she had been dating his teammate Nathan Cleary. “They don’t get to see each other too much themselves, so I haven’t met her,′′ Yeo said. Both camps had hoped for a cross-promotion on Sunday, but as the Blues were pulling into the team hotel after spending the week in the Blue Mountains, the Matildas were across the road completing their captain’s run.
“Give me a blog post,” says Vince Rugari, who sits next to me in the press box at Accor Stadium. Well, Vince, I like the dapper jacket you are wearing tonight. I’m a bit envious as it’s a bit chilly.
If I look further afield than the small world that is the Australian football media bubble, the players are on the field warming up. The goalkeepers - including retiring great Lydia Willams - received a nice.
