TheWomensGame | Womens Football | W-League

Every team needs a great personality and in the Matildas there are plenty of those.  One such player is defender Servet Uzunlar.  The dichotomy of Uzunlar's personality is fascinating.  Fun, playful, self-deprecating off the pitch yet intense, focused and self-critical on it. 

Uzunlar (L) with teammate Teigan Allen | TWG

At the end of Season Four of the Westfield W-League, record number of Matildas and Australian players have departed to test their skills in international leagues from Europe to the USA. The migration of Australian players in nothing new but the numbers are close to unprecedented.

Managing players such as Kyah Simon, Tameka Butt, Michelle Heyman and Leena Khamis, Sydney player manager Bill Drossos has been in the thick of the action and we chatted to him about getting Australian players overseas.

Bill Drossos (far right) with client Kyah Simon | TWG

Australian rock band the Divinyls once sang about the fine line between pleasure and pain and in 2011 Westfield Matilda Elise Kellond-Knight has experienced both sides of that line. 

Riding high after a stellar year, including gaining the two top awards in Australian women’s football, earlier this month the FIFA All-star defender experienced the crushing lows when she suffered an ACL tear in Denmark. 

With surgery completed and firmly on the road to recovery, we spoke with an up beat Elise Kellond-Knight about her 2011 and the plans for her comeback in 2012.

The last time the Australian Women's National team qualified for the Olympic Games was back in 2004. Then Adrian Santrac was the coach, Cheryl Salisbury was captain and the likes of Joanne Peters, Dianne Alagich and Gill Foster were still taking the pitch.

Only five players of that squad have survived to 2011 and one of those is centre back Thea Slatyer.