Olympic bringing the best out of Maxine Peak

After making the move to Sydney Olympic this season, Maxine Peak has been a shining light in her new colours in this year’s NPL Women’s NSW competition.

With 10 goals to her name, the striker is loving life since joining the Belmore Club.

“Sydney Olympic has brought back a lot of love for the game that I had which I think has contributed quite a bit to my season.”

After joining her younger sister Gabrielle at Sydney University in 2018, the two Peaks were eager to find a new challenge heading into 2024.

“My sister and I had spent a lot of time at Sydney Uni and we’re just looking for something new to branch out.”

The sisters have been long-time teammates and Maxine stated she loves getting to play alongside Gabrielle every week.

“This will be our sixth season together, I feel like at this point we’re kind of a package deal.

“We support each other a lot and it’s nice to have that person who is just 100% on your side.

“I think we’re each other’s biggest fans.”

Peak also joked about how combining football with family comes with its pros and cons.

“I mean we spend a lot of time in the car together. There’s plenty of debriefs and pre-game chats, there’s also lots of brutal honesty which I think is fun.

“It’s probably best that she’s in the back line and I’m in the front line though.”

With a dedicated career as a paramedic, Peak has in recent seasons had to sacrifice playing time due to her working on gamedays.

“This season I’ve been able to find a really good balance where I’ve been able to play consistently every Sunday, which I think has made a huge difference.”

The 27-year-old is grateful for the club’s support of her career and works closely with Olympic coach Geoff Abrahams to manage her work and training schedule.

“We just monitor my workload and I put in the effort where I can, then I always have to take a session or two off here or there.”

Sydney Olympic are part of a very tight race for the 2024 Premiership in the NPL Women’s NSW Competition, currently level on points with ladder leaders Illawarra Stingrays but just one behind in goal difference.

Peak believes that Olympic have a well-balanced team and if all goes according to plan, will secure one of the finals positions.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of great coaches in my career but Geoff is by far one of the best coaches I’ve had.

“He’s done really well to create a very positive environment that’s very competitive but also very fun which I think has brought out the best in a lot of us.

“I think we have a lot of players that have experience but we’ve also got a lot of young players so we’re getting a push and pull in both directions which I think works really, really well.”

However their ambitions don’t just stop at finals, with Peak quick to say that Olympic want to win it all.

If Maxine Peak continues her goal-scoring form, then Sydney Olympic are a team to keep an eye on in 2024.

-By Annabelle Banfield