It didn’t take long for gun striker Remy Siemsen to find her feet once more in the National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s competition with the 20-year-old notching up four goals in the club’s first two matches for the newly rebooted season.

A brace in Manly’s opening 4-2 win against the Football NSW Institute and another two-goal haul against the Emerging Jets last weekend has really set the engines roaring for Siemsen.

“I’m really happy with the start of the NPL NSW Women’s season and to bag four goals in two games has been a great feeling.

“I am hoping to score plenty more goals this year and more importantly win as many matches as possible.

“My teammates have provided great service and we seem to be gelling really well which we hope will continue throughout the rebooted season.”

Siemsen has once again felt right at home at Cromer Park after returning back to her old stomping ground following another decent W-League campaign with Sydney FC.

“COVID unfortunately put the brakes on a few opportunities in Europe, so it was a no brainer to play back at my junior/senior club Manly United – the club has been so welcoming and it’s great to be back with a great group of teammates and staff.

“After a fun and rewarding W-League season, I’ve been working extremely hard and Manly has been so understanding regarding my drive and aspirations to go overseas in the near future and developing my game even further.

“I’m absolutely thrilled and happy to be back playing football and games again. I’ve been training full-time and I’m excited to be able to play games again with my teammates. You can see the excitement from coaches to players, creating a fun and happy environment.

“My goals and ambitions for this season is to contribute wholeheartedly to my team and hopefully win the league. I believe we have the squad to definitely achieve that goal.

“Personally, I just want to develop my game further and further each week and look forward to future opportunities here and abroad.”

North Turramurra Recreation Area will play host to a eagerly anticipated local derby as Manly United tackle the Northern Tigers this Sunday afternoon with kick-off set for 3:30pm.

The game, which will be shown live and exclusive only on NPL.TV, is set to be one tough encounter between two fierce opponents as both teams look towards taking out another three points for the season.

“Northern Tigers have always been a tough competitor and have some great players like Ellie Brush and Servet Uzunlar.

“We are really looking forward to a big match this Sunday and playing our natural game at North Turramurra where hopefully we’ll come away with the 3 points.”

Away from the game, the former NPL NSW Women’s Player of the Year winner has kept herself busy working casually at the local bowling club and has also assisted in various football clinics run by Sydney FC.

“I currently work casually at the local bowling club and help coach at a few Sydney FC clinics locally.

“I also study but I’m hoping to resume online University this coming semester.

“Training has become a full-time affair with plenty of travel to train with boys as well as with Manly United and technical sessions which has kept me very busy.”

Manly United attacker Claudia Cholakian couldn’t hide her excitement after hitting up the pitches at Cromer Park on Tuesday evening as the National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s side put out its first training session hit-out post COVID-19 restrictions.

“Training was amazing, it was so good to be back.

“I felt so fresh and fit surprisingly but I think it was just adrenaline from the excitement of being back playing with all the girls.

“It was a little different than usual as you’d expect with the club and players following the strict social distancing guidelines but we were all so happy to be at a place we missed very much.

“When I drove to training that night it felt like I never left such was my feeling for the game I love.”

Asked what she missed most during that layoff Cholakian replied.

“I’ve missed match days for sure!

“Sometimes when I’m sitting at home on a Sunday, I’d be thinking I’d be kicking off my game right about now and that would make me sad.

“It was even tougher for us to take at Manly when the league stopped because we had such an amazing start to the season and so did I on a personal level, but this is what’s made me more excited to get back into it knowing the girls are confident in continuing on with our good form.”

The 23-year-old was fortunate enough that during the full football lockdown, she kept herself occupied with work as well as training thanks to a well-coordinated Manly United fitness program that was put together for Claudia and her teammates on top of picking up some interesting hobbies.

“Not much changed for me during the proper COVID-19 break because I was still working full time.

“I have two jobs; one is in fashion retail which remained open during lockdown and the other is in sustainability in property development which I’ve been doing at home.

“The only big changes in my life were not being able to play football and not being able to hang out with my friends during that period.

“I guess because I was still so busy it really didn’t feel like there was a global pandemic going on.

“On the training front, Manly United provided us with a fitness program which involved 3-4 days of fitness work to do at the park so I was really grateful for that.

“Manly also gave us a GPS to wear so knowing they were tracking our work meant it stopped us from slacking off.

“On the new hobbies front, I didn’t have that much time to relax but when I did, I coloured in and painted a lot, I was doing all kinds of artistic stuff (laughs).

Claudia is of course the sister of Manly United’s NPL NSW Men’s talented star attacker Brendan – someone she looks up to in her footballing career and confidence in getting better and hitting her achievements and goals.

“I don’t want to sound biased but he’s actually so good and I really do believe he should’ve been playing in the A-League years ago.

“I always try to incorporate what Brendan does on the pitch in my games so that I can improve and hopefully make the W-League one day.”

2019 was a tough year for Manly United, despite major changes to the playing roster though, the fantastic youth set up at the club allowed for them to still be competitive throughout the season.

They didn’t qualify for finals football for the first time in four years but Chris Williams will look to set the record straight in 2020 with his girls.

Williams expects the new season to be the most competitive one ever and with clubs across the league recruiting well, he is aware there will be no easy games.

“We’ve heard along the grapevine that every club is strengthening.

“At Manly, we knew last year was going to be a transition season for us but now it’s time to take what we learnt from 2019 and get back to where we feel we belong as a club.

“I’m not putting any targets on the players I just want us to work hard and improve the way we play in every game and then if we can ensure our effort and performances are consistently high and improving every week –  I’m sure we’ll be at the right end of the table at the end of the season.”

Creating a style of play and culture within the club, right through to their girls SAP program, is a major part of what United is about.

“For many seasons the strength of the club has been the players’ togetherness and willingness to work hard for each other.

“That hasn’t changed in 2020 and the players know they have to work hard for each other at every moment, make life difficult for our opponents and then if we can get that right, we’ll play the style of football we believe is the ‘right way’ for us.”

The Northern Beaches side is looking more experienced and stronger than the last season following the recruitment, giving Williams a positive outlook for the upcoming campaign.

“I’m really happy with the work we’ve done in the off-season in keeping the bulk of our squad together, promoting from the Academy and we know we’ve not only secured some great players, but also some great people.”

Manly United travel to south-west Sydney for their opening game of the season when they take on Bankstown City at Jensen Park.

Major Signings: Tara Andrews, Libby Copus-Brown, Cassidy Davis, Naoko Wada

Major Departures: N/A

Up and Coming Star: Kahli Johnson

Player to Watch: Hannah Peric

By Nikola Pozder, NPL NSW Women’s 1 writer

It’s been an eventful couple of years for Ally Green, from overcoming injury and devoting her time to the football community, to taking out a W-League Championship title and being named Rebel Role Model of the year, Green’s contribution to the women’s game has been substantial.

Now, the Manly United stalwart is back in the National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s competition, ready to take on the challenge of being part of a new-look squad.

For several years, Manly United have enjoyed great success. In 2017 the squad took out the NPL NSW Women’s title and also found top four finishes in 2018, 2016 and 2015 but some significant shakeups have changed the game completely for the solid side.

“We’re going through a bit of a transition year this season,” Green said of her long-time team.

“For years we had a solid defence line of girls who had been with the club for a very long time. We lost every single one of them and to be honest, I think we went into the season a bit unprepared for how that would play out,” she explained.

“We were always that team that everyone wanted to beat and this season we’ve come back a much younger team, with our average age about 20.”

So far, the Manly side have played six games, resulting in one win, one draw and four losses, but Green says her side isn’t deterred this early in the season and find motivation in their new underdog persona.

“I think the key will be changing our mentality. We’ve been working as hard as ever both now and in pre-season, so we are not worried in that aspect, but we’ve had to embrace a new approach,” she explained.

“We’re the underdogs now. We need to fight and will continue to do that right until the end.”

At just 20 Green is now considered one of the more experienced players on the team, with her leadership skills shining both on and off the pitch, earning her the award of 2019 Rebel Role Model for both her service to the football community, her strength and her resilience.

After being signed for her first season of the W-League in 2017, Green suffered a severe ankle injury with the Young Matildas where she damaged four of her ligaments.

She was sidelined for eight weeks and two weeks after being given the green light to train with her new team, she injured her other ankle. The after effects of missing those essential first months of playing, ruled Green out of her entire debut season.

“After I came back from injury, due to having such a strong team it was hard to impress and that was really challenging mentally,” Green said.

“But in the end, it just made it all the more special this season, being able to start in the Grand Final and win the 2018/19 W League Championship, all that patience and hard work paid off.”

During her time away from the pitch, Green took on a role as Sydney FC’s Fan Engagement Coordinator. She was unable to play but still wanted to remain close to the game and involved in the club.

“During my injury in the 2017/18 W-League season and the 2018 off-season I got to the point of accepting I wasn’t going to play, but still wanted to be involved. I wanted to keep football at the forefront of my mind and contribute to the game on a different level,” she said.

“I would help run and attend charity and community events like holiday football clinics and school programs. I also ran a campaign to connect local clubs with a shuttle bus to get them to and from games.

“Being able to help behind the scenes and see how everything works from an administrative point of view was a great experience.”

It was these efforts that impressed the panel of judges who awarded Green Rebel Role Model, but the humble recipient said being able to give back to the game she loves, is the least she can do.

“These clubs give so much to us and so often we take it for granted. The women’s game is growing every year but clubs like Sydney FC and Manly United who provide us with so much, deserve that respect and that’s why it is so important for us to reach out and use our voices to help grow the game, especially at grassroots levels.

“If we can act as messengers to show these kids that their footballing dreams are just as achievable, that is the least we can do to give back.”

When asked if Manly United coach Chris Williams was surprised by Green’s award, he said the title was more than earned.

“I truly believe Ally deserves more recognition than what she gets, she’s the perfect role model for any player looking to breakthrough into the W-League.

“She’s worked so hard over the last few years to improve her game and on top of that, has shown dedication and patience during her time at Sydney FC, which was rewarded this year,” Williams said of Green’s achievements.

“I think her success over the past 12 months is evidence that staying humble, being patient and working hard are a great recipe for success.”

You can catch Ally and Manly United as they take on the Illawarra Stingrays at Cromer Park on Monday 22 April, 3:00pm.

-By Liana Buratti