Tara Murray
The move to Melbourne has paid off for new Western United midfielder Emily Roach as she relishes another opportunity in the A-League women’s competition.
Having played seven games with Canberra and Newcastle, Roach missed out on a contract for last season.
Having graduated, she made the move to Melbourne and joined South Melbourne in the National Premier League women’s competition where she had a really strong season.
From there it led to a phone call from Western coach Kat Smith.
“Kat reached out and I come here,” she said. “I was hoping to get back into the A-League.
“It was something that I had been working towards and I’m happy at Western United.”
Roach, who grew up on the Sunshine Coast, said Melbourne had become her second home.
The love of sport and the level of soccer down here were two things that attracted her to make the move.
Roach said having been in A-League environments before had helped her transition into Western United.
She previously played with vice-captain Grace Maher which had also helped.
Roach said the environment at Western United was different from anything she had experienced before.
“I’ve been getting to know the girls and get back into intensive training, it’s a step up from the NPLW,” she said. “There’s a real sense of togetherness with the club and the support in the team has been amazing.
“You don’t get that at other clubs and there’s a lot of quality girls.“
Roach started in the opening game of the season, where Western beat Wellington Phoenix 4-2.
She said it was an unbelievable experience.
“It was unreal and it was very exciting,” she said. “That atmosphere was unreal.
“I’d heard a little bit about it through the girls but experiencing it was really cool.
“The facilities and field were unreal.”
Roach said that she had wanted to try and get a start early on and thought she had a good pre-season.
She said getting the start was one thing that she could tick off.
“It’s a long season and I just want to be available whenever.”
Like the rest of the group,there’s plenty of high expectations after two straight finals series.
Maher said they felt like they were trending in the right trajectory.
Personally, she has a couple that she would like to tick off.
“I would like to score soon,” she said. “I wanted to break into the team and get as many minutes as possible and grow as a player.”
Western is in action on Friday night in round two against the Central Coast Mariners.
Roach said she was expecting a tough challenge and that the Mariners came in with some good form after beating Sydney.
