Glory ALW Head Coach Stephen Peters is backing his side to reward the Sam Kerr Football Centre faithful by ending their season in style with a win over Melbourne Victory on Good Friday (kick-off at 4pm, tickets available HERE).
Click HERE to watch his full pre-match media conference.
Last week’s away defeat at Brisbane Roar effectively ended Glory’s Finals hopes, leaving Roar, Central Coast Mariners and Victory in a three-horse race for fifth and sixth place.
But while their top six hopes may have evaporated, Peters believes the women in purple will still be fully fired up for their final game of the campaign.
“We haven’t beaten Melbourne Victory since I’ve been the coach,” he said, “so it would be nice to do that and also we’re very aware that we’re playing on Good Friday and we don’t want to have people coming out to support us on Good Friday and not give them a performance.
“So I think that’s something we need to take very seriously.
“They [the Members and fans] have been super.
“Sam Kerr is such a great venue for us and we’ve had great success there this season and last season, so we want to continue that and reward the people that come out and support us there.
“So if people are looking for something to do on Good Friday, they should come out and support us and we’ll try and give them some good entertainment.”
The Head Coach went on to reveal that the defeat against Brisbane has prompted a number of different reactions within the playing group.
“A lot of the downfalls in the game were self-inflicted which was fairly disappointing,” he said, “and that’s an area we need to address moving forward.
“I think there’s a mix of some people wanting answers as to why things have happened and how they’ve happened and then there’s another group of players that are opportunistic as well and can see an opportunity to play the last game of the season.
“So I think there’s a fairly healthy blend there.”
The Finals equation is quite simple for Friday’s opponents who must win and hope that Central Coast are unable to beat Sydney FC at polytec Stadium on Saturday.
A Mariners defeat or draw in that game, coupled with a Victory win, would see the latter clinch sixth spot and a Finals berth, but if they fail to beat Glory, the navy-and-whites’ season will be over regardless of how Central Coast fare.
Unsurprisingly, Peters is expecting Jeff Hopkins’ side to come out swinging.
“They’re a very good team with lots of very experienced players,” he said.
“It’s quite a shock they are where they are [in the table] and I think they’d be shocked more than anyone, so we’re expecting them to try and put that right and get themselves in the six.
“They’d obviously be well fired up; I don’t think Jeff pulls any punches there and we’ve got to be ready.
“In my opinion, [Rhianna] Pollicina is the best midfielder in the comp… obviously they’ve got dead-ball threats as well and they’re very robust at the back with [Claudia] Bunge and Kayla [Morrison] who are very difficult to get past.
“We’ve just got to be on our guard.”
Peters went on to provide an encouraging update on goalkeeper Teresa Morrissey who was forced to pull out of the Brisbane game after suffering a knee injury during the warm-up.
“Hopefully Teresa comes through ok this week,” he said.
“She’s had scans and there is some indifferent news there, but nothing catastrophic.
“In terms of players coming back, we almost have a clean bill of health at the moment, so we’re in a pretty good space.”
Victory, meanwhile, have struggled for consistency all season, but were unbeaten in four games prior to last week’s defeat at the hands of Sydney FC which severely dented their Finals hopes.
The bulk of their goals have been shared between teenager Kennedy White (8), who also leads the league for shots on target with 26 and the vastly-experienced Pollicina (7), while Holly Furphy has contributed five assists.
There’s also a strong former Glory flavour to the squad in the form of Courtney Newbon who has been an ever-present in goal and kept six clean sheets, plus Sofia Sakalis and Alana Jancevski who have both also featured in every game, with the latter delivering a competition-high 97 crosses.
Friday will mark the 32nd meeting between the two sides and Glory will be searching for a first home win in this fixture since March 2021.
Match Details
Ninja A-League 2025/26 Season Round 22
Perth Glory v Melbourne Victory
Sam Kerr Football Centre
Friday 3 April 2026
Kick-off: 4pm
#ONEGlory
ALW Match Preview: Glory out to finish with a flourish for the fans
