Glory A-League Women’s Head Coach Stephen Peters has urged his players to be ready to do battle when they head to Cessnock for Saturday’s ALW 2026/27 season-opener against Newcastle Jets (kick-off at 12pm WST, watch live and FREE on 10.com.au)
The women in purple will be looking to make it back-to-back wins in the Hunter Valley after edging the Jets 3-2 at No.2 Sportsground in Round 16.
But while quietly confident of getting the season underway with a win, Peters believes his side will need to roll their sleeves up and leave everything out there at Hunter City Motor Group Stadium.
“We’ve got a very good record against Newcastle with me at the helm,” he said, “but we can’t take that for granted.
“I liked a lot of what Newcastle did last season and I thought they were unlucky at times.
“It’s a big trip… so we’ve got to be prepared for that and ready to fight for it.
“Every game in this league is a fight and we have to be ready for that.
“If we perform to the level we’re capable of, I believe we’ll be walking away with three points.
“If we don’t, if we get nervous and go into our shell, it’s anyone’s game.
“The points target is to win every game we play… it doesn’t matter where it is or who it’s against.
“Newcastle is a team we respect… and we’ve just got to focus on that.”
Failing to win any of their final four games ultimately cost Glory a place in the Finals last term and the Head Coach believes that the players will have learned from that experience.
“At the end of the day we got close last season and we got a taste for it,” he said.
“Unfortunately I think the pressure of expectation, we didn’t handle that too well and we started to believe our own hype a little bit.
“The goals were very hard to come by, so each win was a real graft for us.
“I can’t fault the effort, but ultimately we have to control the moments better.
“I’ve gone back and looked at those last four games in a lot of detail and if you actually dissect them, there are moments in all those games to win them and we found a way to either lose them or draw them.
“So we’ve got to turn that around and turn those moments into wins.”
Peters went on to praise a number of the new signings who have been added to a what is a largely settled squad.
“We’ve held onto the players that we wanted to hold onto and the strong performers for us want to stay, which is a great sign,” he said.
“But also there were key players who missed a lot of football last season and I think Georgia Cassidy is the one who springs to mind.
“The new recruits look very lively.
“I’ve been very impressed by Baxter [Thew].
“She’s come in with a real bee in her bonnet and really wants to impress, which has been great.
“Maggie Jenkins looks fantastic and the group in general is really, really strong, unified and happy.
“It’s a good combination and now we just need to be consistent and put it on the pitch, starting Saturday.”
Glory will make the long trip east off the back of a 4-2 win over the WA State Team in last weekend’s Challenge Cup clash and Peters was greatly encouraged by that performance at Kingsway Reserve.
“In terms of how you want the game to go and how it went, I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” he said.
“We got to express ourselves and play the football we want to play and also we had a couple of soft goals put in against us which is great for us to dissect and take into this week.
“We played the football we’ve been playing in training and scored four goals which was great considering we scored zero [in the corresponding fixture] last year.”
In terms of early team news for Glory, Jenkins is set to make her debut for the club after missing the State Team game while away on international duty with New Zealand, but skipper Izzy Dalton will unfortunately miss the trip due to a knee injury.
As for Saturday’s hosts, they have been boosted by the re-signing of experienced Matildas defender Tash Prior and the arrival of American goalkeeper Claire Henninger, but several key performers have departed in the form of Josie Wilson, India Breier.
The Jets also suffered a pre-season blow with forward Alexis Collins sadly suffering an ACL injury which will rule her out for the whole year.
Overall, the clubs have met on 30 occasions, with Glory having enjoyed 14 wins to the Jets’ seven and in the nine most recent of those clashes, the women in purple have been beaten only once.
Match Details
Ninja A-League 2026/27 Season Round 1
Newcastle Jets v Perth Glory
Hunter City Motor Group Stadium
Saturday 17 October 2026
Kick-off: 12pm WST (3pm Local Time)
#ONEGlory
ALW Match Preview: “Every game in the league is a fight and we have to be ready for that” – Peters
