“To be part of the Asia Cup, everyone wants to do that, but … I just can’t really put the pressure on myself and see it from that angle,” Freier said.
“The Tillies support my decision, but I think I knew it would always be a risk … I’m trying to use this whole experience as a positive one.
“Coming home and playing for the Roar, it’s putting me more in the right direction.”
Juggling two lives
As Freier prepared to return home, her twin sister Laini made a shock decision of her own. Despite earning her maiden Matildas cap, she announced her retirement to focus on other career ambitions and family life.
“Laini and I are super close so I know how she felt and was feeling for a while,” Sharn Freier said.
Twin sisters Sharn and Laini Freier with their mother.
“She had an unreal first professional football season, accomplished a lot in that short time, but I just knew it wasn’t really what she wanted.”
“The pressure of needing to be not full-time, but at training for as long as we need to be, and working a full-time gig … she’s happy with what she’s doing now.”
The average A-League Women’s salary sits around $30,000, and many players essentially juggle two careers – one that can include disruptions from injury – to keep up with the cost of living.
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Freier admits the stress can take a toll.
“The pressure is already there in terms of working, then you go and add an injury or can’t perform in your workplace, and it definitely adds some pressure and takes a toll for most players,” she said.
“I think playing in Australia, you really have to love the game. There are a lot of sacrifices.”
Holistic player protection is a paramount focus of the A-League’s new chief medical officer, Dr Sharon Stay.
She has sought to ensure every club has access to sideline video surveillance and daily data collection capabilities, to support the juggling act the game’s female athletes endure.
“We want every training session, we want gym-based sessions, we want rest day numbers,” Stay said.
“If someone’s got gastro on a Tuesday, the problem needs to go in our stats.
“These are lives of players we’re managing for 10 to 11 months of the year. There needs to be a little bit more education and key spending on initiatives addressing what the players are exposed to.”
Nurturing the next generation
Freier’s homecoming has come with a unique experience: being in the elder class of a Roar squad whose average age is 22.
Teenage strikers Daisy Brown and Grace Kuilamu have caught Freier’s eye, while Isabela Hoyos (17) and Ruby Cuthbert (18) loom as the future of the club’s defence.
With youth comes a challenge in player welfare, with Stay revealing A-League Women’s players experience approximately two to three times more ACL ruptures than men.
Stay believes the growing base of teenage prospects has contributed to these figures, with the peak risk of knee ruptures occurring between ages 14 and 17 for women.
“These girls often tend to be the really sporty girls at school, so they play multiple sports. It’s great for body and physical development and athleticism as a whole, but they are often pulled in many different directions,” she said.
Matildas star Mary Fowler was among the several Australian women’s players who ruptured her ACL this year.Credit: Getty Images
“These kids may not have had the specialised football development we sometimes see if you took a 20-year-old guy, who would have hundreds and thousands more hours of football-specific development.”
In calling for careful management of the demands these players faced, Stay admits it is a battle when seasons and careers are on the line.
“You can’t expect the same of a 15-year-old that you can from a 25-year-old,” she said.
“Seeding that message into club land is a challenge because I understand a coach … has a focus on what that squad must be achieving.
“Respect the fact that their body’s still growing and there are a lot of demands on them.”
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