Lisa De Vanna has returned to Australia for a third stint with Melbourne Victory and she has more than one goal in mind this season.
De Vanna spent the last campaign playing for Italian club Fiorentina and scored five goals from 14 appearances.
Now she is looking to pass on all her experience to the younger Victory generation.
“I am here to help the team win, build a successful team and help the youth.
I think that is important,” she said.
“We have some young players coming through who can fill the roles in the Matildas squad.
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It is not surprising to hear, especially considering the class of midfield duo Kyra Cooney-Cross and MelindaJ Barbieri, who are arguably the picks of Victory’s youth.
This is exactly why De Vanna thinks Victory can win the W-League this season.
“I think [we can], some of our players have been very good. We’ve got those two young midfielders [Cooney-Cross and Barbieri] who should be in the Matildas squad in the next few years”.
While she believes the Italian league might boast higher quality teams at the top echelon of the table, the Matildas legend believes the W-League is far more competitive.
“You’ve got your best four top teams and the rest are average,” she said.
“It’s only starting to become a professional league.
From an on-field perspective, many view the 36-year-old as a direct replacement for the dominant Natasha Dowie who departed the club for AC Milan in the off-season.
All this talk does not interest De Vanna though, as she is not looking to match Dowie’s output. The main tangible goal is to simply win games.
“Scoring goals and assists are part of my job, whether I do it or not, as long as the team wins that is all that matters”, said De Vanna.
Victory should feel very lucky to have the star attacker around, as she was not sure whether to continue playing, yet alone to consider any offers.
“I was at that stage, do I want to play, do I not? I was indecisive of what I wanted to do”.
Yet, the Victory coach Jeff Hopkins acted quicker than anyone else and managed to personally convince De Vanna to continue for another season.
“Jeff contacted me and asked if I wanted to play. I said why not, so that is why I’m here”.
Feature image credit: Rachel Bach
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