City in Australia: Tour Diary – Part Two

City’s pre-season tour of Australia has come to an end after almost two weeks.

Gareth Taylor’s squad have now set off back to Manchester after two matches in the Perth International Cup, playing Leicester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

As well as those clashes at HBF Park, we’ve also been hard at work training for the upcoming 2024/25 campaign.

Having come within one game of lifting the 2023/24 Barclays Women’s Super League title, we’ll be looking to go one better when the new season begins at Arsenal later this month.

Away from the pitch, our players have been busy getting to know a little more about Australian life.

The first part of our diary followed the players from arrival in Perth through to the day before our opening match.

Now, the second part will look at what they’ve done since last Wednesday.

Wednesday 28 August

Matchday means a slow, relaxed morning.

A late breakfast and pre-match meal was followed by a coach to HBF Park.

Hordes of fans greeted the bus to the stadium gates, before they were allowed into the ground to collect flags that ensured the crowd was overwhelmingly sky blue.

After winning the shoot-out, the players enjoyed the moment with each other – namely running to new goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita to congratulate her on her role in the win.

Khiara Keating was one of the first to get to her, jumping on her fellow goalkeeper.

Meanwhile, Alanna Kennedy was saying hello to her family who were over from

Speaking after the game, both Gareth Taylor and Alex Greenwood noted the impact specifically of summer signings Yamashita, Aoba Fujino and Vivianne Miedema.

WATCH: Leicester City 0-0 City (3-4p): Extended highlights

Thursday 29 August

The players stayed at the hotel on Thursday morning, with a recovery session taking place in the gym to stretch out the muscles.

Our afternoon plans to see Western Australia’s famous quokkas had to be cancelled, with heavy winds and occasional downpours making a ferry trip over to Rottnest Island overly treacherous.

Friday 30 August

Friday saw a bright and early start, with the team gathering at the rooftop bar of our hotel for a squad photo.

Codie Thomas, one of four Academy prospects on the trip, turned 18 on the day and had a party hat on to mark the date.

Later that day at the team dinner, Thomas was presented with a cake by fellow Academy player Lily Murphy and sung ‘Happy Birthday’ to by all of the players.

Ayaka Yamashita had two party hats on, Vivianne Miedema was on cake cutting duty, while Sacha Lewis and Eve O’Carroll handed out slices to all of the team.

Between the morning photo and that cake, the players trained again before heading out of the hotel for two separate events.

First up was a fan event at Elizabeth Quay in Central Perth, organised by the tournament’s promoters. Even with all four teams in attendance, the only colour for as far as the eye could see was sky blue.

Mary Fowler, Alanna Kennedy, Chloe Kelly and Yui Hasegawa were the stars of the show, even amongst all the other famous names of PSG, West Ham and Leicester City.

On the other side of the city, the likes of Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, Lauren Hemp, Leila Ouahabi and Laura Blindkilde Brown were learning all about cricket from the Perth Scorchers.

Scorchers, based at the iconic WACA, are the city’s Big Bash League side and three of their players took Shaw, Ouahabi and Blindkilde Brown through the complex world of cricket lexicon as well as showing them how to bowl.

Saturday 31 August

Our final training session of the tour saw Gareth Taylor ask his players for full concentration when it came to tactical and technical setups. It was also, perhaps, the nicest weather we’d had in which to work – with blue skies and relatively low winds throughout.

With players of such a high standard across all positions, Taylor can set up his team in multiple ways – with plenty of patterns and passing lanes to play around any opposition in the world.

Pre-season is when the bulk of that foundation is laid for the busy campaign ahead and while the challenge of PSG on Sunday is an exciting one, there is plenty for Taylor and coach Chad Gribble to consider in the coming weeks too.

That wasn’t farewell to the Sam Kerr Football Centre however, with Mary Fowler and Lauren Hemp returning later in the afternoon to cast their eyes over a City Football Schools session for local children.

Again, Fowler had the kids starstruck, while the pair also supported the extension of City Football Schools throughout Australia – heading to Sydney and Canberra too.

On the other side of town, fans packed out the rooftop bar of The Court to see Laia Aleixandri, Alex Greenwood, Chloe Kelly and Poppy Pritchard.

An incredible afternoon proved just how global Manchester City now are.

For Greenwood, alongside coach Gareth Taylor, there were also pre-match media duties.

They spoke openly about what this trip has done for the squad ahead of the new season and were clear that while we will strive for a positive result against PSG, the final score is not the be all and end all at this stage.

After seeing the reception our players had received in recent days, the pair were both hopeful of a stadium full of City fans on Sunday.

Sunday 1 September

As well as a spot in the final of the Perth International Cup, Wednesday’s shoot-out victory earned the players a lie in.

With kick-off at 17:10 local time rather than 14:10, the day took on a similar pattern to Wednesday.

WATCH: City 0-1 PSG: Brief highlights

The players arrived at HBF Park while the third place play-off was still ongoing with Leicester eventually defeating West Ham 5-2.

Once that game was over, we were allowed to enter the pitch and warm up for a game that we dominated without ever finding the finish.

However, of the 15,091 in the crowd – the vast majority wore sky blue or had City flags in their hands.

After Perth’s finest sports teams were guests of City on Wednesday, we were joined by more sporting prowess this time around.

England Netball are in Australia for a three-match series with the host nation, starting later this month.

As a former netball player, City’s Managing Director Charlotte O’Neill invited the team along to our game.

Following the result, fan rushed to the front of each stand for a closer look at the players and request autographs, selfies and friendship bracelets.

Our players obliged, with Mary Fowler the last to head down the tunnel more than half an hour after the final whistle.

Monday 2 September

The end of a lengthy but highly productive tour for Gareth Taylor’s squad.

After a short recovery session in the morning, there was some chance to get one final glimpse of the city and some souvenirs from this city that has provided an incredible welcome.

And before the players set off for the airport, there was one final visitor for them to meet.

British High Commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell, popped by to thank City for coming to the country and playing our part in Australia’s ever-growing love of women’s football.

Keep an eye on our channels over the next few days for more on our tour of Australia!