Marlee Francois

Well, I was born in Sydney. So I lived in Sydney for nine years until I was nine. And then I moved over to the UK. I done most of my growing up in London. Lucky you got a UK accent, not that Sydney shire. Apparently I got a bit of a hybrid. Sometimes it can come out. So I done most of my growing up in London. And then I moved over to somewhere called Bristol in England. So I was there for six years, I think.

So yeah, when I came here last January, so I've been here for a year and a half. Wow. And yeah, it's a whole different experience. 100%. A whole different experience, new people, different culture. Yeah. But it's been blessed.

But from a team perspective, I think we've done quite well, considering that always people say that your second season is the hardest. We had a lot of haters saying that, like, we kind of got lucky last year. Of course. Can they do it the next year? This and that. But I feel like we've kind of proved them wrong, shown that we're here to stay, kind of. We're not here just for our first season, kind of.

do sick have been just fall off but i think we're actually here to actually compete with teams week in week out and obviously you can see um that we're here in the finals absolutely putting in a shift week in week out come on now so yeah man we'll see what happens with the finals god willing we get the job done but yeah it's been a good season for the boys absolutely um i i asked uh i asked my soccer my football friend sorry soccer that's disgusting get that out of my way

Come on! That's what I want to hear! Come on! Come on! Nah, I think it'll be a big game. It's a big game. I think it'll work in our favour having the first game at home. So obviously last year we had the second game at home. Yes. There's a little bit more pressure, eh? Yeah, there's a bit more pressure. But also there's pros and cons to both. Absolutely. Because the second leg could go to extra time. Obviously, hopefully it won't.

But having like for that last game, we had the penalties in front of our home crowd. I think that makes a difference. But hopefully we can get the job done, not get the job done in the first leg, but get a good score in the first leg. Hopefully one or two up and then go away to Adelaide and yeah, finalise them and get the job done. Absolutely.

Yeah, exactly that. I think we kind of took last year as a learning curve. Obviously, our first year in the competition, getting to the semifinals was a big achievement. But I feel like sometimes, especially when it's your first season, you kind of need that...

What's the word? Like experience in finals football. Finals football is different to league football. 100%. For every sport, like it comes to crunch down. It's up to that game. And he even said this morning we had a meeting that we lost the semifinals in five minutes last year because we was up 1-0 in the first leg. And then five minutes in the second leg, we conceded two goals. And just like that, the finals football was done. So we now, obviously, all the players know that you need to lock in for finals football. Yeah.

Now we know for sure how quick things can change. So that's why hopefully if we get more than a one goal lead, you're a bit more comfortable. But finals football, anything can happen. What are you listening to before a game? Like locking, like...

I'm a bit different. Obviously, I'm a Christian. I'm a new Christian now. So I'm listening to gospel. I'm listening to gospel music. Bit of Kirk, bit of Freedham, bit of Lecrae. I'm trying to get in peace before going on the pitch. I used to be on the hype thing, like Lil Baby, Lil Durk. But now I'm like, I feel like a different type of energy now. When I'm at peace, I can play my best football and enjoy it more. Because sometimes when you're listening to that hard out music, then boom, red card. Yeah.