Former defender hunting the Boot
MA Olympic striker Monika Anderson has completed a dramatic turnaround, one which has taken her from a Northern Fury defender to on the verge of back-to-back North Queensland Premier League Golden Boots.
And she credits one simple message from a long-time football coach for making her transition such a success.
“If you think you can shoot, shoot,” Anderson quoted.
“If you even catch a glimpse of the goal and you think there’s a one in however many chances you’ll get it in, take that opportunity.”
Anderson’s journey from one of Townsville’s best defenders to most lethal strikers over the past two years began while still in Rebels colours, and now she is two goals in this weekend’s grand final away from claiming consecutive Golden Boots.
Her 34 goals thus far has her just behind Warriors ace Elly Caspanello (36).
Despite such a long history playing in the backline, Anderson declared she could not see herself ever reverting to her old position, and that in turn fuelled her change to Mundingburra.
In a twist of fate, Anderson said she contemplated a move to Brothers — her forthcoming grand final rivals — at the start of the season. But a wealth of attacking options at the blue and whites’ disposal would have likely shifted her back to defence.
Not that Anderson has ever felt like a one woman wrecking crew, with the likes of Paula Malau-aduli and the injured Taylah Roncato causing headaches for rival outfits.
With such attacking prowess gathering momentum on the back of seven straight wins, Anderson said she had changed her game approach.
Even with her goal scoring record, now she has set about attracting defenders away from the faster players in the team, such as Malau-aduli.
As for her ever developing Golden Boot pursuit, she said it was all instinctive when the time was right – a message drilled into her by veteran mentor Charlie Melville.
“It kind of came out of nowhere to be honest. I’ve always known I can shoot, I know that and I’ve worked with coaches like Charlie Melville in oneon-one sessions for a year to practice because it was a new role,” Anderson said.
“I could definitely say I can’t see myself going back to the backline. I’m not the fastest of players, but we have very quick players on our team and we like to exploit them I guess.
“I would say the last couple of games my game plan is sort of to take myself out of the game. If they (the opposition defence) are stuck marking me, it gives the speed on our team more room.”
In recent campaigns Brothers have set the standard in the women’s competition, success and titles synonymous with their name regardless of who takes the field.
But as the only team to knock off the defending champions this year — a feat they achieved twice — Anderson said MA Olympic were even more confident ahead of the decider than prior to last week’s triumph over Warriors.
She said the team were sore and battered after the extratime thriller, but the knowledge no more than 120 minutes seperated them from glory had inspired them to battle on.
“Everybody has to show up on the day to beat Brothers. If there’s one person that is not ready to play or their mind isn’t really on it, that’s a weak point they can find.,” Anderson said. “If we win or lose, you want to say there was no more we could have given.”