After making her Matildas debut, former Adelaide Crow Jenna McCormick has Olympic dream in her sights
Less than a month since deciding to focus solely on football - after playing in two AFLW premierships with the Adelaide Crows - newly-capped Matilda Jenna McCormick is dreaming of Tokyo 2020.
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Matildas debut, done. Next stop, Tokyo?
Jenna McCormick is daring to dream Olympics after her decision to quit Australian Rules paid off big time.
It was less than a month ago that the code-hopping South Australian defender, who’s spent three years juggling her W-League jersey with an Adelaide Crows guernsey, made the tough call to focus solely on football in the hope of breaking into the national team.
Skip forward to Saturday and McCormick was lost for words, having just played a “mind-blowing” 86 minutes on starting debut against Chile, alongside many Matildas faces she’d long watched on TV.
“The sacrifices that I’ve made to be where I am today... I’m just glad the choices I’ve made throughout my life have led me to this moment,” McCormick said.
“I was aware my AFL was getting in the way of potential opportunities. I didn’t know if I dropped it, it was a guarantee to come in. There were no guarantees. I had to take the risk ... and it’s paid off.
“I know this is the path I’m supposed to be on, and I’m just looking forward to hopefully being involved from now and however long into the future.”
If coach Ante Milicic’s ringing endorsement of the 25-year-old Melbourne Victory recruit’s “brave” and “dominant” display was anything to go by, that could mean a precious spot in his Olympic qualifying squad, especially given Australia’s shortage of central defensive depth.
Moments after Milicic declared “we might just have one there in Jenna”, McCormick was talking Tokyo 2020, eager to be a “sponge” soaking up everything there is to learn about international football.
“My short-term goal was right now, achieve this moment, so I’m really happy to tick that off,” she said.
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“Next one is to be at Tokyo. I want to be there so badly, but will probably have to have conversations if that happens about how I feel about that.
“It would obviously be amazing to go to an Olympics and represent your country there.
“That’s almost what everybody dreams of.”
McCormick, who won two AFLW premierships with the Crows, shared her debut with her family, who’ll be in the stands again at Coopers Stadium on Tuesday for the second friendly against Chile.
“The game in Adelaide is going to be another special moment for me and I’m hoping to be able to see some minutes there as well,” she said.
“To have the game in Adelaide, first one in 12, 13 years, is really great for not only girls like myself, Emma (Checker) and Sarah (Willacy) who are from Adelaide, but the Adelaide football community as well who I know from playing there for so many years.
“I know they’re really excited about having the girls come and play in their hometown and watching the show.”