Sam Kerr on track for Matildas return, but will it be as captain?

Sam Kerr is on track to make her Matildas return as soon as April - but the curly question of whether she is still fit to wear the captain’s armband, after the revelations from her trial for “racially aggravated abuse”, won’t be answered by the team’s current coach.

Not for the moment, at least.

“That’s a good question,” said interim Matildas coach Sermanni on Tuesday, when asked if it was still appropriate for Kerr to remain skipper after footage of her arrest in January 2023 became public.

“Honestly, I don’t know the complete answer to that … I hadn’t even thought of that scenario at this stage.

“With the court case that’s going on at the moment, it would be unwise of me to comment on that ... I think it’s a case of waiting to see what happens and then move on from there.

“From a football perspective, my main aim as the head coach is hopefully to have Sam fit and healthy in as quick a time as possible. I saw some video of her last week, and she’s running pretty strongly.”

Sam Kerr outside court on Monday in London.Credit: Getty Images

Kerr is yet to return to action for Chelsea in the Women’s Super League, having spent the last year recovering from an ACL injury. By the time she does, there should be clarity over what sort of punishment, if any, the 31-year-old will face for her run-in with police officer Stephen Lovell the morning after scoring a hat-trick in the FA Cup more than two years ago.

Sermanni said he had been in contact with Kerr, but mainly about football, her fitness and the baby she and partner Kristie Mewis are expecting later this year.

“She’s still injured. She’s not ready to play again yet,” said Sermanni, the coach who handed Kerr her international debut as a 15-year-old in 2009.

“As I say, I had some video of her last week ... her physio was over at Chelsea last week, and got some video of her doing some fairly strong running. So she’s in the process of coming back, but I would still suggest ... it will probably be sometime in March before she’s back on the field.”

Tom Sermanni at Tuesday’s squad announcement.Credit: Getty Images

There is an international window between March 31 and April 8, and Football Australia has scheduled announcements for Wednesday in Sydney and Newcastle which are expected to confirm the Matildas will be playing friendlies in those cities.

That is the earliest Kerr could be expected to pull on the green and gold; before then, the Matildas, FA and perhaps Sermanni will have dealt with the public damage her actions will have caused to the team’s reputation, and decided whether she will pay the price for that via the captaincy.

Asked if he was surprised by Kerr’s actions in the video shown in court on Monday (UK time), where she calls PC Lovell “stupid and white” after a dispute with a taxi driver saw her and Mewis taken to a police station in London, Sermanni said: “I only saw this stuff this morning ... it’s hard to comment on those things because you’re not there, and you’re not in that situation.”

Sermanni will first take charge of the Matildas at the SheBelieves Cup, to be held later this month in the United States, for which he named a strong 23-player squad on Tuesday. Australia will face Japan, the USA and Colombia in the invitational tournament, which Sermanni said the team was aiming to win, as opposed to using the fixtures to try out new players and continue the Matildas’ regeneration.

MATILDAS SQUAD FOR SHEBELIEVES CUP

GOALKEEPERS: Mackenzie Arnold (Portland Thorns), Chloe Lincoln (Western United), Teagan Micah (Liverpool)

DEFENDERS: Ellie Carpenter (Olympique Lyon), Steph Catley (Arsenal), Charlotte Grant (Tottenham Hotspur), Winonah Heatley (FC Nordsjælland), Clare Hunt (Tottenham Hotspur), Alanna Kennedy (Angel City), Natasha Prior (Newcastle Jets), Kaitlyn Torpey (San Diego Wave)

MIDFIELDERS: Kyra Cooney-Cross (Arsenal), Daniela Galic (FC Twente), Katrina Gorry (West Ham United), Emily van Egmond (Birmingham City), Clare Wheeler (Everton), Tameka Yallop (Brisbane Roar)

FORWARDS: Caitlin Foord (Arsenal), Mary Fowler (Manchester City), Laini Freier (Brisbane Roar), Michelle Heyman (Canberra United), Holly McNamara (Melbourne City), Hayley Raso (Tottenham Hotspur)

But that process of regeneration can only go so far in the absence of a permanent head coach. FA’s search for a successor to Tony Gustavsson is now stretching into a seventh month, with Sermanni having worked on an interim basis - his third stint in charge of the Matildas - since September.

It remains unclear when an appointment will be made – but after FA director Heather Garriock, who is leading the hunt, publicly flagged the federation’s desire to speak with England coach Sarina Wiegman after the Women’s Euro finishes in July, it may be some months yet.

The long process leaves the Matildas in a holding pattern barely a year out from the Women’s Asian Cup, to be played in Australia in March 2026, which looms as the last chance for silverware for many of the national team’s established stars, including Kerr and the likes of Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Emily van Egmond.

“I’m still here,” he said.

“I could be here for the next window. But then it could be that the federation have a coach in place ... things in football have got strange twists and turns and can happen quite quickly. Or I could still be here for some time.”

As for Sermanni’s squad, the headline inclusion is Mary Fowler, who skipped the Matildas’ final fixtures of last year, citing physical and mental fatigue and a desire to spend time with family in Australia.

If her recent form for Manchester City is any guide, the short break has done her wonders.

She now has five goals and three assists from her past five games in the Women’s Super League after netting a brace in a 4-3 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday (AEDT), and Sermanni is hopeful she will bring that same touch into camp.

“She’s playing very well. She looks on top of her game. She looks fit, she looks healthy. She looks like she’s enjoying her football, so it’ll be great to have her back in the squad,” he said.

Laini Freier, the twin sister of emerging star Sharn, is in line to make her debut after being handed a maiden call-up on the back of her strong performances in the A-League Women for Brisbane Roar – but Sharn, who will transfer to German club VfL Wolfsburg at the end of the season, will not join her in the squad due to injury.

There is also a welcome return for Melbourne City’s attacking ace Holly McNamara, who is fit and firing after recovering from her third ACL injury, and has not featured for the Matildas since the 2022 Asian Cup.

Cortnee Vine, the 2023 World Cup hero who said in November she was taking time away from football to prioritise her mental health, has resumed pre-season training with the North Carolina Courage but is not ready to play for the Matildas again, Sermanni said.

“She just feels, both mentally and physically, just not ready to come into camp. That’s probably the simplest explanation that I can come up with,” he said. “She’s just trying to get herself back into playing football and enjoying football. I think a lot of athletes, particularly at the highest level, have certain degrees of stress levels that some can cope with, and some find it challenging, and at the moment she’s just finding that challenging.”

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