‘World-class’ Katrina Gorry provides a pleasant surprise for Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson

Tony Gustavsson knew how good Katrina Gorry was in attack but it was another aspect of her game that left the Matildas coach in awe.

Australia’s Katrina Gorry tackles New Zealand’s Betsy Hassett in the Matildas’ 2-1 win in Townsville. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

Katrina Gorry’s sensational Matildas return has stunned national coach Tony Gustavsson.

In her first Matildas appearance since February 2020 and since giving birth to daughter Harper last year, Gorry was superb in Australia’s 2-1 defeat of New Zealand in Townsville on Friday night.

Gorry’s passing ability, her creativity and her poise were there for all to see as took control of proceedings from the base of Australia’s midfield.

“Her quarter-back ability as a (holding midfielder), her positioning, is phenomenal. Her passing skill is phenomenal,” Matildas coach Gustavsson said.

“I’m not surprised how good she was attacking.”

However, what did shock Gustavsson was Gorry’s defensive ability.

“One thing I thought was the standout with her was her defensive actions in there, the amount of duels she wins, even aerial duels,” he said.

“The defensive performance from her was also world-class in my opinion.”

Katrina Gorry was superb in her return for the Matildas. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

However, Gustavsson said it was a matter of taking “one step a time” with 29-year-old Queenslander Gorry’s international return.

“We should keep the pressure down and not expect too much. ‘Mini’ needs some time to come back into international football,” he said.

“This was the first step but we also need to expose her to top-ranked nations when the tempo’s even higher.”

Gorry should get another chance to show her class in the second game of Australia’s series against fellow 2023 Women’s World Cup hosts New Zealand in Canberra on Tuesday night.

Gustavsson will decide on Monday how many changes he will make to his winning team.

However, don’t be surprised if he elects against making an abundance of alterations to the Matildas’ starting line-up.

“We had a year of experimentation in 2021 and looked at a lot of players,” Gustavsson said.

“We are starting to narrow it down now. We don’t have that many games left (until next year’s World Cup) and when you have players available you want to have some consistency and chemistry on the park.

“I’m going to balance that with also looking at the depth in the roster.”

Originally published as ‘World-class’ Katrina Gorry provides a pleasant surprise for Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson