The View from the Top 6, pt. II
The SWPL split is imminent, with that in mind we were invited to Hampden (yes, we're that cool) to chat with representatives of the top 6. We got them to tell us who we should be looking out for.
Yesterday we gave you the serious side of our interviews with the top 6 from Hampden, but we also handed each club’s representative the chance to heap praise on the other members of the squad and give us an insight into what they think of their teammates. In typical How’s Your Touch fashion we put them on the spot, and gave them what we can only assume is the same feeling as taking a title winning penalty, with some quickfire word association.
Each player was asked to do some word association and name the first player that popped into their head (and a justification for why) for each of the following words:
Precision - someone who’s got fantastic accuracy on the ball, or has precise routines off the pitch.
Determination - the player that will do anything to win, often found doing extra work in the gym or on the training pitch
Flair - the extravagant, the larger than life, the one always up to try the ridiculous.
Teamwork - someone who is always there for the team, whether it’s offering advice, picking up coffees, or busting a gut to help out on the pitch
Tough - the player that you don’t want to take a tackle off, if they’re headed your way in training the ball is getting moved on quick.
So, straight from the mouths of the people that will know them best, here are the players that exhibit these values on the daily.
Precision
Love, Glasgow City - “Leanne Ross. She’s got training, games, tactics, down to a tee.” Learo has made a big impact already and meticulous preparation is clearly a part of that early success.
Craig, Celtic - “Caitlin Hayes [aha] purely because she’s got an absolute cracker of a diagonal ball.”
McLauchlan, Rangers - “Kirsty MacLean because in training she works hard, her shots, and the way she dribbles. Very good.” High praise from one Scotland international to, potentially, another.
Brownlie, Hearts - “Vyan [Sampson], V, she’s very precise in terms of what she does I think. The way she kicks a ball, the way she passes, it’s very clean.”
Hunter, Hibernian - “Katie Lockwood. Just everything she does is so accurate.”
Henderson, Partick Thistle - “Linzi Taylor, obviously her freekick against Aberdeen to get a goal back was crucial and her overall play is excellent.”
Determination
Love, Glasgow City - “Hayley Lauder. She tends to want to play all the time even if her leg is falling off.”
Craig, Celtic - “Natalie Ross she’ll always put in a tackle and she’s not afraid to get a wee yellow card now and then.”
McLauchlan, Rangers - “Kayla McCoy, it’s impossible to get the ball off her, in the gym and even off the pitch she’s just an absolute machine.”
Brownlie, Hearts - “Monica [Forsyth], she’s gritty she gets stuck in.”
Hunter, Hibernian - “[Shannon] McGregor. She would run through anyone to get to a football.” We’re sure that there’s absolutely no bias with this statement.
Henderson, Partick Thistle - “Doc, Chez, Demi, [Clare Docherty, Cheryl McCulloch, Demi Falconer]… I could go pretty much all our defence. I actually think the full team has it in abundance but the defence has really really pushed it this year.”
Flair
Love, Glasgow City - “Pri [Priscila Chinchilla], she’ll do some step overs when she doesn’t need to and she’ll do some diving about when she doesn’t need to either.” If you are a referee, forget you read that last bit please.
Craig, Celtic - “Tegan Bowie is a wee bit out there [off pitch], she just makes it work. It [the fit] could be odd but she’ll make it styled.”
McLauchlan, Rangers - “Sam Kerr and I’m not even sure why, just because there’s something no right about her.”
Brownlie, Hearts - “[Katie] Rood is an individual type of player, she loves to go one v one and take people on.”
Hunter, Hibernian - “Ava [Kuyken] probably the one that does things and you’re just amazed by it.”
Henderson, Partick Thistle - “Abbie Ferguson has been really really tricky up front and I should say Rach Donaldson as well because some of her goals have been out this world.” This may sound like an exaggeration but we would go even further than “out of this world”, could have her for every goal in the goal of the season competition and there’d be no complaints from us.
Teamwork
Love, Glasgow City - “Lee Alexander [Gibson] has been at city a long time and never put herself first.”
Craig, Celtic - “All of us for that one.”
McLauchlan, Rangers - “Kathy Hill as our captain keeps everyone going, keeps everyone together and does so well.”
Brownlie, Hearts - “Ciara [Grant], she’ll do anything for Hearts.”
Hunter, Hibernian - “Lia Tweedie she puts everyone before herself.”
Henderson, Partick Thistle - “Everyone.”
Tough
Love, Glasgow City - “Erin Greening and Anna Oscarsson they will just knock you over.” Considering Oscarsson has only been at City 6 weeks, that is some impact from the Swedish full back.
Craig, Celtic - “Natalie Ross again, all day.”
McLauchlan, Rangers - “Jodi McLeary literally takes legs in training.” More praise for a young star at Rangers, kind of…
Brownlie, Hearts - “Georgia Timms, solid.” Imagine that Timms has given Brownlie a few tough days in training, she certainly has given SWPL defences nightmares.
Hunter, Hibernian - “Joelle Murray, she’s just Joelle.”
Henderson, Partick Thistle - “A lot of them by the way, probably Rosie [Slater], Taylor Fisher, Leah [Robinson], a lot of them I wouldn’t want to take a tackle off and do my best to avoid.” This is where Hendo’s dancing feet really come in handy.
The split kicks off with Hibernian - Glasgow City, live from Meadowbank on BBC Alba at 17:30 on Saturday. There’s then a bunch of action on Sunday with Partick Thistle - Hearts (that’s on BBC Sports Online), Glasgow Women - Aberdeen, Hamilton - Motherwell (a cheeky South Lanarkshire derby at New Douglas Park), and Dundee United - Spartans. Finally, on Monday it’s Rangers - Celtic. For those of you not heading to Broadwood that one is on Sky Sports.