Heyman eyes W-League record, Matildas return as comeback season gathers pace

Michelle Heyman is on the cusp of taking back the W-League’s all-time goal-scoring record. But don’t bet on it being the only thing she reclaims over the coming weeks, months and years.

The former Matildas star is in the midst of what might be one of Australian sport’s best comeback stories. Twenty months after she seemingly hung up her boots, Heyman is in the form of her life.

Former Matildas striker Michelle Heyman wants her W-League goal-scoring record and Australian jersey back.Credit:Getty

Calling it a second wind might not be enough. It’s more of a gale force, strong enough to carry Canberra United into the W-League finals and, potentially, herself to Tokyo 2021.

“I am the happiest I’ve ever been, on the field and off the field,” Heyman said.

“I feel like the real Michelle Heyman – not even Michelle Heyman the footballer, just me as a person. I think I’ve finally grown to be who I was meant to be.”

Heyman, 32, felt broken in mid-2019. Mentally and physically exhausted after a string of injuries cost her a spot in Australia’s squad for the World Cup in France, she announced her international retirement, said her thank yous to the coaches and teammates who helped her along the way, and skipped the 2019-20 W-League season. That, it appeared, would be that.

Michelle Heyman retired from international football in mid-2019.Credit:Getty

But Heyman’s sabbatical ended up restoring her love for the game. For the first time she could remember, her body was allowed to rest. All the injuries she’d carried throughout a decade-plus in football were allowed to mend.

She discovered the magic of reformer pilates and infra-red saunas, which she credits with helping her rebuild her body.

Michelle Heyman with her partner, Christine Aldridge, at the 2019 Dolan-Warren awards.Credit:Getty

Her mind followed. She found a new partner in Christine Aldridge, a Canadian-born artist and photographer, who Heyman says “believes in me more than I believe in myself”. Things started to make sense.

A stint as a W-League commentator with Fox Sports helped her discover a way of watching and thinking about football and how to read the play.

When she returned to the NSW Women’s NPL last year with Sydney University, she realised she had accidentally assembled the perfect platform for a fairytale.

“I struggled to walk up and down stairs for like five years of my life, and I was playing in that constantly,” she said. “I was never 100 per cent. I was usually always playing in the Matildas at 70 [per cent], because I was always carrying some sort of injury. Now my body has healed. It took some time off, it relaxed … I’ve just become healthy; mentally and physically. It’s wild to finally feel like a real athlete.”

Heyman’s reinvention in the W-League has been mesmerising. She’s scored six goals in five games, including a hat-trick in her first match against Adelaide United and a double against the Western Sydney Wanderers last week, which took her overall tally to 69 goals – one short of Sam Kerr, who surpassed the record Heyman had held for most of her career in January 2019.

Canberra’s clash with Sydney FC on Monday at Kogarah – a showdown between the competition’s top two teams – looms as her first chance to take it back. If it doesn’t happen then, it’s only a matter of time.

Speaking of which, Heyman feels as if she’s got quite a bit of it left at the top level, having struck a fresh reserve of energy and enthusiasm for the game she didn’t know she had in her.

“It’s kind of scary,” she said. “I laugh about it because I just couldn’t believe it – that someone could play for your country for 10 years, retire, have a year off, come back and be better. I just didn’t think that was possible.”

Next on the agenda is the Matildas. She’s yet to speak with new coach Tony Gustavsson, who has already declared he is coming into the job with a fresh set of eyes and no preconceived ideas around selection. But it’s hard to imagine him ignoring her if she keeps playing like she has.

“If I can continue to keep this form and to be able to train as hard as I do every week, then I think I’ve earned my spot back, to be part of that squad, or at least to be in the camps,” Heyman said.

“Do I really want it? I do, deep down inside. I never wanted to retire. I think it was more of a mental game that I was having and a physical thing that I was going through. Using the word retirement was a bit much – I think I was just very hurt at the time and needed a break.

“Matildas are always in the back of my mind and I’m always going to push for it, and if I keep performing, that’s the only way I’m going to show how much I want to be in there.”

W-LEAGUE’S TOP FIVE ALL-TIME GOALSCORERS

70 – Sam Kerr (Perth Glory, Sydney FC)

69 – Michelle Heyman* (Sydney FC, Central Coast, Canberra United, Adelaide United)

56 – Tameka Yallop* (Brisbane Roar, Melbourne City)

50 – Kyah Simon (Central Coast, Sydney FC, Melbourne City)

43 – Leena Khamis* (Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers, Canberra United)

* denotes player still in W-League

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