‘She deserves to be out there’: Will Sam Kerr play Matildas’ crunch clash?

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Is this Sam Kerr’s Nathan Lyon moment?

It has been four weeks since the spinner hobbled down the steps at Lord’s and dragged his torn calf onto the hallowed turf. Against the advice of medical staff and captain Pat Cummins, Lyon decided to bat in Australia’s second innings of the second Ashes Test with the sole intent of hitting boundaries in partnership with Mitchell Starc, and even hopping between wickets for a painful single.

Sam Kerr again sat on the sidelines in Australia’s group-stage loss to Nigeria.Credit: Getty

The Matildas now find themselves at such a critical juncture they may not say no to a striker with one and a half legs. The public has still not been told whether Kerr’s calf is – like Lyon’s – torn, or merely strained. Nobody outside coach Tony Gustavsson’s inner sanctum knows if she is anywhere close to being able to play.

But at this point, with the national team unnervingly close to a humiliating group-stage exit from a home World Cup, it does raise the question: in what state of readiness could Kerr feasibly be put on the park with a prayer she might just score a tournament-saving goal?

And if the captain is physically not far off, will she insist on playing against Canada in Melbourne on Monday night?

“Of course she will,” Gustavsson said after the 3-2 loss to Nigeria left his side sitting third in Group B with one match to play. “That’s going to be her mindset and that’s what I love with Sam. She’s going to do anything she can to be out there, I know that.

Nathan Lyon, visibly in pain, attempts to run for a single at Lord’s at the start of this month.Credit: Getty

“She wants to be out there and she deserves to be out there. If she can be out there, she will be out there. We just need to plan for 90 minutes together if she’s available.

“We need to come up with a plan together with the staff, together with Sam to see what’s the best to maximise the potential minutes she has going into this game if she’s available.”

The state of Kerr’s left calf has commandeered the headlines since one hour and 15 minutes before Australia’s opening 1-0 win over Ireland last week, when it was announced – in tandem with the team sheets – that she had injured her calf during a training warm-up the previous day.

The unhealthy obsession can be partly put down to Kerr being one of the world’s best forwards, partly to her being the most recognisable face in the team, and partly to Gustavsson’s deliberate caginess around the nature and severity of the injury.

And so it was little surprise that, following Thursday night’s shock defeat featuring 13 players who were not Sam Kerr, the first question in the post-match press conference was about Sam Kerr.

“I guess you, you’re expecting this, with one game to go against Canada that you pretty much need to win,” a journalist started. “You’ve got a world-class player who hasn’t been able to play a single minute because of her calf. Is Sam Kerr going to be fit enough to play on Monday?”

Gustavsson paused briefly before answering.

“All I can say now is that I hope so,” he replied. “I know it’s going to be tight. Most likely we’re not going to get the confirmation on that until the night before the game.

“It might even be we need to test her to see if she can play on game day. That’s how tight it is. I know that, I can say already now so everyone knows what it’s like.

“I know we’re going to get questions from now all the way to the game, but I can say already now I’m not going to be able to tell you that until either the night before the game or on game day, because that’s how long we’ll have to wait to see if she’s available or not.”

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