Heyman’s Legacy Beyond 200
Canberra United’s incredible A-League season came to an end on Monday, a season where the club, its fans and veteran captain were full of heart.
When the final whistle blew at Gosford’s Industree Group Stadium on Monday evening, it signalled the end of what can ultimately be considered a successful season for Canberra United. The team placed fifth and made it to an Elimination Final - not bad for an overwhelmingly new squad which was assembled on short notice after concerns around whether the team would even be part of the league at all in season 2024-25.
As she has done all season, skipper Michelle Heyman put the team on her own back, scoring a wonderful goal just before halftime in the Elimination Final to give Canberra the lead despite only having around one third of possession.
It was a full circle moment in a way, with the veteran striker scoring against the very side she was playing for when she found the back of the net for the very first time in October 2009 in what was them called the W-League.
Closing in on 37 years of age, Heyman is still not simply playing, she’s been contributing throughout the season in ways beyond scoring goals.
Indeed, whereas last season Michelle was the A-League’s Golden Boot winner as the leading goal scorer with 17, this season her output in front of goal has been reduced to seven (plus Monday’s finals goal) as a new and ultimately successful style of play was employed. It saw the team score less goals overall, but also conceded considerably less.
HER WAY asked Michelle about how she found the slightly new role this season:
“Challenging, I am not a defender! So [it’s involved] a lot of tracking back and trying my hardest, but defensive principles always come first.”
Heyman is connected to the early days of the W-League when only a smattering of diehard fans attended, and now, by being part of recent Matildas campaigns, she is there signing every autograph and posing for each photo with fans as part of the growth of women’s football in Australia. She is one of the league’s faces, sometimes literally. Last year, in anticipation of becoming the first player to score 100 league goals, fans were given Michelle Heyman masks (HER WAY still has theirs at home). That day, Michelle observed the way the game’s fanbase had grown:
“From W-League where there would be only friends and family in the crowd to now, looking up and seeing so many people cheer you on, it’s really inspiring.”
Heyman is an incredible role model and face for the league, and while she has given so much to the A-League and its fans, she is also aware of what it’s given her:
“From W-League [to now], this has been my entire career - this is how I became a Matilda. For me, to still be in this league… still scoring goals, it just brings it all back and reminds me of 21 year old Michelle when I started with Central Coast Mariners playing my first game and scoring a goal”, she told HER WAY.
It was a special day in Canberra on April 13 both for the Matildas veteran and the Canberra United club on a couple of fronts. Having lost many of their star players from last season due to uncertainty around the club - Chloe Lincoln, Sasha Groves, Emma Ilijovski and Vesna Milivojević to name four who departed to take up other opportunities, Heyman helped lead a new side of players largely looking for more experience or opportunities. Indeed, Heyman was the only player in the 2024-25 Canberra lineup over the ages of 26 years old, making her a decade older than the next oldest. The scenes of the Canberra players huddled around a smartphone to see they’d qualified for finals was once of the best moments of the season.
Personally for Heyman, that day she became the first player in A-League history to notch 200 games. It’s a milestone which will no doubt be equalled and bettered, but it’s worth remembering that for all but the last two seasons of her career, seasons were almost half the length they are now. For Heyman to notch the milestone at her adopted home ground in Canberra was fitting. As the sole A-League club with only a women’s team at this point in time, and having been through turmoil more than once just to stay on the pitch, Heyman believes it’s a special place to play, saying,
“It’s like my second home. The people are just incredible. The community in Canberra is just one of a kind. You get incredible fans, and you just want to play for them.”
Canberra’s fans are as committed as any in the league, and HER WAY chatted to a couple that have followed the club from day one. Kylie lives in Sydney, but makes the trip down to the nation’s capital to watch them play.
“Every home game I drive the three hours down and the three hours back home. I’ve followed them since they started, and I’ve followed Michelle, and Sascha (Groves, now at Western United), Nicky Flannery (now at Melbourne Victory)…all of them, and I hope they come back to Canberra one day. But I think they’ve got a very good club and culture.”
Another woman HER WAY spoke to had driven the four hours from Canberra with her husband to support the team.
“We’ve been following since day dot. We’ve got a small community, and when you follow something with a passion, you just keep going.”
If Heyman is understandably fond of the committed Canberra fans, the feeling is more than reciprocated. HER WAY noticed one fan at Monday night’s Elimination Final dressed in a shiny new Canberra United jersey with Heyman’s name and playing number 23 on the back.
Cass lives in Grafton, and had driven from her northern NSW home with her wife to Coffs Harbour airport, where they flew to Sydney and then drove 90 minutes up the M1 motorway just to see Heyman play. They arrived in time for the originally schedule game on Sunday, but with some last minute discussions and re-arranging of plans, stayed on the Central Coast to ensure she didn’t miss the game. Big commitment from a Canberra fan, right? Well, Cass isn’t actually a Canberra United fan, she is Michelle Heyman fan. At this point it should be pointed out that Cass is married to former Matilda Jo Powell, and she badgered her former international footballer wife to buy her the personalised Canberra jersey. As Cass told HER WAY,
“I’ve actually never been to Canberra. I just love Michelle Heyman.”
I asked Cass what it is she admires about the Matildas star:
“Her journey, her football journey and career, has just been incredible. We got the opportunity to speak to her at a couple of the Tillies games, and she’s a brilliant player, and she’s the nicest lady you’ll ever meet.”
As if to highlight the wide spectrum of appeal Heyman has, as HER WAY left the ground after Monday’s game, I observed Heyman was one of the last players about to get on the Canberra team bus. As she was about to step up, a young girl, with the help of a parent, worked up the courage to say hi to Michelle. Heyman stepped back off the bus, and as the small girl looked up at the tall striker, made her night with that brief interaction, just as she did with the slightly older super fan Cass moments after the game.
The news after Monday night’s game that Heyman intends to play on into the next season, by which time she will be 37 years old, is great news for A-League fans. While still one of the best strikers in the country, it’s possible the decision to play on is partly fueled by the chance to represent the Matildas at a home Asian Cup next year. Whatever the motivation, Heyman continuing on means Australian fans will get another opportunity to see one of the remaining pioneers of the original W-League in action. As Michelle told HER WAY last year, playing football professionally is something she has never taken for granted going back to those early days:
“We never knew what was going to happen in 2008. We started something, and you look at it now and you look at the fans, you look at how far football has come in Australia, and it just makes me feel so proud to be part of it, and I’m so lucky to still be able to do the job that I love.”