Aussie sporting legend Cathy Freeman paid a visit to the Matildas ahead of the World Cup and gave a spine-tingling speech.
The Olympic gold medalist joined the team last week to give the side words of wisdom and advice ahead of the big event.
The Matildas posted the visit to their official Twitter account with the gravity of the moment certainly shining through.
The Kuku Yalanji woman is a hero to many Australians for her inspirational success in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, with Sam Kerr driving home that fact to Freeman.
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Kerr told Freeman: “You’re an inspiration to the whole team … You’ve been an idol for all of us for so long. What you did for us as a country, hopefully we can replicate even half of that. We’ll remember this night for the rest of our careers. It’s been amazing.”
Matildas defender Aivi Luik said of the visit: “A lot of girls were very emotional.
“I still can’t believe that happened because a couple years ago, we were going through some questions about who your sporting hero is and why, and over half the team said that Cathy Freeman was their hero.
“The staff, because of that, tried to get her in, and bless her heart, she came in.
“She doesn’t do a lot of public speaking but she did that for us. We asked her questions informally and she spoke back to us just like she was a friend, and we got a lot of good insight from that.”
Freeman and her family had joined the side for dinner - where she gave the girls a resounding speech.
She told the Aussies: “The power of you just being here is unimaginable. It’s beyond your wildest dreams what you’re going to be able to do.
“You’re going to be able to get into the blood of everybody who is on the journey with you. It’s just a crazy, wild ride.
“You’re writing your name in history, ladies. And you should be really proud of that.”
Luik praised the words of Freeman and maintained that the whole team came away extremely motivated from the visit.
Luik said: “She told us was that we know who we are, we know why we do this, and while we want to perform and give results for others outside the circle, at the end of the day, you believe in yourself and you do it for yourself.”
“All athletes do what they do because they love the sport, and (Freeman said) to not lose track of that, and that gives you the confidence to go out there and do your job.”
Adding: “She was just one and we’re a whole team, so I think we’re quite lucky in that regard that we have our friends and teammates there to support each other,” Luik said,
“We came away from that feeling a little bit of a weight off our shoulders, and just completely inspired.”
Australia kick off their World Cup campaign on home soil against Ireland at Accor Stadium in Sydney.
Topics: Australia, Womens World Cup, Womens Football
Jayden Collins