Mary Fowler
There are some moments that football fans will remember forever, such as watching the then 18-year-old Mary Fowler shoot the ball into the back of the net, cementing victory over the fearsome Great Britain Lionesses in the quarter finals at the Tokyo Olympics. The goal was not only a sign of the striker's prodigious skill at such a young age (Simone Biles, who also achieved Olympic success as a teenager, happens to be one of her heroes) but also of her potential as the future of Australian football.
Born in Cairns, Fowler grew up kicking the ball around on the beach with her four siblings. Hers was a family crazy for football; her older sister Ciara now plays for Adelaide United. At 15, she made her debut playing for Australia at the Tournament of Nations – the fifth-youngest Matilda of all time – before signing first with Montpellier and, in 2022, with Manchester City. She is sanguine about the pressure that comes with such high profile caps. “I think what's helped me is just knowing what I want from myself and what I'm doing this all for,” she explains. Before each