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Clare Hunt has spent 2023 operating retrospectively. Not living in the past, but thinking in it. It has been a useful approach in a year containing so much change and requiring such precise execution that over-analysing any of it could have blown up everything.<\/p>\n
As in, she made her Matildas debut in February and was the team\u2019s starting centre-back by the time the World Cup started in July, then played each of Australia\u2019s seven matches with the ease of a veteran international. And how in September, having made fewer than 50 senior appearances \u2013 all within Australia \u2013 she moved from the Western Sydney Wanderers to Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the hardest things to do in your football career, I\u2019ve done this year,\u201d Hunt says. \u201cBut I have the motto that if you do it all in one year, then it can\u2019t get much harder than what you\u2019re doing now. Get all the hard stuff out of the way and enjoy the rest of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019m in the midst of it, I\u2019m just waiting for the next thing. It\u2019s always just seeking to improve and be better. So when you chunk it down into day-by-day stuff, it flies by because you don\u2019t think too much about the big picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suppose that\u2019s what my year has been. I chunk it down into days or into training sessions or into moments, and then I look back and go, \u2018Oh my goodness, I did that\u2019. If I have that simplistic approach I find it a lot easier, I don\u2019t overthink things and I just get to enjoy little aspects of what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That does not mean Hunt, 24, has enjoyed a pressure-free ride to stardom, it just means she has absorbed that pressure with perspective and maturity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Clare Hunt on the ball during the Matildas\u2019 3-0 Olympic qualifying win over Taiwan in Perth last month.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n For instance, she knew the only reason she had played so few games for her age was her horrendous injury history \u2013 seven surgeries over five years will keep you off the pitch for a while. And once the rural NSW export had made her sink-or-swim Matildas debut at the Cup of Nations, she knew she was \u201cswimming at international level\u201d.<\/p>\n Really, it was the rest of the world that needed to catch up, as evidenced by Australia\u2019s long-term search for defensive depth. When Hunt lobbed at the World Cup pre-camp on the Gold Coast and trained for the first time with new central defensive partner Alanna Kennedy, who was coming back from injury, the latter exclaimed: \u201cWhere have you been<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n Hunt answered this question not with words but with sure-footed football throughout Australia\u2019s historic semi-final run. Then, when that football caught the attention of several overseas clubs, the daughter of sheep farmers from Grenfell found herself in France rounding up the attacks of some of the biggest clubs in the world.<\/p>\n Hunt arrived in Paris in September having hardly left Australia, bar the odd junior trip and a six-week stint training with Everton following April\u2019s friendlies in the UK. She also had no local language skills nor personal connections in PSG\u2019s squad full of French internationals \u2013 some of whom her Matildas ousted from the World Cup in that epic quarter-final penalty shootout. Lieke Martens of the Netherlands is among her high-profile teammates.<\/p>\n Matildas defenders Clare Hunt and Ellie Carpenter and (inset) as kids playing in Central West NSW. They both now play their club football in France.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty, Supplied<\/cite><\/p>\n To help with the adjustment, she has a sounding board in fellow Matildas defender Ellie Carpenter, who is from Grenfell\u2019s neighbouring town of Cowra and has become fluent in French since moving to rivals Lyon in 2020. And she is so far enjoying living north-west of Paris, near the club\u2019s training ground, Campus Du Paris-Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s nicer for me,\u201d Hunt says. \u201cI don\u2019t like the hustle and bustle, so it\u2019s actually kind of nice to have some space.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve started my French classes. I am not taking a lot of it in, I must admit, in the early stages. I just think there\u2019s so much going on, that I\u2019d rather focus on understanding the football and the style of play, and getting to know players as best I can.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think once I\u2019m settled and I\u2019ve got everything sorted, I can put more resources into learning and apply myself a bit more. But I think I\u2019ve probably applied myself in understanding the football side of things and how to contribute what I can with such a short period of time. Obviously, I went over there without a pre-season, so it\u2019s almost like: do you put focus and energy into learning a language or do you want to get yourself on the park?\u201d<\/p>\n She got herself on the park. In October, while in recovery from a post-World Cup injury, she made her club debut in the 1-1 Champions League qualification draw with Manchester United, coming on 17 minutes in after teammate Oriane Jean-Francois partially ruptured her ACL. She then played in the 3-1 second-leg win over United to qualify for the group stage, and has since started in the group-stage losses to Ajax and Bayern Munich and various Division 1 Feminine wins, including last weekend\u2019s 4-1 result against Montpellier.<\/p>\n More minutes have come for the Matildas, too, in last month\u2019s World Cup qualifiers. And on Saturday, she may well start in the first of two friendlies against Canada, who will farewell all-time great Christine Sinclair and want retribution for July\u2019s famous 4-0 rout in Melbourne.<\/p>\n Coach Tony Gustavsson, who is without late withdrawals Sam Kerr (foot), Mackenzie Arnold (triceps), Charli Grant (hamstring) and Holly McNamara (ACL), along with the already-injured Cortnee Vine (hamstring), has intimated he may experiment with his XI as he prepares the Matildas for February\u2019s final Olympic qualifiers. But Hunt is close to a sure thing for one or both of the games, in Langford on Saturday and Vancouver on Wednesday.<\/p>\n And the thing about Hunt is, within 12 months, she has become a sure thing for the future.<\/p>\n \u201cI always had it in my heart that I wanted to play for the national team, I just kept going through ridiculous injury rehab,\u201d she says. \u201cI just knew I had to bide my time, however long that would be.<\/p>\n \u201cThe opportunity came last A-League season, when I had an injury-free season and started to get some consistent minutes. That was the first time in my career where I got to show my technical and tactical game learnt over the last 20 years.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I know everyone\u2019s like, \u2018Where has she come from?\u2019 But I feel like I always had this capacity, I just could never show it. All I needed was one opportunity to show people what I could do. When I got that, I knew I could perform without much game time, then I knew I could do so much [more] when I have an opportunity to train. So now being at PSG and playing with the Matildas, every training session and every game is another opportunity for me to get a little bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n Sports news, results and expert commentary.<\/i><\/b> Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Watch every match of the<\/b> UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League<\/b> and<\/b> UEFA Europa Conference League<\/b> on Stan Sport. All the action streaming ad-free, live and on demand, with select matches in 4K UHD.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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