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Football Ferns defender Abby Erceg reflects on the two matches against Australia in Gosford.

It’s the day after a game and we are coming off the back of a second loss, but it was a solid and encouraging performance. We dominated much of the match and as a team we felt very connected both off and on the pitch. We played with a passion that only this group of players and staff can replicate in my opinion.

Waking up this morning there were a few sore bodies but we left our amazing penthouse suites with our heads held high. It started with the typical day after game stretch and recovery in the pool. This recovery is particularly important because we have a couple of long days travel and we play the day after we arrive in china so everyone will be doing their best to stay on top of recovery protocols.

In the leadership group meeting John had reassured us of our performance the day before and again he briefly highlighted the importance of our recovery today. After a lunch out it was back to the hotel to pack our bags and get everything on the bus ready for our trip to the airport. The bus trip was two hours long so the girls came prepared with movies for the trip and Footballers Wives seemed to be the pick. Bad acting, classy one liners and a whole lot of drama haha!

Once at the airport the official travelling begins and for most of the girls it’s an unwelcome familiarity. Hauling bags through airports, crammed into a tiny space for long flights and bad plane food is the reality for any traveller. One 9 hour flight and 5 hour layover later most of the girls are pretty exhausted and sleep is a common thought at this point still knowing that there is a 2.5hour bus trip to the hotel to come. We make the most out of it that we can though, stopping for photo ops where possible and playing a few minor pranks or two along the way. The travel time also gives us time to watch our performance and criticize or applaud different aspects of our game. For the second bus trip we opt for the movie Easy A as our source of entertainment and the bus is a lot more tired and quiet than our previous bus trip. Some of us sleep or listen to music to pass the time but either way not a whole lot on conversation is happening at this point, everybody is pretty keen to eat then sleep!

We finally make it to the hotel and food seems to be the motivation for most of us. The food here is same as always, Chicken, sweet bread and a whole lot of rice! Food in places like China can get quite boring fairly quickly as their range is limited shall we say haha. To get in a substantial meal after plane food though is great. I try to finish dinner as quickly as possible so I can hurry upstairs to finally have a shower, all I need now is a shower and a good sleep! The shower makes everything seem so easy afterwards, nothing beats a hot shower after a full days travel especially when you’ve just had a filling meal before hand. It’s time for one final effort before bed as we head down to the team meeting to cover off tactics for tomorrow’s game. You can see around the room everyone’s eyes are closing and the brain is in shutting down mode so John does his best to keep is short and simple for the girls and I’m trying to soak in as much as possible for the game tomorrow as we don’t have a lot of prep time for it. After a motivational video and a few group discussions on some key issues it’s finally time for bed. No mucking around and no energy for chit chat it’s hit the pillow and eyes closed, I think everyone is looking forward to new opposition and it’s important we get a good sleep for tomorrow so everyone can do their jobs effectively on the pitch and come away with the result.