{"id":326570,"date":"2024-09-18T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wswanderersfc.com.au\/?p=326570"},"modified":"2024-09-19T07:04:16","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T21:04:16","slug":"the-record-breaker-talia-younis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wswanderersfc.com.au\/news\/the-record-breaker-talia-younis\/","title":{"rendered":"The record breaker: Talia Younis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not many people break records at the age of 14, but that\u2019s what Talia Younis did in October last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second half of a game against the Wellington Phoenix, Younis – at 14 years, and 361 days old, she became the youngest player to appear in the A-League Women\u2019s competition, breaking the record set by Sam Kerr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst Younis\u2019 record was broken just two weeks later by teammate Ischia Brooking, it was still a fantastic achievement for such a talented youngster who came through the youth setup at the Wanderers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was an honour to make my debut for this club,\u201d Younis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here since I was 13, I’m very grateful for the coaches giving me this opportunity, whether it was starting or coming on [as a substitute].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Younis got plenty of chances to impress last season, playing 15 times in the A-League Women\u2019s season as the Wander Women fell agonisingly short of reaching a first finals campaign since 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND – MARCH 30: Talia Younis of the Wanderers on attack during the A-League Women round 22 match between Wellington Phoenix and Western Sydney Wanderers at Porirua Park, on March 30, 2024, in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was still a highly positive season for the club – especially considering coach Robbie Hooker only came into the role days before the season began – as they broke their points and goalscoring record, and had striker Sophie Harding win the Julie Dolan Medal for player of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could have been a daunting experience for such a young player like Younis to embed herself into an established squad of older players, but she says she was welcomed with open arms by the squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t too hard to settle with the team,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[It\u2019s a great bunch of girls, they\u2019re top players, so it\u2019s easier to play with high quality players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPretty much everyone I got along with, and it was easy to do so because they\u2019re all nice and they all welcomed me into the team, and they didn\u2019t treat me any differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She has done her best to absorb as much information from the experienced players around her, and singles out some players in particular as being helpful in her first ever season in the
A-League squad, with the adjustment being a tough one for some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was definitely a big change,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I adjusted and had to move the ball quicker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a good challenge for me and it helped me grow as a player and mentally as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think Amy Harrison was a key part of that, she told me a few things that I can improve, and she was always there for me especially when I started for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was always there, told me things that I should take into consideration when playing.\u201d
For Younis, who has a season of A-League under her belt and has also already represented Australia\u2019s U17s team, the world is her oyster in many aspects, and she still has lots of time to improve and refine her game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to improve lots of parts of my game, especially my strength and vision,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust little things like that I can tweak and improve, and hopefully I\u2019ll become a better player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also wants to add goal contributions to her game as she gains more confidence playing higher up the pitch, and wants to help lead the team back to the finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[It would] be great to get a few goals (and) assists as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope our club continues to grow and hopefully we end up at a higher stage this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all want to make finals, and I think we have the ability to do so. (We) just need to keep working hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we have the ability to make finals, I think it\u2019s really just our (positive) mindset (we need).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":326577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"competition":[],"acf":{"match_card_embed_league":null,"match_card_embed_club":null,"match_card_embed_match":false,"match_card_embed_disable":false,"auto_publish_updates":true,"reference_article":null,"article_featured_video":"","article_featured_video_tagline":"","article_byline":"Patrick Brischetto","article_media_type":"news","article_video":"","gallery":"","shared_ffa_source":"keepup","shared_hide_in_app":false,"article_player":[318397],"article_team":"","article_competition":"","article_match":"","credit":"","related_articles":"","push_to_social":false,"priority":1,"sport":false,"language":"en","private_content":false,"access_level":"","article_id":"","app_featured_image":null,"article_content_group":"news"},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/wswanderersfc.com.au\/news\/the-record-breaker-talia-younis\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The record breaker: Talia Younis","url":"http:\/\/wswanderersfc.com.au\/news\/the-record-breaker-talia-younis\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/wswanderersfc.com.au\/news\/the-record-breaker-talia-younis\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wswanderersfc.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/09\/Younis_WebStory.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/wswanderersfc.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/09\/Younis_WebStory.png"},"articleSection":"A-League Women News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"jcsaszar"}],"creator":["jcsaszar"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Western Sydney Wanderers","logo":"https:\/\/wswanderersfc.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/04\/cropped-Western_Sydney_Wanderers_FC-2.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2024-09-18T00:00:00Z","datePublished":"2024-09-18T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2024-09-18T21:04:16Z"},"rendered":"