MELBOURNE -- Holly McNamara received the ball just outside the corner of the 18-yard box. With 40 minutes of football played in the A-League Women Grand Final, the game was still scoreless.
With time, space, and no Wellington Phoenix players shutting her down, the Melbourne City star had a very simple thought: "why not?"
She struck a curling shot from that position, her effort bending beyond the reach of Victoria Esson in goal and nestling into the far post. Advantage Melbourne City.
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Two minutes later, McNamara found herself through on goal thanks to a stunning Shelby McMahon ball. With just the goalkeeper ahead of her, McNamara finished neatly to make it 2-0.
And while Leticia McKenna would go on to score an equally spectacular goal four minutes after the halftime break, and Makala Woods would peg one back for the Phoenix in the 52nd minute, the damage had been done. The narrative had been set. This would be the Holly McNamara Grand Final.
Her story and the club's recent history have complemented each other. Their quest for this elusive championship felt impossible at times.
City's last championship trophy, in 2019-20, felt like a different time in practically a different league, and not just because the Grand Final was played behind closed doors as the world reckoned with the beginning of the pandemic.
A star-studded City side, in a long line of star-studded City sides, would beat Sydney FC 1-0 before all the Matildas and internationals who had built the core of what the W-League was would leave for greener pastures overseas.
City, under the tutelage of the late Rado Vidosic and later his son, Dario, saw what the league was becoming and began to sign the best young talents, those who would make up the next generation of national team players, including McNamara.
She made her A-League Women debut in December 2021, and over the course of the next six years, would endure some of the worst injury luck.
Having already ruptured her ACL once before in 2018, she would pick up her second ACL injury in February 2022. It came off the back of a stellar first few months in the league, a call-up to the Matildas' Asian Cup squad, and a national team debut.
She rehabbed and returned, once again proving that she had plenty of talent and goalscoring nous. But her ACL just wouldn't play along, suffering her third tear in November 2023.
While she was getting injured and rehabbing, her Melbourne City teammates were trying to build a team that could win trophies again.
In 2021-22, they would lose finals to Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory in consecutive weeks.
In 2022-23, they would claim a first premiership but fail to get past an irresistible Casey Dumont in the elimination final.
In 2023-24, the double slipped through the grasp thanks to Sydney FC's Shea Connors and her lone goal in the Grand Final.
In 2024-25, another top of the table finish, but no chance to win the double, this time thanks to a controversial call in the semifinal against eventual champions, the Central Coast Mariners.
This season, was the one that would prove to be different for both McNamara and City. It was her first A-League Women season that wasn't interrupted in some way, shape, or form by an ACL injury.
For City, it would finally end with a double -- a dynasty confirmed thanks to the piece of silverware that eluded them for six years.
When asked what was different, Matricciani admitted he didn't think anything was. Sometimes the football gods just aren't with you was his explanation.
"But I think over the course of the season, we've shown both our consistency has been top. I don't think anything has been different, to be honest.
"I think just the mentality and the hunger has been that little bit more because obviously we missed out."
That hunger will extend to their Asian Women's Champions League semifinal in South Korea on Wednesday.
Head coach Michael Matricciani confirmed the players would celebrate tonight before heading to a hotel for their early morning flight to begin preparations for that game, a treble firmly on their mind.
That desire to end the season with all three available trophies in the City cabinet is appealing for obvious reasons but also to ensure that whatever happens next season, this one ends with maximum success.
McNamara is one such player who may be on the move with her contract expiring this season.
The budding Matilda she said that no decisions have been made but a change isn't out of the question.
"I think I'm ready," she told media postgame.
"I think I've put in the right work both on the field and off the field to make myself ready and put myself in that spot. And so has City."
"City has kind of guided me through that, knowing that maybe there's bigger things on the horizon. I think I'm very lucky to be at the club that I'm at and the help that I've gotten."
Matricciani was full of praise for his attacker and had no doubt she can play at the highest level.
"I think one of the biggest things is her mentality. Not because she's sitting here, but for someone to have three ACLs and miss so much football, to have the mentality that she has to keep working and grinding and believing in herself is a testament.
"I was laughing at some of the comments that I was reading online that she hasn't scored in five games. I'm going great, because when she hasn't scored then it's even scarier."
"She should be proud of herself, first and foremost, but maybe she shut up a few people as well."
For now the team will bask in their win, embrace the chance to add another trophy, and play together as a group, maybe for the last time.
You can re-live all the action from the 2025-26 A-League Grand Final below.
