ABC Sport Commentator & 10 Football host Daniel Garb joins Adam White (09.03.26)

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And Daniel Garb, that does join us on,

waitly on this Monday morning. Garby, welcome.

Good morning. Why do you hire a pal?

I'm going pretty well. How are the Matilda's going this morning when they wake up?

Well, I think they'll be disappointed with the fact that they haven't got

control of their own destiny in terms of the pathway to the final location wise.

They would have liked to have stayed in Sydney.

This was not the situation where they wanted. They were always going to finish in the top two

in the group, but they wanted to finish top to ensure they stayed in Sydney where they played

last night against our career in that three-all draw, because that's if they do win that quarter

final, they played there in the semi as well and then the final. Now they're going to go to Perth

for their quarter against the China or North Korea, which won't be easy mind you.

Win that you stay in Perth and you're going to go back to Sydney for the final.

So it's a lot of travel and there's not ideal and I think more to the point though.

There are concerns that linger once more about them defensively.

Going forward, yep, they're looking pretty sharp.

Sam Kerr scoring. Mary Fowler is looking great. The Lana Kennedy has been the star of the tournament

for them with four goals, but I mean, this has been an issue for the Matilda's for close to 10 years.

They're just not as strong as the other big nations defensively and it causes them problems.

So, yep, they're in that group with South Korea in Japan and China and North Korea.

So I'll face one of them in the quarter finals as the contenders for the S Asian Cup,

but I haven't emerged as the favourites from the group stages yet.

So there are still some question marks there in the mind of coach John Montemiro.

I was going to ask you about the coach because after the game, so it was three-three last nights.

So it was a high scoring affair, but some of the words that he used, patchy, careless,

is that largely defensively he would be describing that performance or overall?

Overall, they failed to take chances as well. They went one down one year early and responded

really well and went into halftime two, one up and to be honest, there could have been three or four.

They were really dominating South Korea and had them on the back foot and could have finished

a couple more chances to have the game to bear. So it didn't do that to probably both ways.

But you know, there are inability to shut teams out defensively, really good teams.

That I think has plagued them for close to 10 years, and the problem position for mine is

as long-being defensive midfield. And they have good personnel at the back, the likes of Steph

Katley and Claire Hunt, Ellie Carpenter. But they don't provide them with enough time to settle

through a strong defensive midfielder and stemming back to the 2019 World Cup, that's been a problem

position for them. And that is can't find a player that can fill that position with a plum.

And in international football, you can't just go and buy one, of course. You have to build one,

and it's been a problem for a number of coaches now. So it seems to be an issue again in this

tournament. If they can find a way to get through it, they have enough firepower to win the competition.

That's for sure, because Kirk's scoring again at Maryfell looks superb. So they can't still win

it the other way. But yeah, the likes of South Korea and Japan and the other nations will

fancy breaking Australia down because there are far too many gaps between that midfield

and the sense. So do you think it is, is it a personnel thing or is it actually structurally the

way that the team is set up? Because there has been a fair bit of commentary around,

but potentially different structure out on the pitch that might be more helpful. What's your view

on that? I don't think they found a true defensive midfielder in a long time that can provide them

with that real shield. And you could argue as well that the coach could find a way to mold

one of those experienced players into that position effectively and find a way to protect the

defense a little bit more or just improve the defensive resilience of the team. I think the

argument can be made both the way. It's a bit of personnel and a bit of the defensive structure

that has plagued them. But look, there's still very much in this tournament. The knockout stage is

they'll be favourite against you, the China or North Korea. China won it four years ago. So there

are a strong team in North Korea and women's football, you know, you're a far better than them.

They certainly are in the men. They scored eight goals in this tournament so far and haven't

considered. So it won't be easy, but Australia should still go in as favourites. There'll be a big

crowd over 60,000 there in Sydney last night. And all this talk about the midfielders bubble burst

in crowd-wise has proven to be folly. And the crowd numbers have been superb for them. They've

broken the record for the attendance at an Asian Cup game for women ever with the 60,000 plus last

night in Sydney. So there's still a bit of Matilda's mania around and there'll be big crowds in

Perth as well for these knockout games. If there are more than one, they can get past the quarter

final. So that will help them. And they'll still go in as favourites and can build some momentum

from here. Hopefully for a final in Sydney, which would be a huge occasion. Daniel Garb is joining

us on weightly. So that crowd, and I know you're much closer to it than most people,

did that surprise you or have you been confident that those sorts of numbers would continue with

the Matilda's? Because there is a real sort of phenomenon about this Matilda's team and the

the amount of support that they do get. Yeah, I think some of the discussion around the crowds

got clouded because of the comparison to the World Cup in 2023. A World Cup is a different level

event. You know, it captures the hearts and minds of all sporting fans. So those crowds and

those TV ratings, I mean, they break the all-time TV rating record for Australia. They were in

sane and people went, oh, they dipped a bit since then. Well, an Asian Cup is very different

to a World Cup. The stature of the opposition, of course, just pales in comparison. And you don't

have the same draw cards to play again that you do in a World Cup, but the turnout for the Matilda

is so incredibly strong still. And people who perhaps aren't closely connected to it and the people

who got caught up in the World Cup that perhaps haven't paid much attention to the Asian Cup. Well,

that's not necessarily the market. The market for the Matilda is still so incredibly strong in

in women's sport. And there are fans who follow them religiously and follow the fortunes of players

overseas. And I was in the airport on the weekend, whitey for a golf trip. And awesome Matilda's

jersey is all over the place going in and out of a couple cities and going to games. So that's

following is so strong. And it's understandable if you're not connected to maybe have doubts as

to whether the interest levels have dropped off. But you look at the crowd numbers and you have to

pay a lot of respect. Yeah, you do. And I must confess when I saw that number last night, I was

really quite surprised. But I probably shouldn't be considering the amount of people that have been

to amp to Matilda's games for quite some time. Just one final one on the Matilda's. There's quite a

couple of quite a few stars that are coming back from long term injuries from what you've seen

through the tournament to this point. Are you confident that they're back or they're going to be

back to their best when it counts most? Yeah, Sam Kershap and Mary Fowler looks fantastic as well.

So they're the two. And there's such an opportunity there with those two players in the team to do

something special. And Fowler will be around for a while. She's still young. But a large portion of

the squad has been together for some time. They have broken new ground in Australian sport really

with the way in which they've elevated the Matilda down, women's sport in general. They are

household names so many of them. But they haven't got that piece of silverware to show for it. They

haven't won a trophy since Australia claims the Asian Cup in 2010. Yeah, there's an Olympic bronze

medal that they'll cherish. But they'd love to win something. They've got the ability to

do a lot more. And this is the perfect opportunity, Asian Cup at home. They just need to find a way

to tighten up at the back. Then you can make the most of two super stars in care, incur and Fowler

in attack and potentially do something special. But they've got to find a way to rectify

some of their deficiencies in the next few days before Friday's quarter final.

All right. So Friday night is the quarter final. Gabby, you appreciate your time. Before we let

you go, you did broadcast the Giants' Hawthong game on the Saturday afternoon. It was a surprise.

I think it's fair to say that most people would have thought that Hawthong were going to win

because of the more than anything else because of the players that were missing from that Giants team.

What did you take out of that yourself watching? Well, I think the Giants found a way to cover

some of those deficiencies ever so well. Toby Green going into midfield, had a huge impact

in Oliver and Keller-Hannett, had big games. I was just super impressed with the defensive

performance as a firstly Joe Fonte. So I think he's going to be some player. He's got something

about him. I've watched him since his debut, calling Giants games over here in Sydney. And he's

always looked super composed at the top level and he's very quick. I thought he was outstanding

defensively, along with Jaden Le Verde on debut. So to the lesser life, Elbow Fonte, he's had a

lot of interest in him since his matey's mark in the AFL. Without Sam Taylor, it wasn't Jack Buckley

who starred. It was those two who set the tone for them defensively. So they've had other players

that are stepping up and then obviously Stringer kicks five. That's a big story. Hogan three. I

thought Krzyszewski jumps at the ball really well. He looked sharp and attached to that. Other players

who were stepping up, which was handy. And to dominate the midfield, Kiran Briggs had a big

impact in the rocker body. He'd be Lloyd meat comfortably and especially in the clearances.

And they're able to dominate the Hawthorne midfield, which has issues as we know and

think a lot of Hawks fans are stepping away from that game, thinking, what, we off the water,

Zach Merritt, because John Eukam was fighting a lone hand at time. It's for the majority of the game

really. Yes. And did you hit the ball well on your golf trip? No, terribly. I've got some issues.

I want to talk about it. Okay. I'll let it go. Thank you very much for joining. It's really

appreciated. We'll catch you again soon. Two teams. One cup. The prime time stage is set for the TGL

presented by Sofie Finals, Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tigers Jupiter links. Keep up. It's

playoffs. Tune in Monday, March 23rd, 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN 2 and Tuesday, March 24th, 7 p.m. Eastern

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