To her teammates, she is both a “spiritual leader” and the “best player in the world”, but Sam Kerr does not necessarily see herself as a poster girl for either Chelsea or Australia’s national team.
The striker remained the most talked about player at this summer’s World Cup while starting just one game (excepting the third-place play-off), her tournament decimated by a calf injury suffered on the eve of the tournament.
It was a rare glimpse into the struggles of a career that has so often, from the outside, looked flawless.
“I think that’s what people see on the outside,” she tells i, as she reflects on her last year with a knowing smile. “Every athlete knows football isn’t smooth sailing. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster, lots of ups and downs, and sometimes people only see the big ups that I’ve had over the last few years. Even the resilience of playing week in, week out, game after game is really important.
“Honestly I think it’s a big part of where I am today because I’ve been able to bounce back time after time, season after season, game after game.”
The World Cup should have been the great reward. Then, as Irish “Ole Ole Ole’s” were already ringing around Sydney with an hour to go before Australia’s opening match kicked off, suddenly they grew a little louder.
Kerr was ruled out and Australia’s hopes hung in the balance. Only 24 hours earlier she had been joking about whether she would be celebrating goals with her famous backflip, but she was putting on a brave face, realising there was a chance she would not play at the World Cup at all.
“Everything I’ve gone through in my career prepared me for that moment,” she recalls. “It was probably one of the most disappointing days of my career. I’d done everything in the last few years to be ready for that moment and to hurt myself on the final training session was obviously just really disappointing.
“But I think after the initial shock, I had to get over it and be there for my team, be a team player and be a leader for that team. The first 24 hours was difficult but from there on out it was what I had to do to get back and the work I had to do rather than feeling sorry for myself.”
For the first time, travelling to and from Australia gave those in the Women’s Super League (WSL) a glimpse into the battles Kerr faces every day living on the other side of the world.
“Being an Australian, you have to have that resilience to travel, to perform under extreme conditions. Talking to the girls that travelled out there with three weeks to their first game, we were laughing because I said, ‘imagine travelling all that way and having to play Arsenal two days later’. Aussies, we’re used to it, it was funny for us listening to all the horror jet lag stories.
“That’s something we’ve grown to just be normal in our careers. But the miles we travel compared to other countries, and you see all the girls around the league that are Aussie doing so well, it kind of puts it into perspective when you travel out there and have to play.”
It can be especially tough for Kerr, who says she is a “big family person”, speaking regularly to her parents in Fremantle, Perth, and to her partner Kristie Mewis, the USA and Gotham midfielder who is based in New Jersey.
So the most momentous summer in the history of women’s football was also a rare chance to go home. The Matildas forged a legacy that is likely to define the sport for generations to come and this squad has been hailed as a symbol of a new Australia for its diversity.
Kerr reiterates that is “something that’s celebrated in our team” and she relished the opportunity to grow the game. It became “more than just football”.
Yet by the time Australia were knocked out by England in the semi-finals, there was huge expectation – and with that, Kerr concedes, came “massive amounts of disappointment”.
The feeling was painfully familiar. In 2021, Australia had made it to the last four in the Olympics, before losing out to Sweden.
“I still haven’t looked back on that,” she says. “As a footballer you don’t really get the time to sit back and reflect. That’s probably something I’ll do once I’ve retired or once I’ve slowed down or stopped playing for the national team, which is a fair few years away yet.”
At Kingsmeadow, there has been little time for “slowing down”. Chelsea go into the new WSL season aiming for a fifth successive title and a fourth straight FA Cup. Last week, Kerr was once again nominated for the Ballon d’Or – she is one of just two players, alongside Lyon defender Wendie Renard, to have been named on that list in every year since the women’s gong was introduced in 2018.
Amidst such unprecedented success, however, there has been one other great disappointment: the Champions League, which continues to elude Chelsea. In the last two years, they have reached a final and semi-final but have fallen agonisingly short every time.
“It’s really hard to put your finger on [why],” Kerr says.
“The Champions League is the hardest trophy to win in Europe – I don’t think it’s big margins. It comes down to the small margins, last year with all the injuries, I think the big thing for us this year is when we come into January we have a fresh squad, little to no injuries and make sure the squad is ready to go.
“Come the semi-final against Barcelona we were struggling a bit with multiple players out. For me I believe in our team, I believe in what we can do. But the most important thing is availability.”
European glory will be far from the only focus.
“Emma Hayes is our coach and she wants every trophy possible,” Kerr is keen to point out.
“Every game is just as important as the other and we honestly prepare like that. I would love to say I can just sit here and prepare for the Champions League but Emma wouldn’t allow that from anyone.”
There is a sense, as ever, that Chelsea will have to play with a target on their backs, but it is not a feeling that anyone at the club would swap, insists Kerr.
“That’s what Chelsea’s about, we’re here to win titles. You see that every day in training, you see it in the way Emma coaches the team and you see it in the way us girls conduct ourselves day in, day out.
“You don’t play for this club without high standards and that’s what makes this group so great: no matter what we do, we always want more.”
Sam Kerr hosted a LEGO Play Workshop at Chelsea FC Women, launched by the LEGO Group as part of their “Unstoppable FC’ programme” designed to empower girls aged 8-11 years.
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