Joe Montemurro has just returned from Europe where he completed his UEFA Pro Licence via the Italian Football Federation.

His sojourn abroad saw him spend time with the World Cup bound Azzurri learning from then coach Cesare Prandelli and other top class managers such as Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), Luciano Spalletti (most recently with Zenit St Petersburg) and Walter Mazzarri (Inter Milan).

Joe “Pepe” Montemurro grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne wanting to emulate his Azzurri idols on the football pitch. His love of the game, and hard work, saw him reach the old NSL as a player with Brunswick Juventus, as well as for the Victorian state team and a couple of years playing in his ancestral home, Italy.

Upon his return to Australia, at the age of 27, coaching called to him and he began that climb undertaking coaching education, gaining accreditation and experience.

That experience includes stints at Victorian Premier League side South Melbourne, Sunshine George Cross, Hume City and Green Gully and most recently with the Victorian U17s National Training Centre team.

It is with the experience of those jobs, and armed with the knowledge gained overseas, that has lead to the  passionate, self proclaimed “Melbourne boy”, leading the Melbourne team.

What has been your exposure or involvement with the W-League to this point?

I was asked a couple of years ago whether I would be interested in women’s football, NTC roles and more elite development roles. At the time I was involved quite heavily at another club.

I got the opportunity last year. They asked me if I would be interested and I jumped at it. Being involved with elite teams at FFV, women’s and men’s football, they’re not dissimilar. I think they’re working quite well together so there has been an obvious tracking of the W-League and the NTC women’s.

Entering the W-League as one of the new coaches, do you consider you will be at a disadvantage as the other coaches have coached within the league?

I don’t come with any preconceptions so I think I can bring clear football decisions instead of some emotional decisions. I think it’s an advantage from that point of view.

Do I have a little disadvantage in terms of knowledge of the women’s game, but the game is the game. It’s up to me to make the decisions during the game that I feel are going to get us the results.

With Melbourne Victory claiming the championship last season, it's a hard act to follow. How do you approach Season 7?

We’re going to be judged on results. It’s a results driven game. I want to win games and play good football. If I can walk off the park and say we worked on different things and it worked and we win games, that’s the ultimate goal.

If we can say we’ve been a competitive team and played good football and there have been a few more opportunities for Victorians to come to the foray, I think I have done a good job. If a lot of the girls can walk away and say that was a great season and I got a lot out of this season as a person then I have done my job.

[More: Know Coach Joe by Craig Stockdale]

Will you look to change or alter the style of the team to suit your own coaching philosophy?

I’ve always been fluid in my philosophy. Big statements like “I’m a ball possession playing side”, I personally don’t know any team that doesn’t want the ball. I think that’s just the base of the game.

We will always play a game where football decisions are made. I will always give the ammunition to players to make the right decisions on the park. We will be well organised, I’m a detail freak, and we will always play a beautiful attacking brand of football. A technical base of football is always where we are heading.

The personnel at hand are key to any tactics and the Victory has recruited locally over the past couple of years. Will you continue to promote young talent or are you looking more broadly?

I’m always looking for that local player or that local “interesting” player that could make the team so if there’s an opportunity to put a local player in then I will do that.

I’ve been scouring through the WPL, keeping tabs on players, then I bringing them back in for preseason. I want to make some concerted decisions on local players so if there is the opportunity to bring a local player in, from a holistic point of view I think it will only serve well for the league, for Melbourne Victory and for Victorian football.

There are no punches pulled; Melbourne want to win. We’ve got the added ammunition that we’re going to the World Club Championship this year so we need to build a team that is going to be competitive in the W-League but we also want to represent Australia at the World Club Championship.

The fixtures have raised some interesting challenges, in particular the overlap with the Victorian Women's Premier League season. How is this being addressed?

It is an issue and we need to manage the loads of players that are playing in the WPL. We need to be sympathetic to what they’re doing, not only from a football point of view but also for family, school, work and so on. We’re trying to make it as holistic as possible.

We believe we’re a lot more advanced this year in terms of preparation in terms of where we’re at. Players have already been tapped on the shoulder for contracts and have already been screened.

The game is at a better level than what everyone makes it and I’m just trying to say we’re in a professional environment, you’re playing in a professional league so let’s now start to really give these girls the opportunity to be professional for those four/five months.

What about the question of internationals? What impact do you think the World Cup preparation and qualifiers will have on the W-League season?

One of the things I’m trying to do is to make sure our squad is solid enough for any surprises because I think one of the things we have seen in the W-League is that players have to go away for international duty.

I believe if I’ve got my 14-15 that are stable players, without the internationals, that I believe are competitive and can do the job, then whatever comes about I will just make sure we are prepared for it.

I don’t want a situation where internationals come in and disrupt the team. It needs to be managed and I want them to be here for the bulk of the season. So long as we know when they’re coming and when they’re going, that’s fine and we can taper the team accordingly.

One of the other potential disruptions is the World Club Championship. Considering how participation has affected previous W-League clubs' seasons, what is the goal there?

We want to win it. We’re representing Australia and we want to put Australian football on the map. This might be one where the Italian in me comes out and we might have to defend in banks and hit team on the breakaway.

You spoke about putting football on the map. With the Victory's success last season, how can that be leveraged for greater support (including memberships) for the team and women's football?

There’s a lot of scope for that to develop. One of my big projects here at FFV is to get the skill acquisition programs going for the 9 and 13 year old girls. These are girls who are learning to love the game and the need heroes. They need Steph Catley’s and they need the Lisa De Vanna’s to look up to.

We need to do more at the grassroots level to get these young girls who aspire to be Matildas, to get into the game, to love the game, but also will translate into getting them to watch the girls.

We need to promote these fantastic athletes that are out there.