Credit: Emily Mogic / emilymogic.com The defender's return a boost for the finals | Credit: Emily Mogic / emilymogic.com

Fresh off a "Player of the Series" performance for the Southern Stars in the Women's Ashes series, Ellyse Perry this weekend switches her focus back to the round ball game.

In the 23 year old's absence her Sydney FC teammates have led the W-League but the defender's return is a boon for Alen Stajcic's side as they challenge for the 2013/14 W-League Premiership.

Sarah Groube managed a quick catch up with a busy Ellyse as she prepared to return to the football pitch.

Congratulations on your magnificent individual and team performance with the Southern Stars. Can you tell us how it feels to be rewarded with the Player of the Series Award?

It was incredibly enjoyable to be involved in the recent Ashes series, especially given the history of the Ashes and the incredible rivalry we share with the English side.

From a personal point of view, it was nice to have a bit of form throughout the series, but it would have been far more special to have reclaimed the Ashes as a team.

It’s been a massive few weeks for you, playing a lot of cricket in extremely hot weather conditions. How will you turn around the fatigue you must be feeling and change focus to the sharp end of the W-League?

I'm really excited to get back to the W-League with Sydney FC. The girls have had a similarly busy schedule over the last month and have played some really fantastic football.

It will be nice to be back with the group, especially with finals coming up. I think the opportunity and excitement of being involved at this time of the season alleviates any sense of fatigue.

Sydney FC have the chance to finish the league on top spot at the end of the WLeague on Sunday against your old team Canberra United. Can you tell us about the difference in match fitness required between cricket and football and how you will prepare now for football?

This weekend's game is a really important one in the context of the competition and trying to secure the premiership.

Sydney and Canberra also share a really great rivalry, so every match we play against one another is intense and competitive, and this match has the added opportunity to secure first place on the ladder.

In terms of fitness, I suppose not too much is different for me, as most of that work is done in the pre-season, so during the season it just becomes a matter of maintaining it, which is something I am able to do whilst I'm on tour playing cricket.

Whether I'm involved in the match this weekend is something I'm not sure about just yet, but just being back with the squad preparing and training has been fantastic.

The four finalists for this season’s W-League are settled, although the finals line up won’t be known until the end of this weekend. Is there a team that you particularly have your eye on as being the biggest threat to your back-to-back campaign?

This season has probably been one of the most evenly fought and competitive seasons in w-league history. I think that has made it incredibly difficult to accurately predict the outcomes of matches or know when you are really going to be pushed by a side.

From our point of view what's most important is being able to play our best soccer against whatever side we come up against. There is certainly no easy, or less difficult passage to the final, regardless of who we play.

With the transfer of key players out of Sydney FC to Western Sydney Wanderers this year, as well as the team’s commitment to the world club championships, and your cricket commitments, many pundits didn’t have Sydney FC finishing in the top four this season. What is it that gives this team its winning culture?

I think our coach Alen Stajcic and the rest of our support staff have played a major role in enabling us to play a level of consistent football which has enabled us to be in a position where we have the chance to secure the premiership this weekend.

We were very conscious heading in to the season that many teams throughout any sporting code find it really difficult to back up a successful season with another the year immediately after. I think the way Alen has managed the squad - our expectations and workloads, has been incredibly important in getting us to where we are at the moment.

The experience we had playing in Japan against teams from around the world was also really fantastic for our development, and probably fast tracked a lot of the learning we have done this season.

Having said that, we are still yet to achieve our main aim which is to defend the W-League title, and I think that is the true mark of a successful season.