At 20 years old, Brisbane defender Clare Polkinghorne can already be considered a veteran.  With 30 Matildas caps to her name, Polkinghorne now adds "captain". 

This is quite an achievement considering the star power in the Roar side.  Polkinghorne spoke with us about season two and the honour of leading the defending champions.

Brisbane Roar are the defending champions going into season two, how is the squad feeling as they head into the first game?

Obviously we are all very excited and raring to go for our first game.  We have had a good off-season and pretty tough pre-season so were are all pretty excited to get the first game underway.

This year there has been changing of the guard as you pick up the Captain's armband.  How are you feeling about the extra responsibility?

It came as bit of a surprise so it hasn't really sunk it.  I suppose when I lead the team out on Saturday it will all sink in.  But with the team we've got we have 11 leaders out on the field so I don't think there will be anything different on the field.  We all look to each other for support on the field so I don't think it will be too much different.

The Roar had a stellar first season losing only one game on the way to the title, how have you kept the squad and yourself motivated going into season two?

Obviously we had a pretty successful year last year but we all have our individual challenges that we need to try and fulfil.  We each have individual goals as well as the goals of the team and we know that coming off a good season last year everyone will want to knock off the reigning premiers.

Every week we are going to come up against an opponent that is ready to play.  We know that we have to gets our heads tuned into the game.

Within our squad this year there is a lot competition for positions and it will be difficult to pick a starting 11 each week.  That has created a bit of competition at training so everyone is getting stuck in and working hard.

You have many great players all across the park, what do you think makes Roar so successful and play such good football?

The players in our team have some unbelievable skill and commitment and I think what we do at the Roar is play for each other.  We work hard for each other and once we do the hard work the results just speak for themselves.  I think that is the key to our play, we want to go out there and look each other in the eye when we come off the field and say we have done out best and that's all we can ask for.

I think with the players we have we just need to gel as a team and let the rest speak for us.

What about your own game, what do you think makes you a notch above other players you come up against?

I suppose as a player I am not the most skilful, otherwise I would probably be in the midfield or scoring the goals.  I have to work hard on other areas and I like to be very physical.

Whether I am wearing the captain's armband or not I will give everything I've got so hopefully I can lead by example and the other girls can feed off me.

Looking at the first round.  It's a grand final replay against Canberra United.  What’s the mood?

There are a bit of nerves there but we are eager to get underway.  We just had a Matilda's camp on the weekend and we had sneak peak at what Canberra will do and how they will play.  They look like a decent team and there is a lot of changes from last year with young girls coming through.

They seem to be a very enthusiastic side and if they turn up they will be very hard to beat.