During the period women’s football was in the wilderness with no national competition in sight, the women’s game lost some talented players to the sport for good.

Luckily for the game, and for Melbourne Victory, their captain Tal Karp could be cajoled out of retirement to wear the captain’s armband.

Tal is from the previous generation of Australian women footballers and Matildas who battled hard and laid the path for the current generation.

With her compatriots, including Cheryl Salisbury, Dianne Alagich and Joey Peters retiring, the game is lucky to still have Karp and her experience could be invaluable as the Victory gunning for a finals place.

Tal, looking at Melbourne’s season you started off really well but have been inconsistent at times.

We have.  We started off the season really well but lately we haven’t got the results that we would have liked.  I suppose we are building from the mistakes that we had over the previous weeks but we are looking to improve.

The side has played for attacking football and scored more goals this season was there a concerted effort about that?

It’s really important to have a big attacking focus as a team.  I’m glad that we have been able to be more attacking minded this season.  It’s now up to us to make more of our opportunities, our chances in the box and I don’t think that we have done that as much as we possibly can.

How have you found the League has differed from season one to the current season?

The League has changed a lot from the first to the second season.  The first season was by its nature a new experience so the girls who had not played in a national level competition were mixing with each other again.  The understanding of what players from other states were like was not there.

This year players have added experience, exposure and an understanding of what its like playing national level football.  It’s because of that the level of football has grown in that sense.

Personally, I came out retirement last year to play and I think I was quite unfit as a result.  I decided to come back for the inaugural season and while I really enjoyed the experience I didn’t feel like I was at my best.

I was balancing working as an Associate for a Judge with the commitments and demands of playing football.  It was very hard to do both but this year I am in a better place.  I hope that that is reflected in my football.

Tal, you have been part of top-flight women’s football for many years.  How have you found the women’s football has progressed in that time?

Look its growing and growing quickly.  I hear the numbers of female participation are increasing exponentially.  In terms of how I’ve seen it grow; I think that now its affiliated with the men’s game it has really done a lot for the women’s game.

Being know as the Melbourne Victory Women or the Brisbane Roar Women, it lends support because people recognise those names as associated with the very top of football in this country.  So by having that recognition and affiliation I think that has lended credibility.

Also the fact that the numbers are growing and the increased exposure with the ABC coverage, it is doing wonderful things for the game.  I hope that it continues to grow and that one day we have the professional league we have set out to have.

Have you found that the women’s game has become more sophisticated tactically?

Yes definitely.  When I started, I suppose as a reflection that there were less girls playing, strategy wasn’t a big part of the game.  It often came down to physical attributes and it was a more direct game.

Now I feel like the teams in the League are really working on their strategic side of their games and really playing football.  That’s the way I like to play football; heading the ball down, finding angles, distributing the ball, reading the game, building the game and not just hitting the ball long.

Did you ever think there would be a time where you could play the game at least semi-professionally?

I always knew that there was an opportunity to play semi-professionally but that was always going to be overseas.  At one stage I was intending to do that but then I decided to take the commitment of playing with the Matildas as my fundamental priority.

It’s great to see that now it is happening in Australia and I think it is really important for the Australian game that there is a League.  It’s not really about the money.  It has never been about the money for the girls that play but it adds credibility to the League.  It also makes it sound like that we really serious about what we are doing and that it’s not just a game.  It’s far more than that.

We have lost a couple of players that started around the same time as you.  How important is it that we keep that knowledge in the game?

I think it’s really important that we focus a bit more on retaining older players.  Even though those three [Dianne Alagich, Cheryl Salisbury and Jo Peters] were involved in the game for a very long time, there are those from my era who left way before their time in my opinion.

I think that more can be done to make sure that we are recruiting the best sort of people to assist in coaching and other advisory roles.  We can’t afford to lose those girls.

I think it is a reflection of the amateur nature of the game that girls will still need to get another career at the same time as playing football.  Often though the rest becomes more important to them than actually playing.  It would be good if we could combine both and we could find great coaches out the girls who have left to the game prematurely.

What has football taught you that you have been able to use in the rest of your life?

[Laughs]  What hasn’t it taught me?  It has taught me a lot about working in a team.  How teams work effectively and how different people react to different scenarios.

It has taught me a lot about myself.  What I am capable of and what my strengths and weaknesses are.  It has taught me about human nature and the how to respond to different types of people.

Tal, thanks for your time.