Shooting from the hip - Kate Gill interview

Matilda Sally Shipard continues her series of exclusive interviews, this time with inform goalscoring machine Kate Gill.

Kate Gill has been shooting the lights out of the opposition of late, scoring 13 goals in her past 3 matches. Injured Matilda Sally Shipard catches up with Gill about her exploits in front of goals of late.

Sally Shipard (SS). Hi Kate, it-s been a pretty amazing couple of months for you personally and getting amongst the goals. You must be beside yourself as to how well you have been playing at the moment?

Kate Gill (KG). Well to be honest, I don-t think I have been playing that well. The teams playing well and the quality of the service is first class, which makes it easy to be scoring goals. But personally, I don-t think I-m doing as well as I could be.

SS. But the score sheet proves otherwise….

KG. Yes, well you know how it is, you can score in a game and you could have the worst game ever. And if you score the winning goal in a game, it-s as if you have had the best game in the world. It-s funny how that works. I suppose that-s football for you!

SS. I suppose this answers my next question about your form…so you don-t think you are playing well at the moment? Even though you are scoring goals left, right and center…

KG. Yes I could be performing a lot better than I have been in the past couple of matches. It-s great to be scoring but I would be much happier if I was playing well and scoring goals.

SS. I think you might be a little too hard on yourself Katie! Well scoring a hat trick in three consecutive matches has never been achieved by a female footballer in Australia before. How does this make you feel to know that you are the first person to achieve this feat?

KG. Does that mean I have made the Guinness records? (Laughs)… Well actually I-m a little disappointed because if I had scored five then I would have been the first person ever to score 5 goals in 3 consecutive matches (she laughs).

SS. Gee you like to raise the bar high don-t you?

KG. I know I like challenging myself and being very honest with myself, hopefully in the North Korean match I can get another three. That would be fantastic and then I could say I have been playing really well. (Laughs)

SS. What was the vibe like after the Chinese Taipei game amongst the players? Confidence must be sky-high at the moment?

KG. The most promising thing is that, you know how you go out and play against teams that are not quite as good as you… and you have plenty of opportunities but don-t necessarily take them, at the moment we seem to be scoring plenty of goals and playing quite well. Making the most of our opportunities.

Our build-up play and the quality of our crossing is really good at the moment. Everyone was actually really pleased after the Taipei game. I believe it was our best performance so far in this Olympic qualifying process as far as playing like a team. It was even more satisfying when we found out North Korea only won 14-0. Which means we are ahead of them on goal difference. Providing some extra confidence for us leading into the next phase of our qualifying process.

SS. Goals have been vital in the past couple of matches. Does this play on your mind when you are out their on the pitch…?

KG. Well personally for me it didn-t, maybe it was the same feeling I got from everyone else. I mean we didn-t go out and say to each other, ‘Ok, this is our target…- We just went out and we played…I had no assumption of what the score line was going to be. I knew it was going to be something high but I didn-t have a benchmark of what it should be and I don-t think the team did. Overall I think this approach of ours affected our matches in a positive way.

SS. Has the idea of having to score so many goals changed the way Tommy and the team have approached the games?

KG. I don-t think so. I think after the Hong Kong game, obviously we had a big win, but we did miss plenty of easy opportunities, myself included. After the end of the game we thought it may affect us in the end…but after the Taipei game we all felt a huge sense of relief when we found out we were ahead of North Korea on goal difference. I suppose it was playing in the back of our minds, as you-d expect, but again a massive sense of relief was felt when we found out about North Korea-s results.

SS. Do you think you can score a few more goals for us against North Korea in 6 weeks time?

KG. If I could score a goal against North Korea and we win in 6 weeks time, then I would happily trade that for all the goals of late. I would be prepared to erase my 23 goals in 34 appearances for the winning goal against North Korea (she says with a chuckle).

SS. How are you shaping up for these upcoming games against North Korea?

KG. I feel great fitness and strength wise; I have been really concentrating on these two parts of my game. I think technically I can be better and my finishing on goal can always be improved, a striker can always practice that. If I just keep to my routine then I think I will be fine.

SS. I know your pretty busy with university, a lot of the Matildas are completing work when you guys are away. How do you manage your busy football schedule with study?

KG. I-m going to sound like the biggest nerd here… But when I-m away I try and keep the days in which I-m at university in time with those when I-m away. If I have a lecture during the day I will complete the hours to make up for my time missed. And study on top of that obviously; it-s all about the same routine for me! I-m in my third year now and this study plan seems to be working for me so far. It also helps when we have a million hours on the plane, I can always be doing stuff then. After we get back from North Korea in May I have my 1st semester exams, that-s when I will be really getting my work done.

SS. And finally, if you could be introduced to a Socceroo, who would it be and why?

KG. That-s a tough one because they are all pretty good. But I- d have to say Lucas Neill.

SS. I would never of guessed…

KG. You ask why? Because I would like to shake his hand, he also owes me some roses from my comment in the ‘Who- Magazine. I haven-t received them yet. So that-s also why I would like to talk to him (Laughs).