Amy Jackson - the ultimate super domestique

In cycling, teams have their leader - the one they think gives them the best chance of winning the race. In order to help the leader they surround them with what the French refer to as super domestiques - riders who whilst very talented themselves, their sole job is to support the leader, especially during mountain stages in grand tours. They understand this is their role and watch on as the leader gets all the media attention and have a very high profile. This doesn't mean they're not capable of winning races themselves, quite often they do, it's just for the really big races their job is to do whatever gives the leader the best chance of winning (e.g. setting the tempo so the leader can conserve energy by riding in their slipstream). It's a highly tactical role but one that often flies under the radar of the casual fan/non cycling media.

In football terms you'd traditionally think of the strikers as the leaders and the midfield as the super domestiques. The strikers give the team the best chance of winning because you need to score goals in order to win games. The midfield is there to help the strikers score by providing the conduit between defence and attack allowing strikers to play closer to goal, thus giving them a greater chance of scoring and the team winning. They are tasked with breaking up opposition attacks and getting back to help defend in numbers at set pieces. These players are immensely talented and a lot of them pose a very real attacking threat in their own right, it's just that their primary function isn't solely to be an attacking force themselves, it's a combination of attack and defence. Again these players often go unnoticed by the casual fan and a lot of the media.

Into to this light step Amy Jackson (or as we Vikings call her 'El Presidente'). By any measure Amy has had an extraordinarily successful career - 109 games (and counting) across the two Melbourne clubs since making her debut back in 2010. Throughout this time Amy has quietly gone about her business in midfield, alternatively shielding the defence behind her and slipping passes through to onrushing strikers so they can score (whilst bobbing up with 15 goals herself (14 for Victory)), with a minimum of fuss. Despite having played in the W-League for 11 seasons now, including playing in 3 championship winning sides, just like most super domestiques in cycling, Amy's career has largely been unheralded by the wider football community.

Amy sits equal second with Caitlin Friend for goals scored for Victory, with only Natasha Dowie in front of her. That stat alone gives you some measure of her worth to Victory. Whilst Victory have had plenty of high profile players play for them over the years (Steph Catley, Laura Brock (nee Alleway), Christine Nairn, Natasha Dowie, Melissa Barberieri, Jess Fishlock, Lisa DeVanna), Amy has just been quietly going about her business away from the spotlight, carving out one of the most successful careers in the history of the W-League.

So on Sunday when Amy runs out in the navy blue for the 67th time, overtaking Gulcan Koca as Melbourne Victory's games record holder, finally the spotlight will be shining on Amy and we'll be there to make sure the whole world knows just how much Victory fans love our Amy.