Our most influential player

There have been plenty of wonderful players throughout our history but no player has had the impact of Natasha Dowie. Tash joined the club as a guest player in November 2015 at a time when we were reeling with the loss of our best players ( and coach) to the newly formed Melbourne City and had yet to win a single point. She debuted in round 7 away to Perth and played the full 90 minutes in a 3-1 win. At the end of the 2015/16 season we finished last with only 7 points. The following season saw her join as a visa player for the entire season and her impact was profound, scoring 9 goals in a side that only scored 17 in total, and only picked up 9 points in again finishing last.

Ahead of the 2017/18 season she was appointed captain which spoke volumes about her leadership on and off the field. She scored 6 goals as we finished 7th, picking up 11 points. And then came the truly remarkable season that was 2018-19 when we stormed our way to the premiership with Tash scoring 9 goals, bettered only by Sam Kerr's 13. In what may turn out to be her last season (we hope not) in 2019/20 she scored a joint high 7 goals and won her first golden boot. This was an astonishing achievement given our slow start that saw us only score 6 goals in the first half of the season.

In terms of playing style Tash is undoubtedly a classic number 9 - equally as comfortable playing with her back to goal as she was running at defenders. Equally adept at dropping back into midfield and playing provider for others as she was at bobbing up to clear the ball off her own goal line. As a sign of the true leader she is she always works tirelessly to bring others into the play and gets just as much joy, if not more, from setting a team mate up to score as she does scoring herself. For someone who played in a struggling side for most of her time at the club this was undoubtedly an inspiration to the rest of the team and Tash undoubtedly leaves the team in a better place than what she found it.

However the reason Tash is our most influential player in our history is not simply for the reasons listed above, but because of the way she came to embody Melbourne Victory from the moment she made her debut and truly embraced the club and us fans. Despite the fact that our highest finish was only 7th during her first three seasons, she signed a two year contract ahead of the 2018-19 season which was a remarkable show of faith from a player of her standing and showed just how much she loved the club, us fans and the city of Melbourne itself.

Tash gave us hope during the dark days of those first few seasons, hope that things could get better, hope that even though we went into most games as rank outsider, because we had Tash there was always a chance we could get a result, and if not well chances were we'd see another brilliant goal from her. She was also always so generous with her time after a match - win, lose or draw. In a league where player turnover is so high amongst the internationals, we have been privileged for the last 5 years to call Natasha Dowie one of our own. And in a final measure of just how much she understands the love we feel for her, upon announcing her decision not to return to Melbourne next season she gave us hope that one day she may return. So until we see you back in the navy blue again Tash thanks for everything.