How Jeff Hopkins influenced a recent Palace signing

Women

24 Aug 2022

Writing in the Crystal Palace programme, defender Polly Doran introduced herself to fans, and revealed how ex-Eagle Jeff Hopkins influenced her move to south London.

Here's what she had to say...

Growing up with three older brothers in Australia I was the only member of an Aussie rules family to play football. At the age of five or six I tried every sport my brothers did, and then settled on the one they didn’t.

All the additional driving didn’t please my parents much, but I ended up joining Essendon Royals, my local club, and spending my first 10 years in football with them.

From there I moved up a step to Calder United and then progressed to the A-League Women with Melbourne Victory. I was lucky enough to win two Grand Finals, where the league’s top four compete in a play-off style competition to win the league title.

I’m not sure why football appealed to me when my family wouldn’t watch a match, let alone kick a ball, but it always stuck out. Today, football is pretty popular in Melbourne and a lot of young girls play it.

I was very comfortable in Melbourne but I’ve always felt being comfortable isn’t what’s best for me. To get the most out of myself I need to be in a situation where I’m uncomfortable and challenging myself a bit, so when I heard Palace were interested I thought I’d go for it.

I've got a few years left on my contract with Victory and will complete those when my time ends at Palace, but I'm looking forward to what this season holds.

Former Palace player Jeff Hopkins is manager at Melbourne Victory Women, and him being coach made the move much easier. He and I get along really well and he’s the main reason I’ve been able to progress so quickly.

He talks about Palace and if he had to send me anywhere, it’s easier that it’s to a club he has a lot of love for. He can’t speak highly enough of Palace and has told me how much he enjoyed it here, so he sent me away wishing me well.

On that note I should say that all the higher-ups at Victory made this possible because they agreed it would be best for me. I was really lucky that they let this come to fruition.

On Palace’s side, I spoke with club staff and they ran me through the values and long-term aims before I moved. Palace are trying to push the women’s game forward and are a massive club – even though not everyone in Australia follows football, they do know Crystal Palace. So it’s a big thing for me to join a club with that reputation and with ambitions to match.

Our challenge this season is to win the league, and to do that we have to take every game as it comes. That’s how we won in Melbourne. That step after winning – promotion to a new league – adds to the motivation.

The club have been instilling that already this season: as soon as I joined they drilled it into me that to win the league we need to hit certain targets.

We’re still implementing the style, coaches’ plan, and gelling as a squad, but if we can get those things right the end goal becomes all the more attainable.

I’m quite competitive and if there’s an opportunity to fight for something I want to take it. Speaking to people at Palace there’s definitely a fight on.

Get behind the team as they fight for the title this season - starting with matches at Hayes Lane and Selhurst Park!

You can take the family from just £10 to the Selhurst clash on Sunday, 18th September. Get your tickets here!

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