Women's football appears the hottest ticket in town right now, and Lorena Baumann hopes that trend continues to be the case when the Newcastle Jets host Western Sydney at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The match, kicking off at 5.45pm, is the second fixture of a club double-header with the men playing Wanderers at 3pm and will be Newcastle's first home game of 2023-24.
The Jets women opened their campaign with back-to-back road trips, beating Central Coast 1-0 in Gosford before succumbing 1-0 to Glory in Perth.
"It's time to have a home game," Baumann said.
"It's definitely a lot nicer to play at home than to have to travel and that we're able to play in the stadium makes it even better, so I'm very excited."
Baumann is playing in the A-League for the first time and the Swiss international told the Newcastle Herald she was drawn to the competition following the hype of the Women's World Cup in Australia this year.
"I got an offer from Australia and I always wanted to come to Australia and play football, so when I heard about it there wasn't any question to take the offer or not, so I'm quite happy to be here," Baumann said.
"It's quite nice to be here, after the World Cup especially, because the audiences are great and the level is quite good, so I'm definitely excited to play here."
The A-League Women resumes this weekend after a break due to an international window, in which the Matildas continued to play in front of sell-out crowds during Olympic qualifying fixtures in Perth.
Australia's women's soccer team have sold out their past 10 matches on home soil with record-breaking crowds turning up and tuning in.
"It's just nice for women's football to be recognised and to get something back for all of the work put in over the years," Baumann said.
"I hope it's not just for a couple of months, or just this season. I hope it's longer than that."
The 26-year-old fullback arrived in Newcastle after playing in Switzerland, Iceland and Portugal.
She has started both games for the Jets at left-back and produced solid 90-minute efforts.
"The group is quite good," Baumann said of a new-look Jets squad.
"We have different characters and everyone is willing to put a lot of work into football and to improve, and if we keep going and try our best I think we can achieve a lot.
"[Personally], I just want to prove myself in any league ... see a different style of football and see how I adjust myself to playing this kind of football."
Coach Gary van Egmond is expected to have a full complement of players to choose from for the Wanderers clash.
MORE IN SPORT:
