Mackenzie Hawkesby dreamed of playing for the Matildas as a little girl while growing up in Figtree in Wollongong, and this week she received that call-up to the national women's squad.
Sydney FC A-League Women's Player of the Year Mackenzie Hawkesby is in the Matildas squad for friendlies against Spain and PortugalShe's hoping to use the games as to stake her claim for 2023 World Cup selection"It's something that you wait for and want as a footballer, but to get the actual call was really surreal.
"[I] had a great season with Sydney and [was] very happy with how the team went and my overall performance in that," she said. The former Illawarra Stingray is one of the fresh faces Matildas head coach Tony Gustavsson has called up as part ofHawkesby will be joined by five of her Sydney FC teammates as some of the senior members of the national squad including Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Hayley Raso, and Alanna Kennedy are given a rest.
"This squad is a mixture of the new generation coming through, plus a mixture of the other generation that has been there for a while, so it is huge opportunity for me," Hawkesby said.
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