Tara Andrews' two most memorable W-League goals have been against Sydney. And on Sunday, Newcastle's most prolific goalscorer will be out to produce another as she marks a milestone moment by reaching her 100th appearance for her home-town team.
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The 26-year-old joins an exclusive club alongside Jets left-back and co-captain Gema Simon, who is the only other player to have achieved the feat for Newcastle.
It comes in Andrews' 11th campaign after making her W-League debut as a fresh-faced 15-year-old on October 5, 2009.
"One hundred games is obviously pretty special, and to play it at one club is really good for me," Andrews said at training on Wednesday. "To do it in front of my family and home town will be really special on the weekend, so I'm really excited for it."
Andrews played seven consecutive W-League seasons before missing Newcastle's 2016-17 campaign, uncertain if she would be back.
"I guess there was a time where I wasn't sure if football was going to be a long-term thing for me, when I had that year off," Andrews said.
"But I missed it a lot that season that I didn't play, so coming back was a really good opportunity to take it and say I want to do this for as long as I can, because I love football and I want to play as many games as I can for the Jets."
A hip injury hampered her return season in 2017-18, limiting her game time to just six outings. But that campaign also produced one of her highlights in a drama-charged 3-2 semi-final loss to the Sky Blues. Andrews produced an injury time goal off the bench to send the match into extra time.
"I was coming back from one of my injuries and I'd only played about 30 minutes in a lot of the games leading up to it," she said.
"I came on in that game, ended up scoring and going to extra time. I was buggered by the end of it because I hadn't played that long but we'd got to the semi-final and we'd never done that while I was playing."
Another came in 2010, when Andrews ended Sydney's 14-match unbeaten streak with a spectacular goal from halfway in a 2-1 victory.
"The semi-final was a great goal, a great moment to score, but I'll never forgot that goal from halfway," she said.
Andrews, who is also a full-time engineer, has started this season in strong form, scoring four goals in as many matches to take her W-League tally to 38.
Her form has come after leading Manly to championship success in the 2020 National Premier League NSW Women's with 13 goals. She will be feeling right at home on Sunday when the Jets meet Sydney at Manly's home ground of Cromer Park.
The unbeaten Sky Blues lead the league with nine points and came from behind to beat Newcastle 2-1 on January 8. Newcastle improved to fifth with four points after beating Western Sydney 4-1 for their first win of the season last weekend.
"I think we've got a bit of momentum now," Andrews said. "Obviously beating Western Sydney 4-1, we're creating chances, we're scoring goals. I think we're going to take that through to Sydney and I think we're going to play better than we did last game against them."
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