{"id":499261,"date":"2026-02-23T17:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T17:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/499261\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T17:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T17:44:11","slug":"wa-news-on-monday-february-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/499261\/","title":{"rendered":"WA news on Monday, February 23"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WA\u2019s Sam Kerr has returned to the goalscorer\u2019s list ahead of the upcoming Asian Cup opening match against the Philippines at Perth Stadium next month.<\/p>\n<p>Two of Australia\u2019s superstar Matildas will fly home for the tournament in a buoyant mood after Mary Fowler made her first start in 315 days, while Kerr proved once again she\u2019s the queen of the FA Cup with a smartly taken goal.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler celebrate a goal against the Philippines in Perth in late 2023.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/37d4651346aae922a77ac1108e987cc80f382438.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 bnWZMz\"\/>Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler celebrate a goal against the Philippines in Perth in late 2023.Getty<\/p>\n<p>There had been plenty of questions over the readiness of the illustrious duo with Fowler having been sidelined for three weeks since making a 15-minute return for Manchester City following her long injury absence and Kerr cutting a frustrated figure for Chelsea with only bit-part cameos.<\/p>\n<p>But with Australia\u2019s opening match just a week away against the Philippines in Kerr\u2019s Perth backyard, the pair chose the perfect moment to demonstrate their sharpness as they helped steer their sides into the quarter-finals of the Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Kerr, who always seems to come alive during the Women\u2019s FA Cup, having scored five goals in three final victories and netting a double against Crystal Palace in the previous round, this time transformed the fifth-round tie against Manchester United after coming on as a 72nd minute sub at Kingsmeadow.<\/p>\n<p>On her 150th appearance for the Blues, the Matildas skipper soon livened up Chelsea\u2019s stuttering attack, scoring within six minutes of her entrance, a left foot strike cannoning in off the post after fellow Aussie Ellie Carpenter\u2019s delivery into the box wasn\u2019t cleared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know it\u2019s not been easy for Sam, because she\u2019s a competitive player who wants to play a lot of minutes, and I understand that,\u201d Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor said, referring to how she\u2019s so often used Kerr as a sub since she returned from her ACL injury.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut those on the bench are really important for me, because they can make an impact when they come in. I think that\u2019s what Sam did today, and it\u2019s great for the team. I\u2019m really happy for her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It spells more good news for Matildas\u2019 boss Joe Montemurro, who had commented in the week on Kerr\u2019s enthusiasm, noting \u201cthere\u2019s something in Sam\u2019s voice &#8230; there\u2019s a buzz in the air when you speak to her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WA\u2019s Sam Kerr has returned to the goalscorer\u2019s list ahead of the upcoming Asian Cup opening match against&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-499261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}