RWC2025 | Assistant coach Chris Delooze, Michaela Leonard and Maya Stewart look ahead to Australia's quarter-final

Assistant coach Chris Delooze, Michaela Leonard and Maya Stewart (pictured) look ahead to Australia's quarter-final against Canada at Ashton Gate Stadium on Saturday

Chris Delooze, assistant coach

On the mood on playing Canada following the loss at their last meeting:
"It’s an exciting week, because we actually get a bit of retribution. We get a chance to put what we didn’t do so well that day into practice and we’ve been working hard on a lot of things, on both sides of the ball, knowing that this is going to be an exciting game."

On being underdogs:
"Call it underdog, call it whatever you like. It’s a World Cup quarter-final, these opportunities don’t come very often. If we go out there and stick to our processes, that’s where the excitement of the game can build."

On how they expect the poor weather to impact their game:
"We looked at the weather map last week and we’re ready for it. The girls have prepped for it, we were lucky enough to have some pretty poor weather in Sydney and Brisbane before we left so that prepped us nicely before we even got on the plane, but it’s not going to change our approach."

Michaela Leonard

On lessons learnt from Canada across the tournament:
"Set pieces are a huge strength of the Canadians, they’ve got this really big, physical and athletic pack. We’ve seen that they like to use them in attack and they’re quite effective at it as well. But reflecting on our journey, we have come a huge way and we showed last week that the set piece is becoming a strength of ours as well."

On the support from the Matildas at home:
"The messages from home have been non-stop, the Matildas [Australia women's football team] sending through messages was a really exciting one for us because a couple of years ago at the Football World Cup, they were the pinnacle of sport in our country. So for them to be behind us and giving us their love and support just means the world."

On if there anything from home that she’s missing:
"My dog mainly. But there’s not much that we’re missing. We’ve spent more time than ever together, so it’s been really cool to know the group really well and it almost feels like a home away from home."

Maya Stewart

On the mindset approaching this game:
"We put out a really strong performance in the first half against England and its something we can really be proud of. So moving into this game against Canada, world number two, I think it’ll be a similar mindset and we’ve been challenging that all week."

On the relationships in the team:
"We’re definitely having a lot of fun, but we’ve all become such good friends off the pitch as well and it really contributes to what we’re doing on there, those tough conversations that we wouldn’t be having 16 months ago. We’re evolving from there and the more our relationships build off the field, the tighter we’re getting on the field."

On if Chelsea's Australian football star Sam Kerr will be attending the quarter-final match:
"Hopefully, Sam Kerr if you’re out there, please come."