Joe Montemurro honed his craft in the Ninja A-League, now he is in charge of the CommBank Matildas with the competition at the heart of a new era. The Australian great speaks to aleagues.com.au about the domestic competition’s role in the national team.
It is a new era for the CommBank Matildas with Joe Montemurro at the helm and the A-Leagues is set to play a key role.
Montemurro’s tenure begins against Slovenia in Perth on Thursday night and the Ninja A-Leagues’ fingerprints are not only across the squad but also the coaching staff.
The extended squad selected for upcoming matches with Slovenia and Panama features 14 Ninja A-League stars, including four debutants and Julie Dolan Medallist Alex Chidiac of Melbourne Victory.
It is all part of Montemurro’s vision for the Matildas as he heaped praise on the domestic competition – a league he knows extremely well having won two Championships with Melbourne City.
“The first role that we did was to look at the broader squad and look at the list going forward,” Montemurro told aleagues.com.au. “But not only the current scenario, what’s happening underneath?
“I’ve given a mantra, we need to now start looking at the broader group. But the the reality is once you have that broader group, then what happens? What opportunities do you give the players? Because it’s all good to say, okay, well we’ve identified you as a player, what now? That’s where the work and where the magic is going to be.
“The Ninja A-League has received a lot of criticism going forward but one of the things that’s really, really important, I think that we tend to miss, is that we need players playing at a level, and the more games that players at a young age are playing, the more it’s going to benefit going forward.
“What I mean by that is that, and I use the example of France, it is a developer of talent. It is a developer of probably some of the top talent in the world. You’ve got clubs, especially in the men’s domain, that you’ve got players that are 17, 18,19, that have already played 50-60, games in in Ligue 1 or D1 and that can only help the situation.
“We have 26 games available now in the A-League. Okay, with a couple of cup games here, so on and so on. Now, if we’re getting good 17, 18, 19,-year-old players that are by the time they’re 20 years old, they’ve already played 30, 40, 50 games at the top level. The league will develop.
“The league will develop and players will develop. For me, we’re all looking for these magic wands of development, play football, lots of games, as many games as we can. That’s the natural development of players.
“The Ninja A-League has a big benefit. I hope the clubs now start to realise the importance of their existence, but more importantly, on why we should be looking at giving lots of players opportunities within that because it’s not that far behind some of the leagues in Europe, it’s not that far behind.
“I think sometimes we don’t give it the credit that it deserves.”
Montemurro honed his craft in the Ninja A-League before making a splash overseas.
The Melbournian went on to deliver a Women’s Super League title to Arsenal after being prised away from City in 2017. He then claimed an unprecedented treble at Italian giants Juventus before winning the league with European juggernaut Lyon this season.
Now, Montemurro is surrounded by coaches who have made a name for themselves in the A-Leagues.
Forming part of his Matildas coaching staff is history-making coach Emily Husband, who guided Central Coast Mariners to their maiden Ninja A-League Championship in 2024-25.
The Englishwoman became just the fourth female coach to secure a Ninja A-League Championship as the Mariners upstaged two-time reigning premiers Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory en route to Grand Final glory in her second season with the Gosford-based club.
“In a short period of time, Em has done very, very well,” said Montemurro, who worked with Husband in the 2024 A-League All-Stars game against Arsenal.
“Obviously, for someone to do so well in a short period of time, there must be something there. There must be a little bit of magic there.
“She was great when I worked with her for the All Stars team, just her ideas, her outlook of the game, but more importantly how clear she was with her messaging.
“I think she’s going to be a special coach because she’s pretty much starting her coaching journey, to jump into a national team scenario, I think is going to be really, really important for her because she can sit back and look at the greater good of the game, instead of being in the day to day.
“It’s going to be a lot of lot of fun. She’s a really important person to work with in terms of the growth of the game here in Australia, because it sends clear messages to coaches that aspire to be at the top.”
Joe Palatsides is another of Montemurro’s assistants, having followed the Aussie from Lyon to the Matildas.
Palatsides – who also spent seven years as an assistant at Melbourne City – inspired Melbourne Victory’s academy team’s promotion to NPLM VIC in 2024 before being lured away by Montemurro to Lyon in France.
“Joe’s always flown under the radar and that’s the sort of coach that I really admire. Coaches that are just in there day to day, doing the work, not looking for accolades,” said Montemurro.
“A word that I use a lot, really selfless. Always going that extra mile for people. I’ve been lucky to have worked with Joe at City. We sort of grew some ideas of football and a philosophy and a way of working which was really special.
“Apart from being a good coach, a good person. It was important that Joe come along to help send the messages, to make sure that we can smoothly with a short amount of time, get things going.
“He doesn’t probably get the accolades that he deserves because he’s done some great things for youth in in Australia.”
While Kat Smith is not currently part of Montemurro’s full-time Matildas staff, the Western United head coach received huge praise from the national team boss.
Smith worked with Montemurro for last year’s All Stars match, while she has been involved with the Matildas as part of Football Australia’s ‘Team of Coaches’ initiative.
“I see Kat as a high-performance coach at the moment. I really do. She’s done the hard yards, she’s done all the assisting and programs. She’s now, I think, ready to really coach a high-performance team,” said Montemurro.
“It’s great that she’s still involved in and about the national team programs. She’ll be important.
“I really do see Kat going on to coaching at a high level. Whether it’s in Australia or overseas. She’s ready to go to that next level. I really do and she will.
“It’s great to have her now, and the information that she’s helping us with within the local scene and also she’s got a really good hands on with development. I think she’s really, really beneficial for us at the moment. It’s been a pleasure to work with Kat, and we will continue to work together.”
