Words: Michael Flynn
Image: Football Queensland

PlayStation® 4 NPL Queensland 2015 Women’s Most Valuable Player Gabe Marzano says the honour is as much a team award as an individual accolade.

The 23 year-old attacking midfielder won the award as a key member of a The Gap Women team that won the Premiership-Championship double in the competition’s inaugural season.

Her performances - which included 18 goals in 20 appearances across the regular season and Final Series - earned her a contract with Brisbane Roar’s Westfield W-League team for the current season after playing with Perth Glory in the previous campaign.

The Most Valuable Player award was determined by a weighted 3-2-1 voting system, submitted by coaches of the eleven PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland 2015 Senior Women’s clubs.

Marzano said she was honoured to be the inaugural Women’s MVP in the state’s elite club competition.

“When Football Queensland informed me that I had won the MVP the first thing I thought was ‘what an honour’,” Marzano said.

“There are a lot of talented players in the NPL and particularly a lot of talented players I play alongside at The Gap FC, so to be identified as the stand-out in the coach’s eyes was really cool.”

However, Marzano was adamant that the performances of her teammates were a significant contributor to her receiving the award.

“No matter who gets the individual MVP award, most of the credit has to go to the team at the end of the day,” she explained.

“I’m just one of the players on the field in that team and I work very hard to complement the team and do my job, so - although it is an individual award - I’m very happy to see it as a another title for The Gap FC.”

Marzano has continued her form in the Westfield W-League with Roar, scoring her first goal for the club last weekend against Western Sydney Wanderers.

She said the standard of PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland Women’s football was very high and that was reflected in the number of players who progressed to the Westfield W-League this season.

“The amount of talent we have in this state is phenomenal and the competition has serious potential to be up there with the standard of the W-League,” she explained.

“There’s eleven players who were in the NPL now at the Roar, at Canberra United and at Adelaide United.”

However, Marzano revealed that she will not return to PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland next season, with her work commitments with the Army meaning she will be based in Sydney next year.

“I will be posted to Sydney next year, so I will be playing in the NPL down there. I would love to stay in Brisbane though because I love playing for The Gap and I love playing in the NPL.”

But she said she will still be a The Gap FC supporter no matter where she is based.

“The Gap had a lot to do with me playing in the W-League, so you can never take The Gap out of me as a player,” she concluded.