Emily Husband initially turned down the job that has led her to the biggest stage in Australian women’s domestic soccer. That offer came in 2020 when the English coach, who now leads the Central Coast Mariners in the A-League Women’s competition, received a phone call from Sydney University football director John Curran, who asked Husband to manage the club’s first team in the National Premier Leagues NSW competition, after three years overseeing the reserve grade side. “I said, ‘I don’t know, I have to think about it; I don’t think I’m ready’,” said Husband, who was doubling as Canberra United’s assistant coach at the time. “I came back to Sydney, and he would ask, ‘So, when are we announcing you as the head coach?’ And I said, ‘No John, I don’t feel that I’m quite ready to take this on yet’. And he said, ‘I have confidence in you, just give it a crack’. I guess the rest is history.”