Tom Sermanni is now the fourth Matildas coach assigned with the task of cracking the Mary Fowler code.
First there was Alen Stajcic, who debuted her at 15, then Ante Milicic, Tony Gustavsson and now interim boss Sermanni.
Fowler’s talents are undeniable, but no coach has yet been able to unlock the full potential of the attacking 21-year-old at international level.
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In the 1-1 draw to Switzerland, Fowler was a target for the opposition in defence and failed to make an impact.
Mary Fowler warms up against Switzerland. Getty Images for Football Austra
Sermanni wants that change as he anticipated a completely different tactical battle against Germany in the next friendly on Tuesday morning.
“That’s one of the things we’re looking at doing is getting her in a position where she’s going to hurt the opposition a little bit more and obviously trying to get in a position where she gets more of the ball,” he told media.
“Again in fairness to Switzerland, they had what looked like a deliberate plan in their right hand side with Ellie (Carpenter) and Mary and I think that made it difficult for her to get into the game.
“With the type of game it’s going to be against Germany I think that’s an opportunity for her to get into more space, get on the ball more and hopefully create more for us.”
With Fowler known for moving into tight spaces, Sermanni was further asked whether there’s a reluctance from teammates to pass her the ball in those positions.
The interim coach believes that issue should be “easily fixable”.
Tom Sermanni. Getty Images for Football Austra
“It’s probably a combination of both, a combination of perhaps players looking and thinking it’s too tight and a combination of Mary, although being in the space, regardless of whether that space is tight or if it’s big, to actually want to look like you want to get on the ball,” he said.
“It’s a good point and in essence should be an easily fixable point in the sense that even players having a chat with each other and just saying ‘give me the ball I can handle it’.
“It’s possibly a combination of that. If you look at the Switzerland game in isolation, they made things really difficult for us to play down the right hand side so we did not get a lot of play in those areas to start with.”