Clare Hunt

Clare Hunt had a big year in 2023. At the start of it, her entire career had been spent in Australia’s A-League Women and she had yet to play a game for the Matildas. By September she was the starting centre-back for the national team and she was on a plane to France to join football superpower Paris Saint-Germain.

What’s more, she had played a key role in the Matildas’ spectacular surge to the semi-finals of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, playing in each of Australia’s seven matches with the calm assurance of a veteran international.

“Probably the hardest things to do in your football career, I’ve done this year,” Clare said at the end of the year. “But I have the motto that if you do it all in one year, then it can’t get much harder than what you’re doing now. Get all the hard stuff out of the way and enjoy the rest of it.”

The main reason Clare took so long to make it to the Matildas was her horrendous injury history – an ACL, a shoulder reconstruction and a broken ankle. She underwent seven surgeries over five years, which kept her off the pitch for months at a time.

Growing up on a sheep farm outside the small NSW town of Grenfell, Clare spent much of her junior career playing in the Canberra United Academy, before joining the club’s senior team. Later she moved to Sydney to study at the University of Sydney and play with Western Sydney Wanderers.

When she finally put together an injury-free season in 2022-23, Clare was voted into the PFA A-Leagues Team of the Season and on the basis of that form was selected in the Matildas for the Cup of Nations.

At the time, the Matildas had been desperately searching for players capable of strengthening the team’s depth in defence. When Clare arrived at her first training camp, her new central defensive partner Alanna Kennedy is alleged to have said: “Where have you been?”

Clare made her debut in February when she came on as a second-half substitute in a 4-0 win over the Czech Republic in the Cup of Nations. She also played in two other games in that tournament and a couple of friendless and by the time the World Cup came around, she was one of the first players picked. 

“I always had it in my heart that I wanted to play for the national team, I just kept going through ridiculous injury rehab,” she said. “I just knew I had to bide my time, however long that would be.

“The opportunity came … when I had an injury-free season and started to get some consistent minutes. That was the first time in my career where I got to show my technical and tactical game learnt over the last 20 years.

“And I know everyone’s like, ‘Where has she come from?’ But I feel like I always had this capacity, I just could never show it. All I needed was one opportunity to show people what I could do. When I got that, I knew I could perform without much game time, then I knew I could do so much [more] when I have an opportunity to train. So now being at PSG and playing with the Matildas, every training session and every game is another opportunity for me to get a little bit better.”

Clare was rock solid in defence for the Matildas throughout the World Cup, one of just three players who played every minute possible. She was selected in the tournament’s All-Star XI.

Since the World Cup, Clare has nailed down her spot among PSG’s squad full of French internationals.

And in February 2024, she was back in green and gold as the Matildas nailed down their place at the Paris Olympics with home and away victories over Uzbekistan.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics Clare and the Matildas faced Germany, Zambia and the USA in a tough Group B.

A tournament-opening 3-0 loss to Germany was followed by a dramatic 11-goal thriller against Zambia, where the Matildas came back from 5-2 down to win 6-5. Facing a must-win scenario against the USA to stay alive, the Matildas' tournament ended on another 3-0 loss.

Outside of football, Clare has a bachelor of science from Sydney University and is currently studying for a doctor of physiotherapy in an extended masters.