As she prepares to begin life with the second-most famous purple-wearing club in the world in Fiorentina, we thought it was time to offer a nod of recognition to the one and only Lisa De Vanna.
Born and raised in Freo, the diminutive forward has been a key figure in Australian football throughout a career which spans nearly 20 years and includes three campaigns here at Glory.
Super-competitive, strong-willed and certainly not afraid to ruffle feathers on or off the field, by the time she first linked up with Glory in 2008, De Vanna had already plied her trade in England with Doncaster Belles, Sweden at AIK and in the USA with Washington Freedom.
In fact it was a loan move from the American club that enabled her to represent her hometown team for the first time and she duly found the net three times in seven games during her first season and then bagged two in eight the following year.
Brisbane, Newcastle and Linkoping [in Sweden] were among her subsequent ports of call before she made a return to Perth for the 2012-13 season and played an important role as the women in purple threatened to reach what would have been a maiden Westfield W-League Grand Final.
A hat-trick in an astonishing 7-5 away win at Sydney FC was one of her personal highlights as Glory secured a second-placed finish behind Brisbane Roar.
With Kate Gill rattling the goals in en route to the Golden Boot, Glory were well fancied to down Melbourne Victory in the semi-finals at nib Stadium, but alas, it was not to be.
The teams were locked at 1-1 after extra-time and although De Vanna did her bit by scoring in the ensuing penalty shootout, Aivi Luik and Rosie Sutton both failed to convert and the Grand Final dream was over.
That painful defeat proved to be the last we saw of the Matildas regular in Glory colours as she headed off to add another host of clubs to her resume, including Orlando Pride, Boston Breakers, Sky Blue FC, Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City, Canberra United and until the end of last season, Sydney FC.
Now, her epic football journey has taken her to a new destination in the form of Italy, but as she prepares to adjust to the rigours of Serie A, we’d love to get your Glory memories of a player who remains one of the biggest characters in the women’s game.
So please join the conversation via our Facebook page HERE or on Twitter HERE.
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