Cortnee Vine: ‘I sometimes forget that I actually play for the Matildas’

C ortnee Vine needs a new car. Her old one, a modest Kia Picante that made an unlikely star turn in Disney’s docu-series about the Matildas after it broke down on camera, was written off in April. Another vehicle had careered into it while Vine was away on international duty in England, and while she waits for a replacement, the down-to-earth winger is borrowing a somewhat more lavish set of wheels.

“I’ve actually got a supercar at the moment, which is pretty scary,” Vine says. “It’s another impostor syndrome moment.”

It is not the first time Vine has felt like an imposter over the past few years, amid a meteoric rise to prominence which is expected to culminate with a place in Tony Gustavsson’s World Cup squad for the eagerly anticipated tournament on home soil next month. But the 25-year-old from country Victoria is no fraud.

She may not see it herself, but there is ample evidence to warrant her inclusion on Australia’s final 23-woman list, to be revealed on 3 July. After a breakout season with Sydney FC in 2021-22, she has barely looked back during what has been a madcap 18 months.

“The last year and a half has been a whirlwind for me. A lot has happened,” she says, without a hint of understatement. Let’s start with her domestic achievements: Vine is coming off a stellar season during which she performed her own star turn, leading Sydney FC to a third straight A-League Women premiership and a first championship since 2019. Her direct, fearless and forward-thinking style of play has opposition defences quaking in their boots and she has been the club’s top scorer and the members’ player of the year for the past two seasons.

Recognition for her rapid progress at domestic level came with a first Matildas cap at the