Sharn Freier has unfinished business before move to Wolfsburg

Sharn Freier has just secured the biggest move of her young career, but said she has unfinished business in Brisbane before heading overseas.

Brisbane Roar’s star winger, who has come through the Academy ranks and recently earned a Matildas call-up, will see out this season with the her home town team before relocating to Germany to join Frauen-Bundesliga giants Wolfsburg in July.

Freier made her Roar debut back in early 2021, but after a suffering an ACL injury that ruled her out of the 2021-22 season, rejoined the team for the following year’s campaign.

However, it has been this season that has seen the 23-year-old local product really step up, setting the league alight with some scintillating performances down her favoured left wing, as well as chipping in with two goals of her own.

Although Freier made it clear that this was a move she needed to take her game to the next level, she was quick to point out she will still be a Roar player until the current season ends.  

“Wolfsburg were very accommodating in letting me stay here to July,” Freier said.

“The season we’ve had so far and the team that we have at the club is very special. Hopefully we can go all the way, and I want to be part of that.”

Her Brisbane team have made an excellent start to their 2024/25 campaign, scoring 32 goals in their 12 games to date to sit fourth on the ladder, just five points behind league leaders Melbourne City.

While they have work to do in the second half of the season to challenge for honours, it’s clear that is Freier’s intention.

“If my last year at the Roar could be winning with this bunch of girls that would be a dream,” she explained.

Having one of their locally developed talents sign for a footballing powerhouse like Wolfsburg, who were UEFA Women’s Champions League winners as recently as 2014, is a big deal for Brisbane and women’s football in Australia as a whole, as Brisbane Roar COO Zac Anderson explained.

“There is a bigger story here for Australian football, in that she’s one of our own, a young Brisbane girl who has come through the NPL system and QAS into the professional ranks, and we’re really proud to announce her move to Wolfsburg,” he enthused.

The fee paid for Frier is officially undisclosed, but Round Ball Australia understands it is a six figure sum, with Anderson confirming the amount received from Wolfsburg is a club record fee for a female player.

“We hope to re-invest this back into the program to help the next generation come through,” he added.

It has been well documented that the Brisbane club has been struggling to compete financially since the funding cuts for all A-League teams were announced in July last year.

Although it has been Brisbane’s men’s team that has arguably borne the brunt of this funding gap – with a sharp downturn in their fortunes as a result – their female counterparts are not immune to this issue, and a large transfer fee will be a welcome relief for the club as a whole. 

However, their investment in youth is starting to pay off, with 19-year-old striker Thomas Waddingham from Brisbane’s A-League Men side also on the verge of securing a lucrative overseas move this week.

More funds will be needed to keep the Queensland production line rolling, but the immediate focus for Roar’s women will be maximising the time they have with Freier in the squad.

Roar women’s coach Alex Smith is the man tasked with doing that, and he was also keen to share his thoughts on the record transfer news.

“These are the moments as a coach that you live for. I don’t know if there has been a bigger move [in Australian women’s football] for a young player in the last five to 10 years, and to go to a club like Wolfsburg is huge,” he commented.

But will this have a negative effect on the team, knowing that one of their key players is moving on next season?

Not according to Smith, who thought the exact opposite was more likely.

“It’s a close-knit team and Sharn has been playing with some of them for many years, so they’d couldn’t be happier for her. It’s also a blueprint for success for them too,” he replied.

Smith has been at the helm of Brisbane’s A-League Women squad since November 2023, guiding the team to 9^th spot on the ladder last season.

While understandably not wanting to pin his colours to the mast too early, he admitted that capitalising on Freier’s abilities while she was still in the building was a focus.

“Hopefully we can send her off with a medal around her neck,” Smith said.

Whether that can be achieved is easier said than done. However, after the recent tribulations of their male counterparts this season, it seems that Brisbane’s hopes of A-League glory (or at least finals football) lay firmly in the hands of the ladies in 2025.

And Sharn Freier wouldn’t have it any other way.