Sydney FC defender Charlotte McLean says the Sky Blues' winning mentality remains intact ahead of the club's 2026/27 Ninja A-League Women season opener against Adelaide United on Sunday, October 18 at home.
The match will be Sydney FC's first since missing finals football for the past two A-League Women seasons.
"We're a successful club, we're a winning club, and we have a winning mentality," McLean said, speaking at the A-Leagues Sydney clubs launch on Tuesday.
Head coach James Slaveski has overhauled the squad over the off-season, bringing in eight new players while eight departed from last season's group. McLean, who re-signed with the club after an earlier short-term deal at the end of the 2025/26 season, said she did not want to dwell on what had come before her return.
"I don't want to speak too much on what was happening when I wasn't here because I don't know, and clubs always have moments of transition," she said.
McLean, a two-time Championship winner and three-time Premiership winner during her first stint at Sydney FC, said the club's younger players had matured since she left.
"We had a lot of younger players, and you sometimes need to have change in order to establish growth," she said. "I feel really grateful that I'm maybe coming in now when some of these younger players are a bit older, and so I'm just maybe hopefully going to receive the fruits of that."
She said the squad had discussed its hunger to return to winning ways.
"Sydney has a winning mentality. I personally hate losing, and it's something that we have definitely been having meetings about," McLean said.
Among the new arrivals is Panamanian attacker Riley Cohn, who has re-signed with the club having previously left Sydney FC. Goalkeeper Jada Whyman also returns after a stint in Scandinavia, and midfielder Amy Chessari has joined after departing Western Sydney Wanderers.
Captain Natalia Tobin, who missed the entire 2025/26 season after giving birth to her son Charlie, is back in the first-team squad and working towards a return to playing this season.
"She's a natural leader and just a beautiful person and a beautiful mother. So that's really exciting to see her kind of in that process," McLean said.
"She's training. She's on her way back, and of course, she's a massive boost. She's Nat Tobin, she's the club."
McLean said Tobin, who has been at the club for 13 or 14 years, remained one of the competition's best.
"She's been here for like I don't know, 13, 14, years. She's one of the best defenders this league's ever seen. So, yeah, of course, we're so grateful to have her back," McLean said.
Sydney FC's season begins at home against Adelaide United on Sunday, October 18, the first step in their bid to return to finals football.