Libby Copus-Brown is as Novocastrian as they come, but she was born in Brighton, England, and supported Chelsea as a youngster growing up in the football-mad country.
“Obviously, coming from the UK, it’s a massive thing, playing football, watching football. It’s a different level over there.”
Libby and her family moved to Newcastle at the age of eight. It was here she began supporting the Newcastle Jets. Libby grew up watching Newcastle, either on TV or in the stands at McDonald Jones or Magic Park. Her favourite players were Tara Andrews and Emily van Egmond. Soon enough, she was playing at McDonald Jones alongside both of her idols.
“I remember watching Tara Andrews and I actually did a speech on her at school. She was one of my idols growing up and then it was obviously nice to play along with someone with her experience and background. And then I remember going to training as a 15-year-old, and I was super nervous and I’m pretty sure I ended up just blabbing it to her. I said, I literally just did a speech on you the other day.”
Libby debuted as a 16 year old in 2013, and since then has amassed 62 appearances and 6 goals across her two spells at the club, whilst also spending two seasons at the Wanderers as well as enjoying a stint back in England’s second tier with Lewes FC.
“Yeah, it was really cool (playing overseas). Quite similar to here, to be honest. Maybe a little bit more physical and a little bit more depth throughout the rest of the teams in the league. They were pretty well spread, and then obviously, the main difference was playing in the freezing cold rather than the 40-degree heat that we have here.”
Despite being just 26 years old, Libby is one of the more experienced players in the Jets A-League Women’s side, having been in and around first-team football for the best part of 11 years. She has been using this valuable experience to offer advice and mentorship to some of the younger members of the squad.
“I’ve got a good relationship with our coach (Ryan Campbell), and he’s put me in that leadership role. It’s good to take the younger ones under my wing because I know that there were a lot of players that used to do that for me when I was that age and coming up, so it’s nice to be able to do it for the younger ones that we’ve got now.”
The Jets are aiming to build on the success of last season and make finals again, having finished 6th last season, qualifying for the semi-finals before losing to minor premiers Melbourne City across two legs.
“We’ve got a few new girls that have come in and have slotted in nicely. It doesn’t really feel like they’re new. And then obviously you’ve got the ones that were here last year. It just feels like we haven’t even been away, so it’s been good.”
“To be honest, the main goal from a team perspective would be to win the league. I think it’s been a long time coming for the Jets. We got pretty close last season, so it would be good to get some silverware.”
