New Aberdeen Women captain Madison Finnie previewed Aberdeen Women's trip to champions Hearts to kick off their SWPL 1 campaign.

Captain Maddie Finnie

“It’s such an honour to be named captain.

“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be given captaincy at such a young age. We’re a young team, so to be one of the more experienced players now, I think I’ve learned quite a lot off previous captains over the past few years, and now it’s my turn. I’m really grateful for it.

“It’s a bit surreal! Still being so young, it’s obviously amazing that the club’s given me the opportunity to develop at such a young age and now become that experienced one. I’m really grateful for the club and the opportunities that I’ve been given.

“But to be one of the more experienced ones, I’m trying to help the academy players come up, and the girls that have come from down south. So I’m trying to help them settle in.”

Learning from the captains before her

“I think they’ve all got different attributes and they all have their own way of being captain, so I learned a lot from every single one of them, and all in slightly different ways.

“All of them have been great for me, both on and off the pitch. Starting with Loren Campbell, it was my first year up at the first team, so she really helped me settle in, and she was obviously so experienced, so that helped.

“And then Nadine Hanssen, who had so much experience around Europe, and then Hannah Stewart. I think all of them maybe great leaders first and foremost, but I think they showed their qualities off the pitch as well, which is so important to have in a captain.”

Helping the Academy players

“I think for them it can be daunting but coming up into senior football where you’re playing against international players, it’s a big jump.

“It’s one you have to try take in your stride, and I think I’ve done that quite well in the past. Trying to help the young ones, and keep them right on and off the pitch, that’s something that I like to do because I’ve been through that experience already.”

Pre-season and the Sky Sports Cup

“There are positives.

“On the whole, the results are really disappointing. But for such a young team, we didn’t have of the new players in and if there were, they were just in the door.

“I think from each game we had really good spells. The Dundee United game, we got a win, got a clean sheet, and I’d say there was a lot of fight and determination, and I think it just shows how a youthful team can be a good thing, because they’ve got no fear, and so much energy.

“I think there are positive to take, and the things that didn’t work for us, we’ll look back and analyse it, learn from it, and try to fix it.”

The new recruits

“I think they bring a bit of quality, a bit of experience. Most of them have been down in England and the standard down there at their academies is brilliant, so them coming in just helps settle the squad.

“They’ll come in, get experience and hopefully help us as much as they can.”

Rachel Corsie

“I had a chat with her Tuesday, then another chat with her yesterday, and I think she wanted to make it clear that she is here to help the Women’s Team and the Girls’ Academy grow.

“We had a lot of change over summer, so her coming in, we had a good chat, we spoke about the season ahead.

“I think it’s so positive that she’s came up and is already looking to change things and help us improve.

“I think her playing the same position as me means she can help me as a player, both technically and tactically, which is so important. She is somebody who is very inspiring.

“She said to me, if you want to make it to that next level, if you need any help with anything, just reach out to me. That is something that I will use to try and improve my game. I can just soak up as much as I can from her experiences.”

Nathan Flight

“He’s done well. We’ve had six players come in within ten days, so I think that shows his vision. At the same time, he is trying to develop the younger players as well.

“You can see he is putting his spin on the team now.”

The challenge of Hearts

“These games are not going to define our season at all.

“Hearts are the champions and we know it’s going to be a tough game.

“Both teams have lost players over summer and had a lot of changes over summer.

“I think we just need to prepare as much as we can this week, which we have been doing, and then really take it to them on Sunday, and hopefully we can get a good performance and if the result comes from it then even better, but I think it is about looking for positives from our performance.

“It will be a different type of game than we’ve had recently, there will be more work needed out of possession, but it is a challenge we’re not going to be scared of, it’s one we will do our best to rise to.

“The pressure is totally off of us. And I think that might make us as a team, relax that little bit more.

“I think every season; you get that buzz going into it. There are a lot of changes that every team’s made. You still get that same buzz going into the league opener and it’s a challenging start, but we are looking forward to it.”