Whyman ready to deliver on the W-League grand final stage

But the hard yards along the way have been more than worthwhile as the goalkeeper prepares for her first W-League grand final for Sydney FC at Kogarah on Sunday.

In 2014 Whyman and her family moved to Canberra so she could attend a goalkeeping academy after her talent was identified by former Matildas coach Tom Sermanni at a carnival a few years earlier.

They lived in a tent in a caravan park for a few weeks. It's those moments which have bred resilience in the Young Matildas shot-stopper.

"She gets emotional talking about that, how hard it was for her family to relocate to Canberra to follow her dream," Hewitt said.

"It was her and her three younger siblings and parents, they lived in a caravan park in a couple of tents. They just treated it as a camping holiday until they could find suitable accommodation.

"The sacrifices made by her family has been unbelievable. My wife (Dorothy) used to run her up to Sydney every week to play in the NPL with Macarthur Rams."

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Whyman began her love affair with the sport at Tolland Wolves aged nine, when she gleefully accepted the goalkeeping gloves when no one else would.

"All of her uncles and even her mother played Aussie Rules, she was the first in the family to play the round ball game," Hewitt said.

"She only position when she went to training (aged nine) was goalkeeper, so she said 'I'll take it'.

"The family is going down, we're so excited for her."

Sydney FC will start as slight favourites to avenge last season's grand final loss, where they went down 1-0 to Melbourne City.

They secured the minor premiership a fortnight ago and secured a place in the decider with an emphatic 3-0 win over Canberra United on Easter Monday.

Whyman played for Western Sydney Wanderers for five years before making the move to their crosstown rivals this season.

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