'It's heartbreaking': Canberra United star Michelle Heyman weighs in on A-League grand final move

The Canberra United captain says hosting a decider at McKellar Park provided one of the highlights of her storied career - but her hopes of recreating that memory have been dashed by the the APL's lucrative deal with the NSW government to sell deciders to Sydney.

APL officials have doubled down on the move to break with the A-Leagues' tradition of permitting the highest-ranked ALM or ALW team to host the decider despite an overwhelming backlash which forced board director Anthony Di Pietro to resign.

The women's league's all-time leading scorer has been left gutted after the decision was made without consulting players, and now Heyman is concerned about the prospect of two teams playing in a neutral stadium lacking an atmosphere fit for the biggest game of the season.

"I think with everyone else. It's heartbreaking," Heyman said when asked where she stood on the A-League's decision to sell grand finals to Sydney.

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"You try all year to be on top of the table so you can get that home final, to have the advantage, and now it's taken away. I guess if you're Sydney-based, you're pretty stoked about it. Deep down, I think most players are feeling a little bit sad and maybe a little bit hurt because we weren't consulted with any of this. It's a little bit disappointing.

"It's the best feeling ever [playing grand finals in Canberra]. For Canberra, being a small community, we love sport and we always had a big following here in Canberra.

"To get 5000 to 6000 people at McKellar, it's such an awesome feeling to hear that crowd roar for you. To not have that this year, and to be put in a huge stadium, it's going to be a little bit disappointing."

Heyman knows exactly what it's like to play a grand final on home turf. A crowd of 2512 erupted when the star striker scored a double to help United to their first championship at McKellar Park in 2011-12.

Less than three years later Canberra flew across the country and upset the apple cart, stunning the Perth Glory behind enemy lines in the 2014 decider.

Heyman hopes Canberra fans will make the trek up the highway should they reach this year's grand final, even floating the prospect of the league giving away tickets to entice supporters to travel.

"I hope so. It's only a three-hour bus trip, or [you could] jump in the car and make a good trip out of it. You play so hard all year for that home final, and for them to take it away from you is just upsetting," Heyman said.

"It is what it is now. The main focus is to just make the finals, and hopefully they give some good deals away to Canberra fans to come up and watch that game."

First comes this week's trip to Perth as Canberra go searching for back-to-back wins, with Heyman desperate to back up last week's double as United look to climb up the ladder.

"We created a ridiculous amount of shots on goal and we still didn't score [enough] in our first game against them. That's something we've improved on. Hopefully we can continue with that and start putting them in the back of the net," Heyman said.

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