Ellie Brush set to make Canberra United A-League Women's comeback against Melbourne City

The kicking the ball part of this story is the fairytale. Because after more than five years away from Canberra and after two knee reconstructions in two years, Brush is making her comeback in the spotlight of Friday night lights.

The club's foundation captain and one of its most-capped players is set to return to the team sheet when Canberra hosts Melbourne City at Seiffert Oval.

It will be her first game in more than 12 months after a heartbroken Brush ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament a second time while playing for Sydney FC in November last year.

The injury, becoming a mum and a desire to be closer to family led the veteran defender back to Canberra this season and coach Njegosh Popovich is expected to throw her into action again after she travelled to Perth last weekend but didn't play.

"We want to give her the best opportunity to succeed when she comes back," Popovich said.

"Mentally, she's ready without a doubt. It's about managing it now. Just having her around on game days ... she's a legend of this club.

"The girls look to her for leadership and wisdom. In our back line we've got Chloe Lincoln who's 17, Sasha Grove who's 17, Kennedy Faulkner and Maddy McCloskey who haven't played A-League and Emma Ilijoski who's 18. They're going to have lapses in concentration.

"Having someone like Ellie is going to give them that education they need. It will be a spiritual return for her this week and she's looking forward to it as well."

Brush's impact extends beyond the back line. Most of the rising stars in Canberra's squad grew up idolising Brush for the way she built Canberra into an A-League Women's powerhouse.

"She's like a mum of the team," said Hayley Taylor-Young.

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"She's been so positive with her injury and has been keeping everyone's heads up to get the best out of us.

"I played for the same local team as her, so I've looked up to her for a long time. Her confidence and composure on the ball is a big influence on me, I want to be able to be like that."

Brush won two titles with in 2011-12 and 2014-15 before moving to Sydney to juggle an AFLW career with her soccer ambitions.

Her return will give Canberra extra motivation to make a statement to their A-League rivals after suffering their first loss of the season last weekend.

Canberra led Perth 2-0 but couldn't find a killer instinct and eventually fell 3-2. They now face a three-day preparation to play Melbourne City after landing back in Canberra on Monday night.

"We've lacked a little bit in terms of our concentration and experience in being able to consolidate a game when you're 2-0 up," Popovich said.

"For us, nothing really changes. We're a very, very offensive side, we create opportunities to score, we've just got to keep pushing that philosophy and hopefully start putting the ball in the back of the net.

"Hopefully those improvements come and results go we're away. If we're going to be a team competing for the title, we need to beat teams like Melbourne City.

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