Why three rising stars will trade Canberra green for Young Matildas gold

Grove joins Canberra teammates Chloe Lincoln and Tegan Bertolissio in the Young Matildas squad for the under 20s Asian Cup - but there is a double-edged sword for Canberra's A-League Women's campaign.

The trio could miss four ALW games - against Western United, two against Western Sydney, and another against Central Coast - while on Young Matildas duties next month.

Instead of helping to lift Canberra off the bottom of the ladder, they will be in Uzbekistan chasing a top-four finish at the Asian Cup, which would send Australia to the under 20 Women's World Cup in Colombia.

Grove admits it will be hard to miss a crucial stretch in Canberra's campaign, but she is relishing the opportunity at hand.

"Not a minute goes by that I don't think about them. I'll be watching closely, all of us will," Grove said.

"You love watching them play and it's hard to be away from the team because we love them so much. They've got the determination and the strength to get the job done and finish the season well. It'll be sad but we'll be cheering them on.

"The space back with Canberra United, it's always so welcoming and we're always so excited for everyone in the squad whenever these kinds of opportunities come up.

"I actually haven't been to anything like this ever before. It's really important for us to really show what we've got. The end goal for us is qualifying for the under 20 Women's World Cup later this year."

The last Young Matildas team to compete for the Women's Asian Cup in 2019 included Mary Fowler, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Charli Grant, Karly Roestbakken and Courtney Nevin.

Within two years that group appeared for the senior Matildas at the 2019 World Cup and or Tokyo Olympic Games.

"When we see young people like Sarah Hunter and Charlie Rule being rewarded for their efforts [with Matildas caps], because they played in the under 20 World Cup [in 2022], it really shows anything is possible," Grove said.

Australia will start their Asian Cup against South Korea on March 3, with the final slated for March 16.

The Young Matildas call-up for three of Canberra's brightest talents comes as Capital Football enters a new era under chief executive Samantha Farrow, ending what Capital Football chair Angelo Konstantinou describes as "a tough four months".

Farrow stepped into the role this week to become the organisation's fourth chief executive in little more than three years, and wasted little time in backing a push by Football Australia and the Australian Professional Leagues to stamp out referee abuse.

It comes after FA chief James Johnson declared: "Annually, we lose 40 per cent of our registered match officials, which translates to around 4200 individuals leaving their roles at all levels of the game. Despite the growing participation in football and the success of our national teams, our base of 11,000 officials has not expanded since 2011".

"We don't have a game without officials, so we absolutely have to show them respect at all times," Farrow said.

"Fingers crossed we can have a really successful season for us ahead in the local competition and we retain our officials, because I did read they've been losing a huge amount of officials over each season.

"Hopefully we can try and start to turn that around as we move forward."