Melbourne City FC’s Rhianna Pollicina and Sydney FC’s Anthony Caceres have been voted as the Austraffic PFA Players of the Month for their performances in the A-Leagues in January.

Pollicina, who celebrated her 25th birthday this week, produced career best form for City in January, scoring twice in wins over Adelaide and Brisbane Roar and has emerged as a crucial outlet for the Melbourne club this campaign.

Pollicina’s contribution was vital for City’s quest to keep pace with A-League Women’s leaders Sydney FC, with City securing three wins from four outings during January. 

Pollicina received the most votes from players across the A-League Women’s competition, ahead of Rachel Lowe (Sydney FC) and Chelsie Dawber (Adelaide United).

Providing an assist and two goals in her four appearances, the former Western Sydney Wanderers and Newcastle Jets attacker said she was honoured to be voted by her peers for the Austraffic Award.

“It’s an incredible honour to win this award and I think it’s a testament to both my teammates and the coaching staff,” Pollicina said.

“We’ve had a really positive period together and I believe we can really ramp it up as the pointy end of the season approaches.

“I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me, my teammates and the club for all their support.” 

In the A-League Men’s competition, Sydney FC’s 29-year-old creative midfielder Anthony Caceres earned the vote of his peers for the first time in his A-Leagues career, edging out fellow nominees Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United) and Ben Folami (Melbourne Victory).

The former Central Coast Mariners and Melbourne City FC midfielder enjoyed a productive month driving the Sky Blues from midfield, netting a double against the Mariners and singles against Brisbane and Perth.

Finishing January with a return of four goals and one assist in four outings, Caceres was delighted to earn his first Austraffic Award.

“It’s a great feeling; it’s the first time for me and to be recognised by my peers is special,” Caceres said.

“[January] was a good month and I’m really happy for the award. I think it was a really good month individually and collectively. I scored a few goals, but more importantly we picked up some valuable points and showed great character coming from behind and I think it set the tone for the rest of the season for us.

“I want to thank my teammates; they are a great bunch of boys to play with and they make my job easy week in, week out. We all have each other’s back on the field and it’s a pleasure to play with them.”

The Austraffic PFA Player of the Month is the only player-voted award in the A-Leagues. After each month of A-Leagues action, a PFA Nominations Committee, consisting of football media personalities and former players, provide nominees for the PFA membership to vote on. The awards are proudly presented in partnership with Austraffic.

About Austraffic

Founded in 1983 (as Australasian Traffic Surveys), Austraffic has undertaken thousands of traffic, transport and pedestrian studies in all states and territories of Australia and New Zealand. Austraffic’s systems and expertise delivers quality data that meets the customer’s needs. Their offices are located throughout Australia, and their traffic engineering and information technology specialists assist customers with the design, analysis and presentation of surveys.

Austraffic A-Leagues PFA Player of the Month

November:                    Léo Lacroix (Western United)

December:                    Cortnee Vine (Sydney FC) and Jake Brimmer (Melbourne Victory)

January:                       Rhianna Pollicina (Melbourne City FC) and Anthony Caceres (Sydney FC)