Inside Sam Kerr's rollercoaster year: How Matildas poster girl has regathered her focus after a high-profile court case, suffering homophobic abuse and a catastrophic knee injury - as the Chelsea striker looks to make her international return

Passersby walking through a drizzly Kingston, south-west London, on a gloomy January morning would have been surprised to see a horde of broadcasters, suited, booted, and positively gleaming as they preened themselves on the grey pavement outside the local Crown Court.

If you overheard their chatter, it wouldn’t take more than a second to catch that distinctive Australian twang. A couple stopped to ask what the commotion was about and were left visibly confused by the reply: ‘It’s about the captain of the women’s football team. Her name’s Sam Kerr.’

They walked on, wondering who on earth she was and how they had all ended up here, on the other side of the world. Then a black van with blacked-out windows pulled up around the corner, sending the television crews rushing once they realised they had been duped.

‘Sam, Sam. What do you think of racism, Sam?’ one of them shouted, thrusting a microphone towards Kerr’s face as the footballer hurried past the throng, shielded by her burly bodyguard.

It’s been less than a year since Kerr was acquitted in her racism trial, but for her, it must feel like a lifetime.

Players across England’s women’s top flight were left unsettled by the level of speculation and intrigue surrounding what was, in truth, a low-level case.

Never before, one player from a rival club told Daily Mail Sport, had they seen such intense scrutiny of one of their own – and they didn’t enjoy it.

The growth of the women’s game, unfortunately yet inevitably, cannot be all sunshine and daisies. The shades of grey in life always find their way to colour the story, and having been at that trial, this truly felt like the moment when the dial turned.

Perhaps England’s Mary Earps and Millie Bright, six months later, felt the same amid the backlash that followed their withdrawal from the squad on the eve of the Lionesses’ Euros title defence – but that’s another matter.

As for Kerr, it has been a rollercoaster of a year, and then some.

Which brings us to now, and the moment when, finally, the 32-year-old Australian captain is set to return for her national team, just shy of two years since her last appearance.

The last time Kerr stepped out for the Matildas was in a largely forgettable Olympic qualifier against Taiwan in her hometown of Perth, where, of course, she found the back of the net.

Little did she know that two months later she would suffer a knee injury of epic proportions, her anterior cruciate ligament tearing during a warm-weather training camp in Morocco with Chelsea Women, which would begin a long, uncertain road back to fitness.

Rumbling in the background was a charge of racially aggravated harassment of a police officer following an incident in Twickenham, Southwest London, in January 2023. The case remained out of public view for more than a year until it finally surfaced in March 2024, around two months after her ACL injury – news that rippled swiftly back to Australia and left the sporting world stunned.

Press speculation and repeated court delays meant the case did not go to trial until nearly two years after the night in question. During that time, uncertainty lingered over Kerr’s future in west London, with her contract due to expire that summer and neither Chelsea nor manager Emma Hayes willing to comment while the legal process continued. 

In June, Chelsea publicly backed their star striker, confirming she had signed a new two-year deal with the club.

A few months later, Kerr and her partner Kristie Mewis announced they were expecting a child, sharing a photograph of a sonogram on Instagram.

Amid the well-wishes came a wave of abuse. Chelsea condemned what it called ‘unacceptable and hateful homophobic’ comments, while Kerr and Mewis were forced to restrict replies on the post.

Manager Sonia Bompastor denounced the attacks, and captain Millie Bright added: ‘I’d like to see more done about it – if I wasn’t a footballer I’d come off social media in a heartbeat.’

Then, in February, Kerr attended a gruelling six-day trial for a regrettable evening in which she had been filmed on bodycam footage calling a police officer ‘stupid and white’ and claiming she would ‘get the f***ing Chelsea lawyers’ involved.

Her bravado melted away as she recounted a distressing night out with Mewis in central London, when they had not consented to being taken by a taxi driver to a local police station after a row erupted following Kerr vomiting out of the window – causing the driver to ‘become very aggressive’ and drive dangerously.

She argued that she had not known where they were being taken, prompting her and Mewis to break the taxi window and climb out. Footage from Twickenham Police Station showed her clear distress when she mentioned the case of Sarah Everard, who had been kidnapped and murdered by a police officer in London a couple of years previously.

The police at the station took the side of the driver, causing Kerr to call one of the officers ‘stupid and white’ after, she argued, he failed to recognise her position as a woman and a person of colour. 

Kerr was acquitted, with the jury deciding that the police officer had not suffered significant alarm or distress, although the judge admitted that Kerr’s own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of the allegation.

In a statement, Football Australia said it acknowledged the ‘pressures’ the matter had placed on ‘everyone involved’.

‘Football Australia will reflect with Sam on learnings from this matter... We look forward to Sam's return to the pitch and her continued contributions to both her club and the Matildas on the world stage,’ it added.

With the matter behind her, Kerr returned her focus to training, but she continued to be frustrated by injury, with a hamstring problem delaying her return to the pitch once again.

There was welcome news around the corner, though, with the arrival of her son, Jagger Mewis-Kerr, in May. The pair received positive comments from around women’s football, including Kerr's Australia teammates Katrina Gorry and Caitlin Foord.

A moment of catharsis came when the No. 20 stepped onto the pitch for her club for the first time in 637 days, playing the final 15 minutes and scoring her 100th goal for the club that had stood by her through every high and low.

Reflecting on her break, she said: ‘I hate those moments where it’s like, “Oh, my god, 624 days.” I just wanted to be on the field so everyone could stop talking about it.’

And this week, another milestone is set to be ticked off – the last one on the list: to return for her national team after 23 months away.

Times have changed significantly since her last appearance, and it’s clear her minutes will be carefully managed in Australia’s upcoming friendlies against Wales and England. 

She has yet to start a game this season, and her manager has acknowledged that the team’s performance cannot be compromised for the recovery of a single player.

But while Kerr has always been a big player for Chelsea, for Australia she is the poster girl. 

And with the Asian Cup just around the corner, there’s little doubt that Joe Montemurro’s plans will largely centre around his returning hero sporting the armband.