Chris O'Keefe wonders if we set the Matildas up to fail 05:17

Now, speaking of the Matildas, guess what's happened? Head coach Tony Gustafsson, well, he's been sacked. So his four-year contract with Football Australia has come to an end by mutual agreement. The Matildas head coach, Tony Gustafsson, so the Matildas now on the lookout for another coach. And it's as a result of the Matildas being out of the Olympics. They were hopeless. It's a shame, isn't it?

Because I reckon the Matildas have done extraordinary things, not just for soccer, but for female sport more broadly in this country. There is no doubt about it. And the Matildas, they're superstars and they are hugely popular. But again, they have had a shocker in Paris. And I reckon they might have read their own press. So the Matildas were seen as a dead set medal chance.

Yet they conceded 10 goals in three matches and they were beaten to the next round of the Olympics by Canada, who had six points docked because of the drone cheating scandal. Yet they beat the Australians. Now, it is the first time the Matildas haven't made it out of the group stage of the Olympics since Sydney 2000. So it is the worst the Matildas have performed at an Olympics for 24 years. So I think it's clear that we may well have overachieved there.

when we were at home in the World Cup last year by finishing fourth. Maybe that was an overachievement. And the lording of the Matildas after that fourth-placed effort, well, maybe, maybe this group of footballers just got ahead of themselves a little. They didn't have any excuses in Paris. They were flown from Spain to France by a private jet, all paid for by Football Australia. And as Australians, our country, even without Sam Kerr, we all thought they could grab a medal.

And I thought ESPN writer Marissa Lordanich, she gave a great, great quote on this. And she said, it's the hope that kills you, arguably even more so when that hope has no right to exist. So have we Australians set our Matildas up to fail with a level of expectation that does not match the team's results? Look, the Matildas have been to eight World Cups, the best result being fourth at home. Awesome result.

We've been to five Olympic Games. Best result was fourth in Tokyo. And we've won the Asian Cup once in 2010. Can I be completely honest? On the reading of all of these results, it seems to me the Matildas, on an international scale and on an international standard, are an above-average women's soccer team. They're ranked 12th in the world. North Korea, they're ranked 10th.

Look, I think that we are doing the Matildas a disservice by speaking about them as if they should dominate the sport. So here's a question. What makes you eligible for a bronze statue at Suncorp Stadium or a mural, permanent mural, on the side of a core stadium? Is it about capturing the hearts and the minds or the vibe of a moment? Or is it solid sporting success and results?

I can make a very strong argument for a statue of Jess Fox. Very strong argument. She is the most successful Australian Olympian of all time in individual events after winning a sixth individual medal with her canoe slalom gold overnight. Nobody has ever won more individual Olympic medals as an Australian than Jess Fox. Emma McKeon, 12 Olympic medals, including six gold medals.

While two of them may have come only in individual events, she's won Australia's most medals ever. No one's talking about bronze statues or murals of Fox or McKeon. Betty Cuthbert, Australia's most successful athlete on the track with four gold medals. She has a statue outside the MCG and rightly so. In France, they honour people like Joan of Arc with a statue.

Joan of Arc. At 19 years old, she commanded a battalion of soldiers to retake a French town from English invaders, and she was martyred for her troubles. They built a statue of her. Fair enough. Look, I love our national sporting teams. I do.

Be it the Wallabies, be it the Kookaburras, be it the Diamonds, the Dolphins, the Opals, the Socceroos, the Kangaroos, and of course, the Matildas. I will barrack for them. I will barrack for them until I am hoarse. Now, this has got nothing to do with gender. We've spent the last two years ripping into the Wallabies and Eddie Jones and their woeful performance in the World Cup in France. But the Matildas are in the big league now.

They are prime time material and they are one of the most popular sporting sides in this country, if not the most popular. And when they underperform on the world stage, I think Australians should not be afraid to raise it.