In a little under three weeks time, renowned Murdoch University Lecturer and dietician Julie Meek will be representing the green and gold in the world's biggest sporting event, the FIFA World Cup.

Meek said even thinking about the team's opening game against Türkiye in Vancouver made her feel emotional.

"To stand there before a game and have the national anthem playing — it's just a pinch me moment, where you're like wow, I'm actually here representing Australia," she said.

"It's not something I necessarily knew that I always wanted, but high performance sport is absolutely where I wanted be, and this is it, this is the pinnacle."

The dream team

In late 2024, Meek was appointed as the Socceroos sports dietician under head coach Tony Popovich, who she worked closely with in previous roles at Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory.

"He's easily the best coach I've ever worked with," Meek said.

I always thought he'd be the next Socceroos coach and when he got it, I thought oh my goodness, I hope I get an opportunity to even be considered for this job.

More than 600 days later, Popovich and Meek have teamed up once again on the world's biggest stage, and are ready to test themselves against the most proficient teams on the planet.

For Meek, her relationship with Australian head coach is critical to her role.

"He totally gets how important nutrition is in sport," she said.

"Having someone like that who supports my work ... I don't even have the words to describe it because I've been in positions where that is not the case and it really is like pushing everything uphill."

Gearing up for the cup

Working closely with the team's chef Vinicius “Vini” Capovilla, Meek has full control over food delivery for the squad.

Unlike club football, where players have more independence in their eating arrangements, the Socceroos will spend up to two month's together at hotels over the course of the tournament, allowing Meek to ensure they're in peak physical condition.

"We put a lot of preparation into it ... whether it's fluids or food, everything is organised. We're very strict around that."

However, Meek said sports nutrition was far from a one size fits all approach.

"Although the principles are similar across the team, they're actually quite individual from a day-to-day or a meal-to-meal response," she said.

"So even though we're all eating together in camp, I might have players who need to eat a bit more than others because they need to put on some muscle, or I might have some players who really need to focus on their gut health for whatever reason and so I'll be steering them more towards the fibrous foods."

Meek said building relationships with the players was "everything", particularly as her job involves making players feel comfortable to share personal information.

Sometimes, people still think that dieticians are the food police and we're definitely not.

"The players are much more likely to go ahead and do the things I'm asking them to do if they trust me and also it's a secure place."

The Socceroos will go into the tournament as underdogs, a role which Meek said suits the team nicely.

"People say, 'oh, Australia, you know, they're not the strongest football country or there's so many other teams all over the world.' But you know what? It's a game of strategy and I really think that we can do something special."

"Why shouldn't it be us right now?"

Giving back to the community

Towards the end of the year, Meek will resume her role teaching at Murdoch University, passing on her knowledge to the next generation of dieticians.

She said it was a way of giving back to the community.

"I love teaching so much," she said.

"It's so rewarding because they (students) don't know which direction they're going to go in. It's exciting to see people who are really wanting to learn about nutrition."

For students aspiring to follow her footsteps in elite sport, Meek said the most important thing was to never give up on their dreams.

There are many times when it seems really difficult and you have to push against a lot of things to get where you want to go to. But I have learned over the years that no matter what, you just have to keep trying to get where you want to go... don't give up.