We preview the Westfield W-League 2018/19 season, the league's eleventh. In Part 1, we look at the 4 teams that made the playoffs last season, and next week we preview the other 5 sides.
Westfield W-League 2018/19 Preview
Last season in the Australian W-League's tenth season, the end of the 2017/18 regular season saw Brisbane Roar win the Premiership (regular season) title for the third time in their ten year history while Melbourne City won the league championship via the playoffs for the third time in their three year history. Sydney FC repeated as semifinalists from 2016/17 while Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar also made the playoffs, replacing Perth Glory and Canberra United, who made the Grand Final and semifinals respectively in 2016/17. This season, as the league enters its second decade, there is some turnover of key players and some new imports among the nine teams, which will give those clubs who finished out of the top four last season the hope of playoff glory in 2018/19.
We review the teams in order of their final 2017/18 league table finish.
Brisbane Roar(9-1-2—28 points—First)
Claire Polkinghorne (who played this season with the Houston Dash) tied with Perth's Sam Kerr (Chicago Red Stars) for the 2017/18 Julie Dolan Medal as the league's best player last season and returns to the Roar. Polkinghorne is just one game behind Sydney FC midfielders Teresa Polias and Marianna Tabain (who moved from the Sky Blue to Perth for this season) for the lead in W-League career appearances—116 each.
Last season Matilda goalkeeper Makenzie Arnold (24) was stellar with six shutouts in 12 games. She played this season with Arna-Bjørnar in Norway. Arnold started 15 of 19 games for her club, who are joint third with three games left (34 points). Another returnee is Australian international midfielder Katrina Gorry, who just narrowly missed the NWSL playoffs this season in the Salt Lake City side's first season as the Utah Royals after relocating from Kansas City. Utah waived Gorry at the end of the season and she was not claimed by any other NWSL side. She can sign on with another NWSL side ahead of the 2019 season as a free agent or play abroad, likely after the 2019 World Cup in France.
Twenty-three-year-old Australian Allira Toby led the Roar last season with 5 goals while Matilda winger Haley Raso (Portland Thorns) contributed 4 goals.Raso broke her back late in the NWSL season and may miss at least some of the W-league season. Raso's Portland teammate Celeste Boureille (24), who was the Roar Team Player of the Year last season, is also back and played 21 regular season games this season for the NWSL title runners-up.
Two key players from 2017/18 are leaving for clubs in Victoria: Australian international Tameka Butt (Melbourne City) and Emily Gielnik (Melbourne Victory). Butt, who had over 100 appearances for the Roar, explained that her move was for career reasons: "My move has nothing to do with the club or the football; it is purely for my off-field development, following an internship opportunity with Seven Consulting that I can't pass up." The prolific high scoring Gielnek meanwhile had 30 goals in 83 appearances for Brisbane.
2011 Women's World Cup Winner Yuki Nagasato of Japan joins from the Chicago Red Stars, where she scored 4 goals and added 7 assists in 22 games, while syncing well with Perth's Sam Kerr. Nagasato has been capped 132 times and won a UEFA Women's Champions League title with FFC Turbine Potsdam and led the Frauen-Bundesliga in scoring in 2013.
Two Orlando Pride players were also signed: American defender Carson Pickett returns for a second season and former Arsenal player and U-20 WWC winner (with the U.S.) Chioma Ubogagu is playing in the W-League for the first time.
Jenna McCormick (24) is another new addition in defense and has over 60 W-League appearances with Adelaide (4 seasons) and Canberra (2 seasons), as well as two seasons in Scandinavia, winning a league title in Iceland with Starjan and then playing the next season with Medkila of Norway. McCormick also plays in the Women's Australian Football League and won a Grand Final title with the Adelaide Crows in 2017. She is set to play again with the Australian Rules League Crows in 2019. Tribal Football.com interviewed McCormick about her unique two professional sport career and will present it in the weeks to come.
The Roar still has a stable core base and with their experience and pedigree, mixed with some exciting new players, they should continue their success into their second decade.
Sydney FC (8-1-3—25 points—Second)
There is quite a bit of change this season for Sydney, who lost to Melbourne City 2-0 in last season's Grand Final. Matilda attacking trio Lisa De Vanna (who played in the offseason with State Regional side South Melbourne FC), Caitlin Foord (Portland Thorns) and Chloe Logarzo (who was named club Player of the Year) are all back for another season for the Sky Blue, while midfielder Amy Harrison (8 caps), a former league Young Player of the Year (2014), returns after suffering a serious knee injury in January. The club showed faith in Harrison by signing her in the off-season despite the injury. Midfielder Teresa Polias (28), tied for the all-time W-League record in appearances after 8 seasons with the club with 116, has signed for two more seasons.
New additions this season include newly-capped Westfield Matilda Amy Sayer (16), who has joined from Canberra United, while veteran Matilda defender Alanna Kennedy returns to Sydney FC after winning the title with Melbourne City last season. Sayer explained her move from the Capital City side: "I've always wanted to play for Sydney FC and it was definitely my first choice for where to play this season and I'm extremely excited as I'm a Sydney girl….I want to get as much game time as possible and play and enjoy myself, maybe score a couple too. As one of the younger players I want to cement myself in the W-League and in the team. My ultimate goal is to make that World Cup squad [for 2019] but I have to respect the decision of the coaches and work my hardest and try and get in the Sydney FC team and prove myself ahead of next year. I love being in the center of things, getting the ball and working with my team. I'm very big on combining and winning together rather than as an individual." Kennedy meanwhile played four years with Sydney FC and was the club's Player of the Year in 2015/16. Kennedy, who scored 4 goals with 1 assist in 24 games in 2017 and 2 goals and 1 assist in 20 games this season with the Orlando Pride in the NWSL, said: "This club is like family to me, it's an environment in which I have had success in the past and I can't wait to get started. Being away from the club made me realize what I was missing off the field and I'm expecting my performances to show it was worth the return."
Three Americans have been signed for 2018/19 by Sydney: Mexican and U.S. international Sofia Huerta (Houston Dash), Danielle Colaprico (Chicago Red Stars) and goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe (Washington Spirit). Huerta had 8 goals and 6 assists playing for Chicago and Houston this past NWSL season. She played for Adelaide United in 2016/17. Colaprico has played for Adelaide the last two seasons. Bledsoe returns to Sydney after a strong season last year. She was re-signed by the Spirit for the 2019 NWSL season.
Sydney have never missed the playoffs in their decade in the league and have made 5 Grand Finals, winning two, and hope to have enough goal scoring and guile this season to tie City with 3 titles. The side will play at Jubilee Stadium, Seymour Shaw Park, Leichhardt Oval and WIN Stadium as Allianz Stadium undergoes redevelopment.
Newcastle Jets—(6-2-4—20 points—Joint Third)
One of the key stories of last season was the Jets making the playoffs for the first time since the league's inaugural season. Midfielder Emily Van Egmond returns after a season in the NWSL with the Orlando Pride, with 1 assist in 17 games. She has played 48 games for the Jets across four seasons but her 2017/18 season with the Jets was her first with the club and in the W-League since 2014.
American Katie Stengel's return to Newcastle for a second season is tremendous news for stability at a franchise that did so well last season. Stengel was second in the W-League with 10 goals last season and added 6 more for the Utah Royals in NWSL this summer. Another American set for her second year in Newcastle is goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom (25), who headed up the defense last season in Newcastle and played 10 games as a backup to starter Adrianna Franch this summer with the Portland Thorns in the NWSL, after not playing any games for the 2017 league champions. Eckerstrom said: "Working with [goalkeeping coach Andrew] Goldy last season helped me improve my game, and I really saw the benefits of being here in Australia during the NWSL off-season. We made the Semi Final last season, and we're all going to be working hard to have another successful season."
Two experienced local returnees are hoping for another successful Jets season and more time on the field. Tara Andrews was the leading scorer and Most Valuable Player for the Colorado Pride in the now defunct North American W-League in 2015 but she played only in six games after returning to the side following a break from football for the 2016/17. She has 27 W-League goals in 76 matches. Gema Simon also missed half of last season with injury; she has 7 goals in 107 W-League matches.
Larissa Crummer will join the club on a one-year deal from Melbourne City, where she won the Golden Boot in 2015/16 with 11 goals, but the 22-year-old was surplus to requirements last season at the three time championship side. Despite her young age, Crummer has 64 Westfield W-League appearances from time with Sydney FC, Brisbane Roar, and Melbourne City.
American international defender Taylor Smith (24) is coming to the Jets for her first season in Australia, after playing for the Washington Spirit last season. Smith played the most minutes of any Spirit player (2064) in 23 matches in 2018.
Head Coach Craig Deans has re-signed with the club for a further two seasons. Already the W-League's longest serving coach in a league with frequent coaching turnover, Deans is the first multi-year W-League coaching deal in the women Jet's history. Deans will also take over as the Club's Academy Director from Mike Cooper, who left Newcastle to relocate with his family to Melbourne.
Melbourne City(6-2-4—20 points—Joint Third)
Rado Vidošić will be City's Technical Director and Head Coach this season. The veteran A-League coach spent two seasons as assistant to former Australian men's international team head coach Ange Postecoglou at Brisbane Roar, as well as assistant coaching positions at Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand. Vidosic's signing is a boost not only to City but the league as well. In addition, former Matilda's Captain Melissa Hudson (formerly Barbieri) will be an assistant coach this season. Hudson made 86 appearances for Australia and was on four Women's World Cup teams. In the W-League she played for years for her hometown club Melbourne Victory and short stints with Adelaide City and Newcastle Jets. She came out of retirement to play one game as an injury-replacement player for City last season and has been a head coach of Heidelberg United in the Victoria state league.
Australian international Steph Catley (Seattle) and Kyah Simon (Houston) are back for another season. Besides Catley, a further quintet come from the Seattle Reign including Australian international goalkeeper Lydia Williams (W-League Goalkeeper of the Year in 2016/17 and the NWSL leader this season with 10 shutouts and a goals against average of 0.69, with only 11 goals allowed in 16 matches) and defender Lauren Barnes, who was team Player of the Year last season. Other Reign players coming to Melbourne City are forward Jasmyne Spencer, who played last season with Sydney FC, Danish defender Theresa Nielsen—new to the W-League and who played mostly at home until joining Valerenga of Norway in 2017 and then coming to the States; she has played 121 times for her country—and English international forward Jodie Taylor, who is expected to return to City on loan in January.
Two W-League veterans are not planning on playing with City this year due to other commitments: Australian international Aivi Luik, who has won four W-League titles—three of them with Melbourne City—joined Levante of Spain for the 2018-19 campaign. Previously this year she played in Sweden with IFK Kalmar, where she had 1 goal in 9 games. Another key departure is Jess Fishlock, who has played in the W-League and won
four titles—one with Melbourne Victory and three with City—and was loaned by the Seattle Reign this offseason toOlympique Lyon in France's Division 1 Féminine. Fishlock's impact on City cannot be minimized, particularly since she was a player-coach late in season two when the club won their second title.
Some new arrivals to the champions include Australian internationals Elise Kellond-Knight and Tameka Butt.Kellond-Knight (28) hasn't played in the W-League since 2015, having spent the last three summers with 1.FFC Turbine Potsdam in Germany and Hammarby in Sweden. She had previously played in Japan and Denmark.Butt (27), meanwhile, left Brisbane after 10 years for career opportunities in Melbourne (see above). She has played in the U.S., Germany, Sweden and the last two years in Norway. Butt has helped Klepp to what would be an all-time best second place finish in the Norwegian Toppserien if they maintain their table position through the last games in early November and will also qualify for the 2019/20 Women's Champions League for the first time. Klepp's previous finish was fourth place and though they are far behind runaway leaders Lillestrom, who are 16 points clear at the top after 19 games (57 vs. 41 points), they are a healthy seven points ahead of joint third Arna-Bjornar and Sandviken (both on 34 points). Butt has scored 7 times in 15 games and is her team's second highest scorer behind Norwegian international Hege Hansen, who has 10 goals in 19 matches.
Helen Caceres (Western Sydney) and Adriana Jones (Adelaide), who played two years with the Adelaide Reds and previously with the Newcastle Jets, are other new additions to the side.
City may start slowly as they integrate their new players but don't count them out on making their fourth consecutive Grand Final if they make the playoffs.
Next Week: We preview Canberra, Perth, the two Melbourne clubs and Adelaide.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
