We also have some interesting and insightful thoughts on the growth of the game in Australia from Ann Odong, who works in the Media Department for Football Australia and once ran her own women’s football website.
Finally, we summarize the first round of the playoffs, as Adelaide United and Central Coast Mariners both advanced to the semifinals after winning the one leg games at home.
Last week, we reviewed the top six playoff sides—Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United, Central Coast Mariners, Canberra United and Western United, along with seventh place Brisbane Roar (see last week’s column at: The Week in Women's Football: Reviewing A-League season before finals - TribalFootball.com).
2024-25 A-League Women Review Part 2
Sydney FC (7-4-12, 25 points, Eighth)
Sydney FC, who were at the bottom of the table through the halfway point of the season, moved up four sports with four consecutive wins in Rounds 19-22 and ended up a respectable eighth place on 25 points and one point behind the Roar, who were seventh. Sydney FC were never in the race for the playoffs, which is significant in that this is the first season in their 17 year history that the five time Premiership and five time league champions—including the last two seasons—missed the playoffs.
Makenzie Hawkesby (25) finished with the team lead with six goals while Princess Ibini (25) had four, with a couple of late game winners including a 91st minute goal in 1-0 win over Perth at home on April 11 and a 98th minute winner in a 2-1 win over Wellington on March 14, also in Sydney. Next season, the Sky Blues need to add more scoring power, as their 23 goals for was the lowest team total in the league.
Their 29 goals allowed was stellar—fourth best in the league—and kept them in games but they need to balance their strong defense with more firepower in attack. Injuries did hurt the club this year as third year defender Kirsty Fenton (21) and Matilda forward Kyah Simon (33)—in her first season after a move from Central Coast Mariners—played 29 minutes in one game between them (all for Fenton) as they both returned from long-term injury absences ahead of the last match of the season.
Forward Caley Tallon-Henniker (19) made 19 appearances this season—up from seven in her A-League Women rookie season in 2023-24—and scored once. She explained to Aleagues.com.au that she had to choose between football and rugby league after appearing for Australian national teams in both sports. In October 2023, at age 17, an injury to Cortnee Vine provided an opening for her on the club’s trip to Uzbekistan for the AFC’s Women’s Championship.
She had a school final that she had to take during a flight layover in Dubai. The club’s strength and conditioning coach was a teacher so he could proctor it. She is now a second year university student in Wollongong, studying exercise science and rehab. Tallon-Henniker grew up in a rugby league household.
She juggled football and rugby league from the age of 11 and, just two months before venturing to Uzbekistan with Sydney FC, travelled to Papua New Guinea with the Australian Schoolgirls rugby league squad, but: “I’d always dreamed of being a Matilda more than a Jillaroo. That was always a bigger dream. Growing up, I did tend to favour football more purely because it was a higher level and because it was more of a challenge, whereas in rugby league, I was just playing locally. I could afford to miss training or a game here and there, and that didn’t really matter. Playing football, I wanted to be at every game or I was going to fall behind.”
She added: “The whole time I was in Papua New Guinea, I was just missing training at Sydney. I wanted to be there. I was very jealous of everyone else there, and I just wanted to be back. The second I got back from Papua New Guinea, I knew my decision was made… I definitely will always wish that I could play both in an ideal world, but I’m happy and very content with the decision I made at the end.”
Alex Epakis (ex-Perth Glory and Sydney University head coach) is the new head coach of Australia’s Under-20 international side and Tallon-Henniker is on his radar as he plans for an important 2026, as Australia will compete in both the Under-20 Women’s Asian Cup in Thailand and Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.
Wellington Phoenix (7-3-13, 24 points, Ninth)
From Round 13 to 17, the Phoenix picked up one point in five games to put their playoff hopes in danger, but a comeback 2-1 win at home in Round 18 over Western Sydney, with two goals in the last 15 minutes from Japanese import Mebae Tanaka (29) and English import Olivia Fergusson (30), boosted their hopes of making the playoffs. Unfortunately, they then lost four consecutive matches before tying Western United 1-1 at home in the last match of the season.
A 2-1 loss away in Sydney in Round 19 on March 14 was particularly damaging as defender Tiana Jaber (who has been with Lebanon’s women’s national team since last year; see: The Week in Women's Football: A-League review; exclusive with Tiana Jaber on Lebanon call - TribalFootball.com) was given a second yellow card in the 85th minute and, with only ten players and excessive time added on by the referee, Princess Ibini found space and scored from the left side in the 98th minute to give Sydney the win.
A high point on the season was their Round 12 match at home on January 19th when Manaia Elliott (20) scored in the 98th minute goal to seal an epic 3-2 win over Newcastle Jets, after fighting back from a 2-0 deficit with three goals from the 50th minute onward.
We do expect Paul Temple to be back for his third season as head coach after a very good first half of the season, in which they were in the playoff reckoning. However, after such a strong start to the season—with a four game undefeated run and one loss in seven matches—they slipped a bit behind last year’s record, when they had nine wins and 28 points from 22 games.
They badly missed Venezuelan international Mariana Speckmaier’s 10 goals last season, who moved to Melbourne City for 2024-25. English import Olivia Ferguson (30) led the side with five goals, while New Zealand senior international Manaia Elliott (20) had four goals. Improving their goalscoring from their front line is priority one for coach Temple for 2025-26, which held them back as they scored only 25 goals this season, just two more than Sydney FC, who scored the fewest in the league with 23. Their defense was tied for fifth best in the league (with Adelaide United) with 30 goals allowed. More scoring is definitely the need in Wellington.
Perth Glory (6-4-13, 22 points, Tenth)
A round 16 2-1 win at home over Wellington followed by a Round 18 2-0 win at home over playoff side Western United showed promise, but from Round 7 to Round 15, the Glory only managed one win, two ties and six losses to leave the Glory in the bottom quarter of the table.
One high point of the season was a 93rd-minute free-kick goal scored by 18-year-old Ella Abdul-Massih—her only goal of the season—to earn Perth a remarkable 3-2 win over Brisbane Roar in Round 13 at the Sam Kerr Football Centre. Glory trailed twice in the first half after Tameka Yallop’s opener and a Grace Kuilamu strike on either side of two goals by Glory striker Caitlin Doeglas (28), who scored three goals in seven matches in her seventh season with Perth.
A-Leagues commentator Taryn Heddo exclaimed when the final whistle blew: “Perth Glory have pulled off a miracle at the Sam Kerr Football Centre!”
During the match, the Roar’s Yallop drew level with Glory legend Sam Kerr as the Ninja A-League’s second-highest goal scorer of all-time with her 70th goal in the league, behind all-time leader Michelle Heyman of Canberra.
The Glory were hurt by the fact that Australian youth international forward Susan Phonsongkham played in only six games in 2024/25—though she scored twice—in her fourth season at Glory, after badly injuring her ankle with Preston Lions in the NPLW Victoria Grand Final in 2024, who lost to Heidelberg United 3-2. She scored a late penalty kick in Perth’s Round 18 3-0 win over Western United in Perth on March 7.
New Zealand international forward Kelli Brown (24) led the team with five goals. Onyinyechi Zogg (28), who was born in Switzerland but plays for Nigeria, was a steady force in the back and played in 22 games. She has played in France, Germany and Switzerland before coming to Australia for the 2024-25 season.
Perth’s 27 goals scored was tenth best in the league while their 43 allowed was ninth best—they clearly missed goalkeeper Morgan Aquino, who left Perth after the 2023-24 season to join D.C. Power in the new USL Super League, when they again finished in tenth but only surrendered 32 goals in 22 games (see more on Aquino’s move in: The Week in Women's Football: A-League preview P1; exclusive chat with Morgan Aquino - TribalFootball.com).
Newcastle Jets (5-5-13, 20 points, Eleventh)
After making the playoffs last season for only the third time in their 16 seasons, season 17 wasn’t kind. The Jets won three games in a row from Rounds 17-19, over Perth Glory (2-1) and Sydney FC (1-0) at home and away over Brisbane Roar (3-2), who all finished above the Jets in the table, but lost their final four games with a goals difference of -7 (5 goals scored and 12 allowed).
Newcastle allowed more goals than any other team in the league (53). Canadian backstop Danielle Krzyzaniak (28), who played last season with Sparta of the Czech Republic, started 16 games while Australian native Tiahna Robertson (22) started nine. Their offense was solid with their 29 goals seventh best in the league, but they missed Philippines international Sarina Bolden who moved to Como in Italy and has one goal in 9 matches this season; she scored 14 of their 47 goals (in 22 regular season and three playoff matches in 2023/24).
This season, their top scorers were Sheridan Gallagher (23) with six—in her first season with Newcastle—tied with New Zealand international midfielder Deven Jackson (26), also in her first year with the Jets, while six-year Newcastle veteran forward Lauren Allan (28) had four.
Western Sydney Wanderers (4-4-15, 16 points, Twelfth)
The Wanderers were overwhelmed most of this season and ended up at the bottom of the table with the wooden spoon. A winning streak of three games in a row from Rounds 15-17—over Brisbane Roar (2-1) and Newcastle Jets (4-1) at home and the Mariners away (21)—was promptly followed by five losses in their last six games, with the only point earned in a 4-4 tie away to Brisbane Roar in Round 22. The Wanderers were tied for eighth in the league in goals scored (with Canberra United) with 28 and tied for tenth in goals allowed (with Western United) with 46.
One huge positive was the play of 18-year-old midfielder Sienna Saveska, who scored seven goals in 22 matches this season, including a first half hat-trick against Western United in a 5-1 home win on December 13 (Round 6). She is becoming known for her precise corner kicks and has scored two goals this season directly off of corners. Last season she won a league title with Sydney FC but only played 54 minutes across four games.
She also has played with the U-20’s for Australia through two cycles. During this February’s U-20 Four Nations Tournament in Canberra, she scored six goals as Australia won the tournament with wins over Solomon Islands (12-0), Vanuatu (9-0) and Thailand (5-2). Sienna Saveska is definitely a player to track for the future. The fact that WSW had three 16-year-olds, three 17-year olds and two 18-year-olds on their roster—midfielders and forwards—with three playing 15 or more games, is encouraging for the future.
Sophia Harding (25), who led the league last season with 12 goals in 18 games, was tied for second on the team with four goals in 19 games, along with Holly Caspers (25), who also had four goals but in half the number of games (10 games) due to a knee injury.
Western Sydney Wanderers FC promoted Geoff Abrahams to the role of permanent head coach through the 2025/26 season, after being promoted from an interim role, which he was appointed to in January. Abraham strengthens the link between the Wanderers A-Leagues team and Girls Academy, where he serves as the Technical Director of the Wanderers fee-free Girls Academy, which launched this year. Robbie Hooker was released as head coach during the season—last season he led the side to a seventh place finish and a club record 33 points, missing out on a playoff spot to Newcastle Jets on goal difference (+7 vs. 0).
Football Australia’s Ann Odong provides insights on the growth of women’s football
Ann Odong, the Digital Content Project Manager for Football Australia, has been a trailblazer for women, with a laser focus on women’s football both in Australia and globally for years.
TribalFootball.com talked to Ann when Australia played in the SheBelieves Cup in the U.S. earlier this year. This writer has known Ann Odong for years, going back to when she founded and published TheWomen’sGame, and was part of the Federation team that landed the 2023 Women’s World Cup for Australia (and New Zealand) in 2023—it was great to meet her in person and spend some time with her.
She talked about Australia’s role as an early advocate for women’s football, when very few countries were investing in the sport, despite being very much the third football code in the country behind Australian Football and Rugby League: “We were lucky in that we invested in women’s football pretty early on in comparison to a lot of nations and what’s happened in the last 10-15 years is many more women’s nations have come online and invested in the game. In the 2008-10 time period, it was the U.S., Scandi teams (Norway and Sweden in particular), Germany and us (Australia)—it was pretty much it. Japan ramped up once they won the World Cup (in 2011) and for the age groups U-17 and U-20 (1999 WWC runners-up—and hosted the 2020 Olympics after finishing second in 2012); across the spectrum, they have been the football nation over the past 15 years.”
Incidentally, Japan won the SheBelieves Cup in February, defeating the U.S. in the Final game in San Diego; they looked world class throughout the tournament. Odong continued, “They are very, very good but that is investment on a plan and strategy coming to fruition. They are a system and a fantastic team.”
She said that the key question for Australia is: “How do we continue to be up there with other nations?” with Spain winning the WWC in Australia and France and Colombia—also in the SheBelieves Cup and has participated in three of the last four WWC’s—improving rapidly. She emphasized that women’s football is now: “just a more global game.”
Ann Odong felt that it was important for Australian football to utilize the momentum of the extremely successful 2023 Women’s World Cup: “Utilizing (the) visibility of (the) Women’s World Cup (is) our role. So many more girls (are) playing the game now—sixteen percent more girls and women are playing the game after the 2023 Women’s World Cup. It up to everyone to realize the visibility of (the Women’s World Cup) tournament and capitalize on it—on and off the pitch. Get more women in coaching, media, STEM—our doctor and physio (are) all female. We utilize the attention to supercharge the game.”
Odong added that there are two more big upcoming events for Women’s Football that Australia is hosting—the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup and the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane for women’s football, “to capture the imagination. 2023 (Women’s World Cup) was our 1999 moment—(when the U.S. hosted the Women’s World Cup Final in Los Angeles and attracted over 90,000 people and a record television attendance for a soccer match in the U.S., thus turbocharging the game, yielding to three professional women’s leagues starting over the next 15 years), we expected it and it was. How do you continue to build the game off of the back of that? The Women’s Asian Cup will be another moment to capture the imagination. (Along with the 2032 Olympic Games).
"We have a nice eight year run of what we can do along the way to continue to build on the game.”
Though the Federation no longer runs the A-League Women, the native of Perth has long been an advocate and promoter of the league and commented on how the league has, since day 1, been a developer of young teenage talent: “So young, that’s the phase that is going to happen with women’s football; going global is that there are so many more leagues and styles that players can be exposed to. Ten years ago, 90% of our players played in Australia, now 90% of our players play overseas.
"That’s the change that can happen really quickly and it necessitates a change in the composition of the league. It has become a younger league in terms of players ages and experience. Now you have players finishing their overseas careers and coming back home—likes of Elise Kellond-Knight (34, who played two seasons at Melbourne Victory and then joined Avondale in suburban Melbourne in the State League), Lydia Williams (36, currently at Melbourne Victory), Tameka Yallop (33—now at Brisbane Roar) and that is the cycle of regeneration.
"It’s that space of a country and nation maturing. Around 2007-2010, the U.S. had wobbles (not winning the 2007 title in China again falling in 2011 to Japan in the Final in Germany) and how do you consolidate. That’s our next piece—how do we consolidate?”
We talked about the continual differentiation of the women’s game from men’s football and she explained: “For us, it is building a space where, if you aren’t a men’s football fan, it’s okay; you can still come in and learn and be a women’s football fan. It’s okay to support one team and say, ‘I never watched football in my life but I’m coming because of the Matildas.’”
Ann Odong continues to be one of the key promoters of the women’s game, after starting her own football media outlet, and now with Football Australia. We are appreciative of her time on a busy WNT February trip to the States and her continuing support of the women’s game.
Note: In Ann Odong’s reference to so many younger players moving abroad, a quick check showed a number of Matildas who have moved from the A-League Women to Europe over the past few seasons:
Defender Winonah Heatley (23), in her third season in Denmark with Nordsjaelland, has scored twice in 19 games. Her club won the league title and cup in 2023-24. She moved to Denmark from Melbourne City.
Forward Remy Siemsen (25) is in her second season with Kristianstads of Sweden and fifth in Europe after leaving Sydney FC, and midfielder Amy Sayer (23) is in her third season with Kristianstads after playing with Sydney FC and then Stanford University in the States.
Also in Sweden, uncapped senior WNT pool player goalkeeper Jada Whyman left Sydney FC after the 2023-24 season—having won two consecutive league titles in the Harbor City—but is currently injured in her second season with struggling AIK of Stockholm and is not yet back to training.
In the Netherlands, Daniela Galic (18) finds herself with a team heavily favored to win the league title this season at FC Twente. She has only played in two regular season games but is in the first year of a two year contract.
In Germany, recently capped Matilda defender Jamilla Rankin (23) has appeared in 16 games in her first season with Hoffenheim (starting nine games to date) after moving from Melbourne Victory last season.
2024-25 A-League Women Regular Season Attendances
In 2024-25, preliminary numbers show that 216,884 attended league matches this season for an average of 1,583 per game. There was a decline in total attendance from the 2023-24 season—a record high of 279,482 with an average of 2,117 for regular season matches—but last season rode the enthusiasm from the 2023 WWC at home in which Australia made the semifinals for the first time.
The 1,583 average was still the fifth highest in 17 season, with more games played this season than ever before. The largest attendance of the season was in Adelaide (8,582) to see United’s 1-0 win against Central Coast Mariners on March 8, 2025, with the lowest coming in Melbourne (323) when City played Adelaide United on March 16, 2025, a 4-3 win for the Premiership winners.
A-League Women First Round Playoff Qualifiers
In single round matches last weekend in the Elimination Finals, on April 27, Adelaide United defeated Western United 1-0 on a goal by Matilda McNamara (26)—back this season after two seasons in Denmark with AGF—scoring the winner in the 24th minute. Adelaide won for the first time ever in the playoffs in two matches (losing in the semifinals in 2021-22) while Western United—who have made the playoffs in each of their three seasons in the league—lost in the Elimination Final for the second consecutive season. The Reds attracted 3,143 to see their historic win in Coopers Stadium. They will now meet Melbourne Victory in two legs over the next two weekends.
In the other match on April 28, Michelle Heyman (36) scored just before halftime for Canberra United on the road against Central Coast Mariners in Gosford in front of 1,502 fans. The Mariners stormed back with two goals by Jade Pennock (32) in the 46th and 74th minute. In four league seasons, including the first two A-League Women seasons before dropping out in 2010 for financial reasons, they have qualified three times for the playoffs. Last season they won their Preliminary match and then lost in the semifinals. They will play two-time consecutive Premiership winners Melbourne City.
After the game, a television reporter asked Michelle Heyman if she will be back next season and she replied: “100%, hopefully Canberra’s around and I’ll be there.”
Canberra has been struggling for a year to find new ownership to take over from the local federation—Capital Football—and we truly hope that Canberra will return and Michelle Heyman will be back for her 16th season in the league—with 13 spent in Canberra.
Canberra is so important globally as they have been independent since beginning in 2008/09, without a top tier professional men’s side in the city to partner with. We hope to hear positive news from the Greens over the next few months, resolving their ownership situation.
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 X: @TimGrainey