For the season 2015-16 of the W-League, we have the Power Rankings to track how each team is doing.
Sometimes the ladder position doesn’t tell the full story of a team’s form, so let’s see if, after the 14-week journey, these rankings can.
Position 1: Melbourne City
The new kids on the block have certainly made a statement, downing Sydney FC 6-0. Not sure what to make of this result, as first round results often aren’t the best indictaters of how a team is tracking, but adding six to the goal difference early is never a bad thing.
Position 2: Perth Glory
Down 0-1 early, the Perth girls found the back of the net twice to win 2-1. Grabbing an away win against Melbourne Victory is a great way to start the season, and should boost the confidence of the team after their last outing saw them lose the championship to Canberra United last season.
Position 3: Brisbane Roar
Suncorp Stadium is a strong hunting ground for the Roar, and they picked up a win 2-1 over Canberra. Canberra’s goalkeeper won’t be watching the replays of the second goal, and the girls in Orange really dominated the midfield. They found the net twice in 11 mins, and deserved the win.
Position 4: Western Sydney Wanderers
2-0 up away from home, the girls will be disappointed to only take away the one point. A draw away from home is better than a loss, and shows the squad is ready to step up and take it to their opponents.
Position 5: Adelaide
They were 0-2 down to WSW and rallied to draw 2-2. The only reason they sit behind WSW in rankings is the coaching staff will see this game as a missed opportunity to start the season with a home win. Still, a draw is better than a loss and the next round beckons.
Position 6: Newcastle Jets
They had the bye. No damage done, sit on zero points, and zero for and against. Not much to see here
Position 7: Canberra United
Last season’s champions were missing a couple of players, but that excuse won’t wash with the team as they were hunting the win. Michelle Heyman scored the only goal for Canberra in the 1-2 loss. The less that is said about the Roar’s second goal the better.
Position 8: Melbourne Victory
Up 1-0 before Perth slammed two into the net sees Victory in the wrong part of the ladder. With only seven home games in the season, this was a missed chance for Victory to start the season strong.
Position 9: Sydney FC
Teams have bad weeks, and the coaching staff would be hoping that this is their bad game for the season. It’s a big hit to the for and against by the newcomers, but they have to just draw a line under this game and come back next week stronger and hungrier for success.
So there we are Roarers, if people enjoy these I will continue to publish them each week.
Wayne
Roar Guru
Thanks :) Going to get in contact with Capital Football/FFA and try to get couple player interviews during season. Really fun last season chatting with Ash Sykes. Hopefully get some other teams too
Waz
Guest
Over the years that's been evident in the NYL team as well as the Womens team.
Waz
Guest
It is, please keep it up. And it's interesting to observe how many posters on this blog site can be bothered to comment on the "lack of support for the women's game" when stories like that appear on this site eg the FFA v Matilda's dispute but are nowhere to be seen when a normal coverage story appears. That probably sums up one of the breakthroughs the W-League needs to achieve - people are "interested" when there's big news such as a WC or pay dispute but much less so when things are normal.
Riordan Lee
Editor
Great stuff Wayne, great to see some W-League coverage on The Roar
Wayne
Roar Guru
I was following game on Twitter. But wasn't many tweets outside scoring events. Even if it was a flash in the pan, it's a +6 flash
Bob
Guest
Melbourne City are a very welcome addition to the competition. I didn't see their game but it reads ominous for the other W-League teams.
Bob
Guest
One of the things Brisbane have got right from top to bottom is the style of play so players coming into any Brisbane team benefit from that consistency. That showed in BRFCs game on Sunday.
Waz
Guest
Agreed on City, it's early days but ironically the women's team msy have achieved what the men's team can't - bought dominance. Roar like many others will be tested with the absence of Matilda's now, this is of course something they have been used to in recent years but never with such a new and inexperienced squad.
Wombat
Roar Rookie
Yes, Roar did look far better yesterday than they looked all last season. Canberra looked very disjointed through midfield and a couple of newer players looked all at sea. Brisbane's 2nd goal ..... something you might see once every 4-5 seasons from someone like Williams. Whilst she's definitely "in the gun" for that goal, Canberra have her to thank for NOT going down by at least another 2 goals. Next round will test the depths of the various sides with the Matlida's away but we aren't likely to get definitive "reads" until all squads have everyone in place. City, however, looking "scary" even before the arrival of Fishlock and Little.
Waz
Guest
It was a good start by Roar, unlike the men's team they lost 6 really good players in the close season so it was nice to see them play good football and get the win. The only disappointment is why are the games shown on delay on ABC1? Does it make any real difference FoxSports?