It’s Season 10 for the Western Sydney Wanderers.
For the A-League Women team, it has been a case of so much talent but very little result.
The Wanderers’ women have only made finals once in their history. That was in 2019-20 when a 3-2 win in Perth in the final round secured a post-season berth, which ended in a 5-1 loss to Melbourne City.
When you look at the names that have worn the red and black, I can’t help but scratch my head at the lack of success.
Matildas greats like Heather Garriock, Sarah Walsh and Servet Uzunlar probably came during the twilight of their careers. But so many were there in their infancy or even the prime of their footballing journey.
Names like Ellie Carpenter, Rachel Lowe, Jada Whyman and Courtney Nevin all started their career in the red and black. Numerous others have come and gone through the doors at Wanderland, while still reaching their peak.
Alanna Kennedy (aged 19 when she played for the Wanderers), Remy Siemsen (19), Jenna Kingsley (20), Cortnee Vine (21), Kyah Simon (22), Teigan Allen (18 during her first stint) and Kyra Cooney-Cross (17) have all gone on to bigger and better things including W-League championships and Matildas caps.
Kyah Simon (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Throw in the Khamis sisters and Ella Mastrantonio, who have all played for Australia, and I wonder what could have or should have been.
There are so many others that have grown up in western Sydney but have slipped through the fingers and have gone on to have success elsewhere. Princess Ibini and Jessika Nash at Sydney FC are two examples as is Holly McNamara at Melbourne City.
While all of the players mentioned above haven’t played together at the same time, the Wanderers had them in their grasp at one time or another, but never quite took advantage.
There have been many reasons given over the years for the lack of finals and dearth of trophies. Lack of investment in the best players, unproven coaches, poor remuneration for the best coaches and lazy scouting.
The answer is probably a bit of all of the above and then some other things that are not clearly seen or at least not spoken about out loud.
When you don’t create a winning culture it doesn’t help. When you don’t create an environment where players will thrive and reach their goals, there is little incentive to go there. When it becomes jobs for mates, it kind of makes a mockery of elite football.
With the Wanderers, right now they should be the most appealing club to all players. They have the best facilities in the country, worth nearly $36.5 million when stage four is complete later this year.
The club can tap into the best NPLW competition in Australia. There are 21 teams across the two NPLW divisions in Sydney.
The Future Matildas program is run in their own backyard within the Blacktown Football Park precinct. The best talent in the country is literally on their doorstep.
The Wanderers’ rivals Sydney FC have had years and years of success, including three premiers plates and three W-League championships. The Sky Blues have never missed the finals since the W-League started in 2008-09.
(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
None of this makes sense to Wanderers fans. The questions have been asked time and time again. The answers are not clear. The solution is never easy.
Currently in 2021-22, the club again looks like struggling to reach the top four. There is talent there. Bryleeh Henry is a star. Alexia Apostolakis is going to be one. Sheridan Gallagher as well.
But what becomes of them going forward? Will they want to stay? Is there a reason for them too?
Any good coach that has come across hasn’t stayed for the same reasons mentioned above. Why would a coach stay at a club who doesn’t resource him or her with the best?
Same goes for the fans. How many have been lost over the years due to poor results? Western Sydney is a huge market and is a hotbed for football in this country.
Something has to happen at Wanderland. Otherwise there will be more than a lost generation.
Dennis
Guest
The RBB active fans chanted tonight for the removal of CEO JT at the Melbourne city home game tonight which WSW lost 3-1. This is the first time I have seen the WSW fans demonstrate against the club. Hope Paramount caught it all. Hope it succeeds. The club is being run into the ground.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Probably get a lot more people by going to fans who aren’t going along…they are the genuinely disaffected, but how to harness is the question?
Dennis
Guest
Simmo/Buddy, do you think that starting a petition and collecting signatures at the home games will start the ball rolling for the removal of JT and GC? That might build up a head of steam to get the job done. Any thoughts?
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Waz, I was thinking more about the overall running of the game and how much investment there has been and coaching resources etc in trying to make the game stronger and Australians more competitive. Is it pie in the sky to believe that players could remain in this country and play a high enough standard to be able to successfully negotiate the step to the international stage? As much as there is some good talent in the Matildas, at times their play, tactics and overall ability is severely lacking, naive and amateurish - not what's required at that level for sure.
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Personally I’ll never boycott but I don’t blame fans for dojng so
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Sydney FC as much as I dislike them have always taken women seriously. Finals in every season since the league started.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Roar have defiantly taken Women's football seriously - and crowds that consistently average 2k suggest fans buy in to that. City take it seriously. And lately SFC and Victory do. But that’s a fair point you make - WSW have never taken in seriously but they are definitely not alone.
josh
Guest
WSW took the W League seriously once, that was when the overseas players absolutely destroyed SFC at home to the tune of 5-0. But their loan spells ended and they were back overseas by the time finals came around, hence the 5-1 loss to City. This season they had a few players lined up but the deals fell through at the last second, leaving the club scrambling to find some locals.
Kiryu-chan
Guest
Even if WSW do win the spoon, JT and Costello ain't leaving. JT has got away with so much and he doesn't take accountability for the way how the club has rotted underneath him. He finger points and blames the 'outside' noise. He has disengaged the fans and that's why members aren't showing up.
Simmo
Roar Rookie
Time for a boycott. If the club hierarchy simply doesn't care enough to bring competence to the way things are run, the only people who suffer are the fans and players. A public boycott will turn the spotlight where its needed. It will put pressure on the club in the media and on the APL. The APL will in turn put pressure on WSW to sort themselves out. There's none of that pressure happening now, so the rot will continue. The fans can be the circuit-breaker
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Build tribalism, get active fans to generate atmosphere, connect fans at Grass roots to players, we are locked in to paramount but it wasn’t a wise move
Dennis
Guest
Thanks Buddy. Does anybody on this website that contributes or just reads the articles have any idea how we can mobilise the disengaged and current membership to get the wheels moving on a top down clean-our? Trying to get my head around best way to begin this?
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I’d argue a case that it isn’t just WSW, it is pretty much the case across the board in Australia, or has been for many years and it is only now, in light of a new era in sport that is promoting women’s sport that the landscape is changing. The only anomaly is the Matilda’s where there has been investment long before women’s football was seen as being worthwhile around the globe. There were a handful of countries that worked hard in that area and therefore the Matilda’s have been somewhere near the top of the tree for quite sometime. Now that the political landscape has shifted quite dramatically, europe in particular has invested heavily and is now reaping the rewards. Countries such as Spain, England, Netherlands etc have come on in leaps and bounds in a very short space of time and appear to be funding and resourcing women’s football to a much greater extent than here in Australia. The results board and rankings are changing and Matilda’s are coming “back to the pack” probably reflecting a more realistic picture of the Australian scene, now ranked 11th according to FIFA for what it’s worth.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I’d say there are more disaffected fans out there choosing not go go along anymore than there are fans left who are still turning up. Something has to change surely?
Dennis
Guest
Good article. Time for a clean-out. Time for JT and Costello to move on. Their poor performance overseeing the mens team surely means WSW need to copy the Melbourne Victory model and clear out from top down. Maybe WSW can release their membership numbers for this season? I suspect they won’t. Does anybody know where the missing disengaged 8,000 fans have gone to ? Cast your mind back a few years and WSW got 60,800 fans for the derby. Lucky to get 15,000 now. I am a member and find the club performance so sad and disappointing. Hope it gets better soon.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Wanderers have never demonstrated they have taken Womens football seriously - everything you have described is correct but seems to be “by design” and not some oversight or poor planning.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Issues may not be exactly the same between men and women’s teams at WSW but overall both teams are suffering from the general malaise at the club. When the club was purchased and into private hands with a new CEO appointed there was the prospect of a new stadium, new state of the art training facilities and the future looked bright but the club has stumbled from one crisis to another and is now a mere shadow of what it grew to in somehow managing to lift the AFC Champions League trophy in what seems like a lifetime ago now. The club requires a general clean out starting at the very top if the pattern is not going to be repeated for the next decade, although there are still people around who insist it is all covid related and it will all naturally come good.