As the 2021-22 A-League Women season prepares for an exciting finish, thoughts turn towards next season when the ten-team competition may potentially expand to 12.
The Central Coast Mariners and Western United have had licences notionally approved, however there is still no guarantee they will come in for 2022-23.
The APL have confirmed that final approval will only come if both clubs meet criteria that will be assessed in the off-season, and if there is an agreement for a competition window with FA.
Both clubs are busily doing preliminary work with a plan to come in next season.
The Mariners have been scouting for players while Western United have partnered with Victorian NPLW club Calder United, and have a female development squad.
However, one issue that needs to be addressed is the quality of talent available.
While a number of hidden gems miss out on A-League Women contracts, the spread of talent across ten clubs is thin as it is. Bringing in two more clubs could dilute the talent event further.
(Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)
At present, the gap between the top clubs and the ones who won’t make finals is huge.
Despite only 12 rounds being played so far, the disparity is already clear to see.
While Wellington Phoenix should not be judged this season, considering they are new and are dealing with challenges outside their control, a look at other clubs makes for interesting reading.
Perennial contenders Sydney FC, Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory make up three of the four finals places as it stands.
Adelaide United, who have never made the finals, have been the success story over the past two seasons. The Reds sit in third spot and look good for post-season action.
However, the gap between the rest is a concern. While the Jets, Canberra and Brisbane all have one game in hand compared to fourth-placed Melbourne Victory, they are well outside of finals contention already.
The Western Sydney Wanderers are 15 points away from fourth-placed Victory, even though they have played a game more.
Considering the Wanderers are always underachievers, they may not be the best example to use. But when I think about it, they epitomise the issue.
If the season was longer, either 18 rounds or 27 rounds, the gap may close between the top teams and the rest. But there is every reason to think it could actually end up much bigger.
The playing stocks of the Sky Blues, Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory is far higher than most other clubs.
Adelaide have been terrific this season while Alex Epakis’ Perth team have performed admirably, considering their circumstances too.
While expansion of the competition in terms of clubs and games has to happen sooner rather than later, the timing has to be right.
There are currently 61 NPLW clubs across six federations in Australia. The bulk of players who play in the A-League Women come from that competition, with a few foreign stars and a sprinkling of Matildas-contracted players also joining.
So the volume of available players is there, but again the question that needs to be asked is whether the quality is there?
Judging by results this season, the answer would appear to be no.
One major problem is the reluctance of some clubs to splash out the cash and invest in quality. The Wanderers, Jets, Canberra and Brisbane (this season) have gone the cheaper option and the results speak for themselves.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
The Wanderers have always had this problem. The one season they made finals (2019-20), they paid for a plethora of foreign stars and were rewarded.
The Jets have struggled due to ownership troubles in recent seasons, Canberra are funded by a member federation (Capital Football) and Brisbane this season have linked closely to the QAS, who are run by Football Queensland.
So if clubs are reluctant to invest, they won’t get the best players, with many Australian stars understandably going overseas.
The other question is, with the diluted talent across the NPLW competitions, do clubs have an incentive to pay more?
A number of former A-League Women and Matildas players have suggested we need to expand the number of games among the existing clubs first, before expanding the competition.
Many feel we need to see how a full home-and-away season looks before throwing two other clubs into the mix.
The answer again comes back to money. If clubs invest in better players, spend money to bring talented Aussies back from overseas, and sign high quality marquees, there is no reason why an A-League Women expansion in terms of games and clubs won’t work.
Silver Lake recently committed to put in $140 million into the APL. While money needs to be spent wisely, investing in building and growing a solid women’s competition is worth it.
The last thing an A-League Women competition needs is a further diluted competition. It will just disenchant fans and sponsors.
With a 2023 World Cup coming to Australia and New Zealand in 18 months, we can strike while the iron is hot.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Well said.
Garry
Guest
You could pick a more competitive ALW side for half the competition today by using 15/16/17 year olds in the front third, 17/18/19 year olds in the middle and 18/19/20 year olds in the back third. The reason for this is related to the timing around SAP programs being rolled out about 8 years ago and the roll on effect this has had across female age groups. The younger females start and stay in a skills program the more developed and broad their talent will be, which is what we are about to witness over the next 12-18 months (if selection politics allows).
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
our biggest problem with overseas players Waz, is the conflicting seasons. That's not to say we can't get them, but not good players from UK or Europe and from the US for only part of the season. Roar has done fairly well getting reasonable players, but watch how some clubs set the league alight until their overseas players go home to play (near our season's end).
Waz
Roar Rookie
No. The quality is not there today but it is coming - there is a surge that started about 10 years ago that is just about to start graduating U16. Secondly, football can (and should) dip in to the overseas market for international players. Expand already darn it :stoked:
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
2026 I believe for NSD
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Very similar themes through a lot of the threads on this forum. As I see it the two that are most prominent are quality junior and youth recruitment and development and media and communication. I hope the FFA is listening.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Yep, the same issues that face the Socceroos. Playing the world best with second and third tier athletes. Football has to capture the best junior athletes, otherwise we are always going to battle. I don’t accept that poor performing foreign players should be playing in the A league men’s and women’s teams when their are no youth players that can do a similar or better job with a view to a future in a truly world sport.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
There are a few points, first one is I have not followed the women as closely this year, much like I haven’t followed the men as closely (still have not missed a home game). First, while some teams look good, they rely very heavily on a couple of quality imports. This has always been a difference between most teams, much more pronounced in the women’s league (than the men’s) and more pronounced now, since our own quality players are playing in the UK and Europe. Brisbane has not traditionally gone down that path, a few imports but not high quality and of late their imports are locals (Brazilian, Japanese players from NPLW). To say they are paying the price for not importing players is in direct conflict with the theme of your article, that we struggle for depth in the Liberty League. They are paying the price for developing depth, as they have always done. Do a headcount of female players out of QLD playing in the women’s league and for the Matildas. More clubs will need to get on board with development, I’m not sure if you’ve seen the AAFC Final Report on the NSD, which they released yesterday. We’re going to need a whole lot more players real soon, and the clubs are obviously confident we have them. Note that I did link the report but the content seems to have disappeared from their website (so removed link), but try their website, it’s under the News-Reports tabs, Feb 22 report. I don’t recall the date for the women’s NSD but as an indicator, the men’s NSD start date plan is 2023.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
The competition faces similar challenges to the Matilda’s in some ways. The rest of the world has begun to embrace female sport and plenty of countries are proving to be better at it than us. They are investing more, maybe have deeper pockets and a larger talent pool. Aussies playing in English Super League are reputed to make a good living so what is the attraction of our local league? We know that playing alongside or against better quality opposition all serves to help improve the game; conversely expansion and dilution of the talent pool may have the opposite effect. On a local level the sport has been neglected for an awful long time. I’m always surprised at the number of female players playing grassroots that have natural ability but have never been coached. We have a long way to go.