This week, we present our annual 2021/22 A-League Women regular season final review from Australia.
2021-22 A-League Women Review
The A-League Women's league in Australia has had some fixture disruption this season due to COVID-19 and heavy rains and flooding in New South Wales, with Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix having to stage most/all of their home matches respectively, in New South Wales this season. Four teams still make the playoffs in the now ten team league, but the playoff format has been altered to have the top two teams face off in the semifinals, with the winner advancing to the Grand Final and the losing side facing the winner of the third versus fourth place semifinal for another chance at making the Grand Final, thru what is known in the A-League men's competition as a Preliminary Final. In 2021/22, Melbourne City and Adelaide United—for the first time in their history—replaced Brisbane Roar and Canberra United from last year's playoffs, while last season's Grand Finalists Melbourne Victory (the league champions) and Sydney FC (Premiership winners the last two seasons) were playoff holdovers from 2020/21.
Sydney FC (11-2-1—W-D-L—35 points—First)
Sydney FC has had an amazing season in 2021/22, not losing a game until their Round 12 loss to Melbourne City (2-1). Cortnee Vine led the team in scoring with six goals while Remy Siemsen, Princess Ibini and Mackenzie Hawkesby all scored five goals each, with Hawkesby adding eight assists to lead the league. Sydney as a team topped the league in goals (36) and set a record with nine consecutive shutouts. They have had great goalkeeping all season by Jada Whyman, who has been to Matilda camps in the past, posting 11 clean sheets in total (with one shared for 8 minutes with backup Katie Offer). The Sky Blues are striving for their ninth Grand Final appearance, winning three and losing five, including a heart-breaker last season in the last minute of overtime to Melbourne Victory. Their regular season (Premiership title) was their second consecutive and fourth overall—a league record. They still remain the only team in league history to never miss the playoffs.
Melbourne City (11-0-3—33 points—Second)
New Zealand veteran international forward Hannah Wilkinson led the Golden Boot race for much of the season and finished with 12 goals (one behind Fiona Worts of Adelaide), breaking the single season club scoring record with Larissa Crummer (now Brisbane Roar), who set the record in the 2015/16 season. Forward Rhianna Pollicina (25) was a revelation this season with seven goals and three assists and could leave Australia for overseas. Four-time Women's World Cup Finals goalkeeper Melissa (Barbieri) Hudson was superb in goal—she is a team assistant coach and was drafted into playing last season in an emergency situation and continued as the first-team pick this season, finishing with seven shutouts, sharing the last few minutes of two of them with backups Coco Majstorovic (22) and Sally James (19), the latter who joined this season after two years with Canberra.
Adelaide United (9-0-5—27 points—Third)
In Round 13 on February 26, the Reds achieved the Promised Land of the A-League Women playoffs for the first time in club history. They clinched a berth at home at Coppers Stadium by defeating Melbourne Victory 3-0 as part of an A-League doubleheader with the men's side during their 'Pride Games' event, encouraging inclusivity in football. Adelaide players had rainbow numbers and names on their jerseys, while Victory had rainbow motifs on their socks. English native Fiona Worts scored a hat-trick for all of the Adelaide scoring in the match and jumped into first in the Golden Boot race, finishing the season with 13, with Melbourne City's New Zealand international Hannah Wilkinson second with 12 and Adelaide teammate Chelsea Dawber on third with 10.
Reds head coach Adrian Stenta said after the match that the playoffs were a huge achievement for the club that narrowly missed out on a spot last season, on a goal difference of one compared with Canberra United, "It means a lot for the club and it means a lot for the players, especially the players who have been here for a long period of time. There's been a lot of people who have put in a lot of work over the years at the club."
Worts, who played Championship League (second division) in England, scored 5 goals in Adelaide United's 8-2 dismantling of Brisbane Roar on February 13. Worts became the second player this season to tie the record for most goals in a game along with Melbourne City's Hannah Wilkinson, held for years by Matilda and now television analyst Kate Gill, when she played for Perth Glory.
Prior to clinching a playoff spot in Round 13, in Round 12 on February 18, the Reds set a club record in wins (8) and points (24) in their twelfth game of the season—the same as were played last season in total—for a 4-1 win over Wellington Phoenix in Wollongong; Dawber had two goals and an assist while Worts scored once.
Adelaide is a prime choice to make the Grand Final and a chance at more history as they host the semifinal in the reconfigured playoff format (see above) and they scored 33 goals (second behind Sydney FC) and had the third stingiest defense in allowing 18 goals—behind only Sydney (6 goals allowed) and Melbourne City (11 goals surrendered).
Melbourne Victory (7-3-4—24 points—Tied for Fourth)
Defending league champions Melbourne Victory were seemingly coasting to a fourth consecutive season in the playoffs but injuries and fixture congestion resulted in only three points from their final five matches and they squeaked into the playoffs with a last day goalless draw at home against Canberra on March 4, qualifying on goal difference over Perth Glory (see below). Both crucial matches began at the same time but the scoreless draw was just enough to offset Perth Glory's 3-1 win over Wellington Phoenix in Wollongong; Victory's goal difference over the Glory was sizeable (+4 to -3)
The Victory had to play 7 matches in 19 days during a late stretch because of COVID postponements, which head coach Jeff Hopkins described as, "We've played half the season in three weeks." Hopkins felt that it was too much and prevented proper game preparation. COVID has been the great equalizer and demanded flexibility over the past two seasons but Hopkins does have a point and I think back to a few years ago (2018/19) when Victory had to make up a postponed match in Canberra the week of their semifinals. They had finished the regular season with a 2-1 away win in Perth on February 1. They had to play the makeup game on February 5 in Canberra (a 0-0 draw) for a game that meant absolutely nothing in the standings as MV had won the Premiership and Canberra was second from bottom. Five days later, Melbourne Victory fell 4-2 in overtime in a home semifinal against Perth, with Sam Kerr (now Chelsea) scoring three goals and two in the overtime period—Perth hadn't played since February 1 and they turned on an extra gear late in the match. I wondered at the time if the make-up game didn't wind the Victory unduly ahead of the Perth semifinal. This season, the league had a number of added games in Round 14 and there is a point—particularly when it doesn't affect the playoff picture—to just say as boxer Robert Duran once said, "No mas." It will be interesting to see how Melbourne Victory performs in the semifinal after playing half of the regular season schedule within a three-week time period.
In the final game against Canberra, there was more controversy as Paramount+ analyst Grace Gill (former Canberra United and Slovacko Zeny in the Czech Republic player who had one cap for the Matildas) felt that Hopkins should have informed midfielder Kyra Cooney Cross that she had four yellow cards entering the match and with one more (which she received in the Canberra match after a testy challenge) would miss the semifinals trip to Adelaide. Hopkins explained that, "We were aware of it. I don't really like bringing (up) stuff like that. We've talked to her about (it); one or two of her yellow cards have been pretty petulant. She needs to just be careful. I think one or two of them were for dissent and it comes back to bite you further down the line. I feel if you put those things in player's minds, they're playing on them and you don't get a good performance out of them."
Gale's fellow football analyst and another former Matilda Georgia Yeoman-Dale disagreed post-match. "It's something that potentially, if you're not worried about cards, you can make a professional foul to break up play. But if I'm a coach I'm talking to my players; I'm making them very aware of what a foul like that means going forward into finals. I know he said you put it in the player's mind, but they should be thinking about it in a game, she should be very well aware of it, and not necessarily pulling out of tackles but not doing silly things like that." Cooney-Cross's absence will be another interesting aspect to watch in the Adelaide semifinal.
2019 Women's World Cup Finals midfielder Alex Chidiac, who played this season on loan, was due to go back to the WE-League in Japan with two games left but her loan agreement was extended through the end of the playoffs as United was struggling with injuries and their fixture congestion. She scored once but has been a force with her passing and attacking play.
Veteran goalkeeper Casey Dumont posted her fourth consecutive shutout as the Victory won their last four games after a 5-0 win over WSW on February 12—their last win of the regular season. Dumont, in a successful return to the Victory after missing all of last season through injury, finished with five clean sheets.
American defender Brooke Hendrix—who played last season with Racing Louisville in the NWSL and was signed less than a week before, for the rest of the season, to replace injured fellow American defender Kayla Morrison—scored on a header in the 55th minute to extend reigning champions Melbourne Victory's winning streak to three games in a 1-0 defeat of Newcastle Jets on February 8. Hendrix (28) has extensive experience abroad after her collegiate career at the University of Southern Mississippi, playing with West Ham United in the English Women's Super League, Brescia in the Italian Women's Serie A, FC Staad in Switzerland and Fylkir in Iceland. She returned to the U.S. to join the Washington Spirit in 2020 before moving to Racing Louisville this past season.
Perth Glory (7-3-4—24 points—Tied for Fourth)
In what looked like a vital game of the season to both sides' playoff hopes at the time,
Perth Glory needed only a fifth-minute goal from their Danish import Mie Leth Jans, who headed the ball home from a corner kick, to defeat Adelaide United 1-0 on Thursday February 10 in a "home" match held in Central Coast Mariners' home stadium in Gosford in New South Wales. Perth Glory has been on the road since their first match of the season due to COVID restrictions in Western Australia.
In Round 12, Perth Glory defeated host Melbourne Victory 2-0 in arguably the upset of the A-League Women season on February 19. The Perth goals came in the last twenty minutes from Jans' shot on goal—but it struck Melbourne Victory American forward Cat Zimmerman on the leg for an own goal—and then veteran forward Leena Khamis (35), who signed with the club last month on a short-term contract as an injury replacement. Khamis has over 120 league appearances and now has 45 goals and has played in all 14 seasons in the league, along with 25 appearances for the Matildas.
In the final match of the season Perth did its part with a 3-1 win over Wellington but needed Melbourne Victory to lose (not tie) against Canberra on March 4 (see above) and ending up missing the playoffs on Melbourne's superior goal differential.
The "Road Warriors" of Perth impressed phenomenally this season with seven wins on the season—after recording no wins in 2020/21—and missing the playoffs only on goal differential. one can only imagine their record if they could have hosted one or two, at least, of their 13 road games in Perth, which would provide an advantage in terms of familiarity with their home field, routine and the long trip to Western Australia for opponents (see more about their "long road trip" in: The Week in Women's Football: A-League review; Interviews with coaches of Adelaide, Perth & Wellington - Tribal Football). Perth even had to play their last "home" game of the season in Launceston, Tasmania, where their men's team was holding three matches as they faced the similar situation of strict COVID protocols in their home state of Western Australia. Look for Perth to definitely make the playoffs in 2022/23 and build on an impressive coaching job this season by Alex Epakis.
Brisbane Roar (5-2-7—17 points—Sixth)
The 2021/2022 season was a tremendous struggle for the Roar, who did not have the number of American imports or Matildas in the squad as they have had in past seasons. Three wins in their last three games (two of which were wins against Newcastle Jets, who were devasted by injuries) before their season ending 3-3 draw with Canberra on March 10 was very much too little too late. Meaghan McElligott (26) scored her first ever A-League Women goal in injury time to give the Roar a share of the points in the 3-3 tie with Canberra to end the season. The Roar thus finished the season undefeated in their last four games, with 10 points out of 12.
Head coach Garrath McPherson signed multi-year deal ahead of the 2021/22 campaign and will want to try to engineer a better start to the season in 2022/23 for a club that missed the playoffs for only the fourth season in fourteen years for the five-time Grand Finalist (two titles).
The club never got on a roll this season and their defense (30 goals allowed) tied for second worst in the league with Newcastle Jets. On the plus side, their 29 team goals were tied for third best with Melbourne City. American Shea Connors was a huge plus this season with seven goals while Matilda veteran Larissa Crummer finished with eight to finish fifth in the Golden Boot race, but three came in a 5-1 win over Newcastle Jets late in the season, and five came in the team's last three games. Matilda midfielder Katrina Gorry had four goals and five assists (the latter was the second highest total in the league). She is now off to join Vittsjo of Sweden's Damallsvenskan, where former Roar teammates Clare Polkinghorne and Emily Gielnik went to after last season with considerable success.
Canberra United (2-7-5—13 points—Seventh)
After making the playoffs last season for the first time in four campaigns, Canberra collapsed early this season but had a late run of good form. The Greens were undefeated in their last seven matches (two wins and five ties), which should be a solid platform to build on for next season, particularly if they can turn some of their league-leading seven ties into wins. Michelle Heyman had two goals and an assist in a Round 13's 3-0 win over Newcastle on February 25 and finished fourth in the league with nine goals, following a hat-trick within twenty minutes of the second half of their 3-3 season ending tie with Brisbane away on March 10. American forward Chelsee Washington (on loan from the Orlando Pride) was a quite useful addition on the forward line and added three goals.
One player who returned on loan to her hometown side Canberra United for five games this season and played well was Karly Roestbakken (21), from her Norwegian club Kvinner. She joined Kvinner in mid-2020 and renewed her contact for the 2022 season, despite only playing in 2 matches in 2021, after appearing in 16 games in 2020 as the club finished runners-up in the Cup, missing so many games this year due to having foot surgery. Norway was a natural move for her since her father was a second division player in Norway before emigrating to Australia. A surprise selection to Ante Milicic's 2019 Women's World Cup Finals squad, she has struggled with injuries since but was called in to Tony Gustavsson's pre-Women's Asian Cup camp in the United Arab Emirates in January as one of four current A-League Women players competing for two last spots in India for the Matildas.
Her play for Canberra prompted the national team camp invitation and she said that it was very good to return home to a familiar environment and team, "We were so unlucky with the results [Canberra was second from last in the table when she left after a semifinal berth in 2020-21], It's not always fun to lose, I loved being back home and loved being in Green. After having a long injury, sometimes it's hard to get back in the game. I've never lost of sight for my love for the game and being back in Green has made me enjoy it even more and love the game so much more again; that always helps with confidence."
She also enjoyed being home with family and friends and her former teammates at Canberra United, where she first began playing in the 2016-17 season, "Coming home to Canberra, home with my parents, back to what I know; it is comfortable [and] I'm so much happier with friends from the team and school…I had a proper summer—I hadn't had it in so long, the sun, get a tan, play some football and be with my friends and family."
Newcastle Jets—(2-4-8—10 points—Eighth)
Head coach Ash Wilson is building a good side and Emily Van Egmond was a big asset before she left to join NWSL expansion side San Diego Wave. American loanee Liz Eddy was an important addition in midfield and scored two goals and tied for the club lead with Norwegian import Mari Markussen (25, who only played in 9 matches due to injuries), and Australians Sophie Harding (22), Lauren Allen (25) and long-time Jet forward Tara Andrews (27). Their 15 goals scored was third lowest in the league. We were pleased that the Jets had money to bring in international players for the first time in three seasons and their defense was strong with 19 goals allowed in the first eleven games—fourth best in the league—but allowed 11 in their last three matches and finished with 30 allowed—tied for seventh best in the league with Brisbane. A promising start quickly hit the rails as they were winless in their last 10 matches (with only three ties) but the side was hard hit with injuries; late in the season the Jets only had two healthy outfield players on the bench in their Round 13 5-1 loss at home to the Roar. They have to find a big-time scorer for next season to move up the table and turn some of their four ties (second in the league and tied with WSW and behind only Canberra with seven) into wins.
One huge positive was that Jets defender Cassidy Davis broke the all-time A-Leagues record for consecutive appearances with her 109th game on March 1 in their 2-0 loss to Melbourne City away, in a game postponed from Round 8. She overtook Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Steven Ugarkovic with 108 appearances in the Isuzu UTE A-League (men's), a competition with roughly double the number of games each season for a player to feature in. She finished the season with 111 consecutive appearances and counting.
Western Sydney Wanderers (1-4-9—7 points—Tied for Ninth)
Catherine Cannuli, in her first season as head coach, should be given another year at least in her job; this season should be completely written off, with the big problem being that they just couldn't score goals. Ashlie Crofts (23) had three goals in six games in her first season with WSW. Western Sydney, who scored a league low 3 goals in their first 10 games (Adelaide holds the all-time record for fewest goals scored in a season with four in the ten-game season of 2010/11), ended up scoring only seven goals and were shutout nine times during the season. Their defense was good with 22 allowed through 12 games—tied for fifth best with top five clubs Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory—but finished with 27 allowed after letting in 5 in their last two matches (a 3-2 loss to Wellington and 2-0 to Melbourne City—both at home), but even then, they still allowed the sixth lowest total of goals in the league this season.
Wellington Phoenix (2-1-11—7 points—Tied for Ninth)
Another "Road Warrior" team, Wellington Phoenix (as were Perth), due to COVID they have yet to play in their home city or country, made history on February 11 by winning its first ever game, a 3-0 defeat of Canberra United. Chloe Knott scored first, her second goal of the season. then Grace Jale scored, while Ava Pritchard's shot in the box in the 62nd minute took a deflection off United defender Allyson Haran and finished the scoring.
Jale, who played at Wake Forest University in 2019, said after the game, "Finally—finally we got the win. It's huge—first win, history. I'm so happy for the win … I think it's so well deserved." Goalkeeper Lily Alfeld, who played at Louisiana State University, recorded her second shutout of the campaign. This historic first win was inevitable, as the team had come close in 3-2 defeats in recent weeks against Brisbane and Perth, surrendering the winning goal late in both games after staking leads. With the win, the Nix pulled even with Canberra in a tie for ninth place, though Canberra had a large advantage in goal differential.
On March 1, Wellington Phoenix won their second match of the season with a 3-2 win over Western Sydney Wanderers, in a match postponed from Round 13. Grace Jale (her fifth), Ava Pritchard (her second) and Australian midfielder Kate Taylor (one goal) scored the goals for the Nix, who put in a 95th minute goal into their own net to reduce the margin for the Wanderers. Wellington's goal-scoring picked up in the final third of season, finishing with 13 as a team. Goalkeeper Lily Alfeld (who played last season with Perth Glory) was the only player on the Football Ferns SheBelieves Cup roster in the U.S. towards the end of the campaign.
Grace Jale had a strong season in attack and finished with six goals—with four in consecutive matches to close the season—and she should have a look-in with the full Football Ferns later in the season. Wellington gave up the most goals in the league (36) which contributed to finishing with the wooden spoon for last pace on goal difference
(-23 vs. -20 for Western Sydney) but the expansion franchise' defense should be better in 2022/23.
There were a lot of positives to take from Wellington Phoenix' first year in the league and adding a few more experienced players and another scorer to combine with Jale could result in tripling their points total next season and even be a factor in the race to the postseason. Overall, it was a great first season for the new team that will be a beacon for young female players in New Zealand.
2021/22 A-League Women Table
GP W D L GF GA Pts
Sydney FC 14 11 2 1 36 6 35
Melbourne City FC 14 11 0 3 29 11 33
Adelaide United 14 9 0 5 33 18 27
Melbourne Victory 14 7 3 4 26 22 24
Perth Glory 14 7 3 4 20 23 24
Brisbane Roar 14 5 2 7 29 30 17
Canberra United 14 2 7 5 24 29 13
Newcastle Jets 14 2 4 8 15 30 10
Western Sydney Wanderers 14 1 4 9 7 27 7
Wellington Phoenix 14 2 1 11 13 36 7
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 yours copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
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