Edit 26 Nov: well that theory was shot to sh** in super quick time. Lisa de Vanna just signed with Perth Glory.
I did a brute force search of all available forwards with ALW experience yet to re-sign and came up with 9 as follows:
Rosie Sutton, Sharn Freier, Nickoletta Flannery, Sasha Grove, Gabe Marzano, Evelyn Chronis, Marianna Tabain, Katarina Jukic, Leena Khamis
- Khamis has the most impressive resume with 10+ professional seasons and 25 appearances for the Matildas including 5 goals.
- Also with 10+ professional seasons but limited international experience are Sutton, Tabain and Jukic.
- Marzano and Flannery have 5+ seasons each.
- Freier, Grove and Chronis don't have the experience the WPW will be looking for
Sooo...probably Khamis then?
Edit 24 Nov: I am soooo suspicious.
Gemma Lewis is turning out to be a very sneaky coach. She's been extremely cautious about showing her hand in pre-season warmup games, and now she's waiting until the last moment to announce her final Aussie selection.
I'm now leaning toward Lisa de Vanna. Her Wikipedia entry says "In September 2021, De Vanna retired from football", which effectively meant she was not re-signing to Melbourne Victory. The new WPW team was also announced in September, so I find the timing of events extremely interesting.
De Vanna was dropped from the Matildas squad in June, meaning she missed out on the Olympics. This was a big call - despite being 36 at the time and theoretically in the twilight of her career, she was still in great form. The Victory took the W-League 2020-21 title with her help and she earned individual recognition for Goal of the Season and inclusion in Team of the Year. De Vanna has been pretty vocal about her disappointment at being dropped. She also went public with accusations of historic abuse in the W-League and has been unhappy with the lack of support from Football Australia.
So I'm really hoping she wants to send the national organisation a big f*** you by kicking some Aussie ass for the WPW in the ALW. A Phoenix-like rebirth indeed! It's exactly the kind of move you would expect from de Vanna who has a track record of relishing challenges, having played for over 20 different clubs in her career and taken leadership roles in young, unproven squads.
With 19 signings so far, the roster for the very first season of the Wellington Phoenix Women is almost complete. They need one more player to comply with the FFA eligibility requirements.
Who will it be? How close can I get to the name with just guesswork and google? Without even watching anyone play?
WPW need a forward, must choose an Aussie, want experience and don't have a hope of poaching internationally or from the other ALW sides at this late hour. All that's left are former ALW players, ideally recently demoted to the state leagues and not yet totally out of touch with the big time. The pool is small - in the past 2 years, out of 21 players dropped there were only 5 forwards.
Meleri Mullan already got herself back up by re-signing with Adelaide United.
Madelyn Whittall has ghosted the football world for the past year, I'm guessing she's retired.
Liana Cook only got on the field 4 times for the Glory - probably not the level of experience WPW is looking for.
Adriana Jones has played both ALW and overseas, was top scorer for her side this season and is giving back to the game by participating in a global FIFPRO player mental health initiative. Doesn't she sound like an awesome caring wise head for our team of mostly debutantes? On the other hand...New Lambton also came dead last in the Northern NSW Premier League, and Jones was quoted as saying pro football is brutal and she doesn't want to uproot herself from her beloved Newcastle community any more. What a head case...(joking, don't cancel me!!) Wollongong is only just down the road if she changed her mind and wanted to give it another crack.
But my virtual money is on Abbey Lloyd who had two seasons with the Roar going back to 2017 and was also a lynchpin this season for the Western Pride in the Queensland state league.
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