NPLW WA 2022 Season Review – Part 1

Round 21 concluded the 2022 season, so now is a good time to look back at the third year of the NPLW in WA. Before that, we’ll quickly recap Round 21 and how things turned out on the last day of the regular season.

Ahead of Round 21, there was a catch-up game between Champions Perth RedStar and cellar dwellers Curtin University. Unsurprisingly, the game went according to the form book – the title holders earned their 18th win of the season, defeating Curtin 7-0 with hat tricks from Carla Bennett and Larissa Walsh, plus a goal from Renee Leota. The three goals from Walsh also assured her of the Golden Boot.

The round started on Friday night. MUM FC hosted Perth SC knowing they had to get all three points for a chance of playing in the Top 4 Cup. They held Perth goalless in the first half, but three second-half goals in 20 minutes by Perth ended their hopes. Goals from Jamie Duncanson, Ella Lincoln and a trademark Abbey Meakins strike won the points for the visitors, securing second spot on the ladder for the Azzurri.

Sunday saw three games. The Champions hoped to finish the season undefeated at Balcatta, there was a dress rehearsal of Friday’s elimination semi-final between Hyundai NTC and Fremantle at the E&D Litis Stadium, while Subiaco entertained Curtin University.

The game at Balcatta ended 0-0 and ensured that Perth RedStar would become the first team in the NPLW era to win the league undefeated. RedStar had the lions’ share of possession but couldn’t break through against a team who sacked their coach earlier in the week, and were desperate to get a positive result in their last game of the season. The returning Sarah Carroll struck the post for RedStar in the 1st half, whilst golden boot winner Larissa Walsh saw her delicate chip hit the bar in the 2nd half. Angelique Alberts also struck the bar for the home team in the second period, but neither side looked like it was going to score. In the end, the 0-0 result gave Perth RedStar the unbeaten season they were so keen to achieve and meant Balcatta were only the second team to take points from them during the campaign.

Following on from Friday’s result, the game between Hyundai NTC and Fremantle City had no bearing on the make-up of the Top 4. Fremantle struck a psychological blow with a 3-1 win – goals from Jamie-Lee Gale, Natasha Rigby and Nina Boorman sealed the points. A first-ever goal in the NPLW for Natalia Vega Mena provided some cheer for NTC.

The final game of the round saw Subiaco condemn Curtin University to a winless season as they ran out 6-0 winners with goals from Frankie Murray and Melissa Shepherd, as well as braces from Marianna Tabain and Lisa De Vanna. 

Click here for Round 21 goal highlights

Round 21 Results

MUM FC 0 – 3 Perth SC
Balcatta Etna FC 0 – 0 Perth RedStar FC
Hyundai NTC Women 1 – 3 Fremantle City FC
Subiaco AFC 6 – 0 Curtin University

Final League Ladder

2022 SEASON REVIEW

Without a doubt, the season has belonged to Perth RedStar. Triumphs in the State Cup and the pre-season Night Series (played under the Northern Redbacks name) add to their league title and RedStar have become the first team in the NPLW era to go through a league season undefeated.

At the other end of the table, it was a miserable 2022 for Curtin University, who failed to win a single game and were on the end of some heavy defeats.

For the rest of the league though, it was a tight competition. The make-up of the Top 4 wasn’t decided until the last round – there were plenty of twists and turns in results during the campaign.

Part 1 of our NPLW WA 2022 Season Review focusses on MUM FC, Balcatta Etna, Subiaco AFC and Curtin University.

MUM FC

The most successful team of the NPLW era have endured their most difficult season yet. As many of their treble-winning side from 2021 either left the club or suffered long-term injuries, MUM FC ended a season without silverware for the first time in two seasons. They also welcomed a new coach, and Luke Thompson had the difficult task of trying to rebuild a new team almost on the fly.

Thompson had no choice but to promote a whole raft of young players into first-team action and MUM FC even started their campaign with no recognisable goalkeeper on their books, playing Samantha Mathers (usually a full-back or winger) in the 0-0 draw against Subiaco.

This disruption to their playing squad had a significant impact in the early part of the season and they only registered two wins in the first eight rounds. They slowly started to turn things around when they welcomed back Perth Glory player Sadie Lawrence and brought in Andrea Preaito, who had previously played at Curtin University. The experience these players brought helped the team to gradually pull themselves into Top 4 contention. Thompson also worked hard on making them a difficult side to break down and the 28 goals they conceded gave them the third-best defensive record in the league. This defensive solidity enabled them to keep games close, and also helped them overcome their weakness in front of goal – their 25 goals scored was the second lowest in the competition. Despite their lack of firepower, MUM FC still remained in contention for a Top 4 spot right up until the last game of the season and Thompson had this to say about his team and the campaign:

“I can only be proud of my team. Many, many young players got thrust into first-team football due to circumstances everyone is aware of. They grew each week and only got better as the season continued, which is down to their wanting to listen and learn and take on board our tactics each week.

“I think this season showed more than ever how important mature, experienced (not necessarily in age but 1st team games played) players are needed. The top 3 sides in the league have the most of them and the experience of having done it before and what is required week in and week out really showed. It was no coincidence that in our case when Sadie returned, we had an upturn in results.

“Our defining moment unfortunately was a negative one, in preseason we had almost the entire squad from the previous year signed on to play again, then almost on a weekly basis, one player after another leaves due to either personal matters, a chance to play over east or injury and that can and did affect our young players.

“Positively our season changed once we added some experience in the likes of Andrea and the return from Glory of Sadie, their guidance of the team was outstanding but also aided Charli (Wainwright) who was shouldering a lot of that before herself.

“It’s hard to single out any one player from the other teams who I felt had the most impact but I was particularly impressed with Alyssa Van Heurck (Perth), Abbey Meakins (Perth), Tanika Lala (NTC) and Jamie-Lee Gale (Fremantle). They all were game changers for their teams on a weekly basis. Redstar for me had more even contributors from all players across their team, rather than 1 or 2 players standing out.”

BALCATTA ETNA

Things were looking very rosy for Balcatta during the pre-season when, under new coach Steve Atkins, they were runners-up in the Night Series competition, losing 4-2 in extra time to Northern Redbacks. Unfortunately, they lost influential player Kimberley McCartney to an ACL injury during the final, and the exertions of the game also seemed to sap some confidence from the group, leading to Balcatta losing their first two games.

Balcatta then ran into some significant COVID-related issues and games were re-scheduled, leaving them unable to gain any real momentum as they were sometimes playing once a fortnight.

When they were finally able to play more regularly the results slowly started coming, built on the back of a solid backline with captain Gabby Dal Busco proving to be a formidable last line of defence.

As the season progressed Balcatta slowly climbed the ladder and were rarely out of contention for a Top 4 place. They also came within a whisker of reaching the State Cup Final, but a last-minute penalty for Perth SC forced a penalty shoot-out which Balcatta ultimately lost. They won their next game, however in the following two games they ran into a newly rejuvenated Subiaco side and lost twice. The double setback put Balcatta on the back foot in the race for the Top 4, and they eventually dropped out of contention with a loss in Round 20 to Fremantle City.

There would obviously be some disappointment within the club at missing out on a Top 4 finish after being so close for a long period of the season, but they can perhaps draw some comfort from the achievements of their U21 side, who have qualified for their Top 4 finals by finishing in 4th spot.

SUBIACO AFC

The start of the season did not look promising for the 2021 wooden spooners. Subiaco didn’t win any games in the pre-season Night Series competition and parted ways with their coach in the aftermath of those results. They appointed Greg Farrell from Northern Redbacks at the 11th hour and he immediately set to work, trying to make his side more competitive than in the two previous campaigns.

His first result was a 0-0 draw away to reigning Champions MUM FC at their home ground in the opening fixture of the season, but these were followed by two successive defeats at the hands of Fremantle and Perth RedStar, with the latter being a bruising 9-0 loss. However, Farrell didn’t lose sight of the bigger picture and encouraged his side to continue a more possession-based game. Subiaco then came up trumps with a 2-0 win against Hyundai NTC for their first win of the season.

There were more ups and downs but then the team welcomed former Matildas Lisa De Vanna and Ella Mastrantonio, as well as W-League centurion Marianna Tabain. Unsurprisingly, Subiaco became a team that could pose a challenge to most in the league. 

Subiaco finished the season with their highest ever points total, their highest number of wins and a new record score when they beat Curtin University 6-0 in the final game of the season. Farrell was upbeat about the campaign when he shared his thoughts with us:

“This season has been a positive one from the club’s point of view. After the issues with COVID early in the year, and having a coach appointed 10 days out from the first game of the season, I believe the players, staff and club have done a terrific job. I was given latitude to change the playing style to one focused on being proactive with movement and being confident enough to have possession under pressure. The players were challenged to learn to play under pressure and without fear of mistakes. Fitness was certainly an issue, especially with what had been a disjointed pre-season for much of the squad, plus new players who hadn’t been expecting to play football this season, but that was part of the challenge. The club was willing to accept the fact that we would lose games because of technical or decision-making errors, while we were changing the playing mentality. We got to a record points and goals haul, with a third of the season left while in that time also working on three recruits which added some of the quality in areas that we were lacking, and helped to increase the pace of the development for the players we already had.

“From the league perspective, again COVID caused lots of games to be postponed so it was disjointed, and there was a turnover of players to the eastern states, but there’s also been a good group of young players in clubs coming through, and some experience returning to the league. The media coverage has been light years beyond anything we’ve experienced before, and we’ve had a better standard of referees than we used to get in the old Premier League. There is still a great deal of room for improvement, as there is from clubs, coaches and players, but it was a positive step forward from 2021.

“I think the 0-0 result in the first fixture of the season was a big thing. The team had been beaten by MUM 5-0 in the Night Series game a month or so earlier, and to get a point in the first match of the season, trying to play possession-based football, under pressure and at the home of the reigning Champions, was a big confidence boost, especially as many of them had only met me a week and a half earlier.

“In terms of players who impressed me it’s hard to go past Larissa Walsh. Her movement and her finishing have gone up several levels in the past 18 months under Carlos Vega Mena who was also an attacker himself. Jay Coleman, Zoee Spadano, Jaime Duncanson and Laura Waltman also always stand out for their clubs and Tanika Lala and Monique Prinsloo have been impressive this season as young attackers.”

CURTIN UNIVERSITY

The season was not a good one for Curtin and they struggled for the whole campaign. Coach Dom Gangemi left the club after Round 4 and a caretaker coach was installed until Hassan Al-Ahmad was appointed in Round 9.

Any new coach would find this a challenge and Al-Ahmad had his hands full trying to instil confidence in his squad. As the campaign wore on, senior players Nina Boorman and goalkeeper Stacey Cavill left the club, with Boorman moving to Fremantle City whilst Cavill has not played for anyone else since her departure.

A 10-2 loss against Perth SC was probably the low point of the season and on that day their U21’s also lost heavily when they went down 13-0 to the same club.

There were a couple of bright points, with the highlight being a 2-2 draw away from home against Fremantle City, who needed a 90th minute equaliser to deny Curtin the win.

Dakota Van-Vugt impressed at times and she scored five goals in the campaign, but she often ploughed a lonely furrow up front and was forced to feed on scraps.

At the back, Stephanie Waycott tried to use her experience and keep things respectable but as the season wore on this became harder and harder. The inexperienced players struggled to cope with the increase in intensity from opposition teams as the battle for the Top 4 spots ramped up.

The 1st grade and U21 games against NTC in Round 20 highlighted issues around player numbers for both squads, with player absences heavily impacting both teams.

The NPLW team played NTC on Friday evening and produced a credible first-half performance to go in 1-1 at the break. They eventually lost 3-1 but were not disgraced with the players giving their all. On Saturday morning the U21 fixture took place and due to lack of numbers, nine of the NPLW team that played on Friday evening had to back up and play in that game. Despite the number of first teamers, NTC ran out 7-3 winners which was a result that could in part be attributed to player fatigue. 

No one likes to see the sort of campaign that Curtin endured, and it’s to the credit of the players that they continued to turn up and try their best even when losing as heavily as they did on many occasions.

Beyond 90 would like to thank the coaches from MUM FC and Subiaco AFC for their contributions to this article.

In part 2 of our NPLW WA 2022 Season Review, we will take a look at the teams participating in this season’s Top 4 Cup.