Plan A didn’t work out for Football Ferns coach Tom Sermanni with regards to the coming W-League season, but as far as plan B is concerned, it’s a case of so far, so good.
If a Wellington Phoenix entry had got over the line for the 2020-21 edition of Australia’s semi-professional women’s football competition, the Scotsman was set to coach the team, which would have been filled with a host of New Zealand’s top prospects.
But those plans were scuttled in early November, despite the best efforts of Phoenix chairman Rob Morrison, and a coalition that included NZ Football and Sport NZ, two organisations eager to increase support for the Football Ferns ahead of the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup, which will be hosted either side of the Tasman.
Football Australia wouldn’t budge when it came to allowing the Phoenix to field an unlimited number of Kiwi players, as they are allowed to do in the A-League, and with time running out before the start of the season, the push for a W-League place was put on the backburner.
At that stage, none of the nine existing W-League teams had announced any Kiwi signings, though at least three players were being linked with moves across the ditch. Some might have ended up elsewhere even if the Phoenix team did get up and running, but once it was clear it wouldn’t, the floodgates began to open.
Football Ferns centre back Claudia Bunge joined Melbourne Victory, where she will play alongside veteran midfielder Annalie Longo, back for her second season at the club, both of them linking up with former Ferns assistant coach Gareth Turnbull.
Ferns forward Paige Satchell had returned to New Zealand from Germany earlier in 2020 and will now play for Canberra United, while midfielder Olivia Chance has ended up at Brisbane Roar after leaving English club Bristol City in June.
Then there are the trio who have joined Perth Glory – goalkeeper Lily Alfeld, who has gone on tour with the Ferns on several occasions, but is yet to make her debut; defender Liz Anton, who has five caps to her name; and midfielder Malia Steinmetz, who captained New Zealand at the Fifa Under-20 Women’s World Cup in 2018 and has three senior caps.
He might not be working with them week-in, week-out, but Sermanni will at least get to watch those seven players closely over the next five months from his Sydney base, and he said this week he was looking forward to the opportunity.
“I think it’s a positive step forward, certainly for me to be able to actually see players play, which I haven’t been able to do recently, and also just to get players in the league, particularly some of our younger players.
“It will give them that experience of being somewhere that’s not a lot different, but is still a different environment, and has them moving away from home.”
