Football Season Guide

Canberra United WFC

In


Eliza Evans (gk) South United / Jazmin Wardlow (def) no club / Sasha Grove (def) Western United / Nanako Sasaki (mid) Adelaide United / Josie Aulicino (mid) Box Hill United / Ava Briedis (mid) Melbourne Victory / Kiara de Domizio (mid) Western United / Sienna Dale (att) Manly United / Emma Hawkins (att) Damaiense

Out


Georgia Ritchie (gk) Newcastle Jets / Madison Ayson (r) (def) Sydney FC / Holly Murray (sp) (mid) Adelaide United / Hannah McNulty (mid) contract ended / Madelyn Whittall (att) contract ended / Aideen Keane (sp) (att) Melbourne City

Finished 5th last season after solid but not great campaign W9 D6 L8. Flirted with missing the playoffs right until the final 3 rounds but in the end their experience helped them. Relied heavily on their captain Michelle Heyman up front yet again. She showed signs of slowing down though and scored only 7 league goals. Her goal in the Elimination Final vs eventual champs Mariners put Canberra in front. Poor 2nd half led to a 1-2 defeat though and the season ended there. Heyman, now 37, remains the main figure up front. Added 2 new strikers to help her. Emma Hawkins arrived from Portugal and she could take a lot of the load off Heyman in some of the games. The American is a similar type of player so as the season progresses she might take over the starting role as the veteran impacts games late on off the bench. After a decent 1st season in charge coach Antoni Jagarinec managed to retain the core of players he trusted last season. CB Ayton is the most notable departure. She arrived only in January so won’t be missed too much. Swapped DMs with Adelaide. Sent Murray to the Reds, while in exchange got Sasaki. If anything this looks an upgrade as Sasaki is much more experienced. Poached 2 of the ex-Western United (the team went bankrupt) players for free. Grove is an excellent RB, while young winger De Domizio can learn a lot playing next to someone like Heyman and star playmaker Beth Gordon.

Target


Have the confidence they will be a playoff team again.