W League

Doloras

I have to repeat: the Kiwi stars who were going to be the base of the W-League team the last time we tried have all signed for other clubs. A Women's Nix team this season would be extremely weak and somewhat embarrassing. I would prefer to wait until we recruit properly.

But looking at the bigger picture. That is player development and pro opportunity. We are only talking 5 NZ players have signed on in Aus so far.
The Ferns biggest issue at present is goal scoring. So having regular ferns players like Wilkinson and Satchell playing for Aus teams will give opportunities to other NZ forwards to step up. The likes of Blake and Brown. We really need to give these kids opportunities to prove themselves if we want them to come through the ranks and take the next step up.
Rebecca Stott was always going to play for Mel City.
Bunge has gone back to MV the champion team she played for last season. Understandable.
Was surprised Anton went back to Perth though.
If you delay till next season you are just kicking the can down the road for another year. What will change? You have got to start putting faith in and developing the young players coming through at some stage. 
Will they struggle as a team. Perhaps. But then they will be the better for it the following season.
And there are overseas players that could potentially step in. Cleverley, White (if recovered from her ilness) needs games, Naylor, as a few examples. 

yeah, delaying until the current NZ p[layers are off contract seems counter productive. This team will allows the next generation of women to play professionally, while the current crop ply their trade in the other teams. Sure they may be a little over-awed and out classed early on, but with some experience and good leadership they'll build on the experience. No-one should expect the team to win it all in the first season.

yeah, delaying until the current NZ p[layers are off contract seems counter productive. This team will allows the next generation of women to play professionally, while the current crop ply their trade in the other teams. Sure they may be a little over-awed and out classed early on, but with some experience and good leadership they'll build on the experience. No-one should expect the team to win it all in the first season.

Home Womens World Cup in less than 2 years. That's going to come around fast. Nix W League team is going to play a big role, in improving the Football Ferns longer term. NZF know that. 

If they can somehow get a team off the ground this season at the 11th hour, do it.

Aaand boom goes the dynamite

https://www.wellingtonphoenix.com/news/wellington-phoenix-and-new-zealand-football-announce-inaugural-w-league-team-202122-season

Will be interesting to see who signs on over the next few weeks/months.

Niche Cache have done some good theorising here https://theniche-cache.com/football/2021/7/8/hypothesising-what-a-wellington-phoenix-womens-squad-might-look-like

Is the plan to have the SheNix playing beyond 2023? I can't see a lot of the 2023 Ferns squad playing this season. 

I'm sure they want to establish the women's team for good... What a coup. Honesty, WelNix and Domey deserve a Victoria Cross, an Order of Merit and a Knighthood... They have done so well in such dire circumstances over the last few years. Chapeau! 

Feverish

Is the plan to have the SheNix playing beyond 2023? I can't see a lot of the 2023 Ferns squad playing this season. 

 You'd have to imagine with the academy development going alongside that this is a permanent step - or at least as permanent as the cash to fund it.

Under the terms of their entry, the 

@WgtnPhoenixFC #WLeague side must have at least seven players that are Australian and they can also field up to four more visa players.
The team will be based in Australia for season one, with the hope of games in NZ in the second half of the season. Chairman Rob Morrison confirms the same will apply to the men’s side

Nelfoos

Feverish

Is the plan to have the SheNix playing beyond 2023? I can't see a lot of the 2023 Ferns squad playing this season. 

 You'd have to imagine with the academy development going alongside that this is a permanent step - or at least as permanent as the cash to fund it.

Yeah but the cash is NZF cash so depends if they see it as a splash of cash to boost the home WcC respectability or build into the devpt fibre of FFDP. Could be the later, but a big budget burner 

Ranix

Under the terms of their entry, the 

@WgtnPhoenixFC #WLeague side must have at least seven players that are Australian and they can also field up to four more visa players.
The team will be based in Australia for season one, with the hope of games in NZ in the second half of the season. Chairman Rob Morrison confirms the same will apply to the men’s side

I mean this is the compromise that should have been reached last year. And it will hopefully force the owners into signing some experienced players at W-League level to help a young Kiwi team. No foreigners I'd expect. 

Feverish

Nelfoos

Feverish

Is the plan to have the SheNix playing beyond 2023? I can't see a lot of the 2023 Ferns squad playing this season. 

 You'd have to imagine with the academy development going alongside that this is a permanent step - or at least as permanent as the cash to fund it.

Yeah but the cash is NZF cash so depends if they see it as a splash of cash to boost the home WcC respectability or build into the devpt fibre of FFDP. Could be the later, but a big budget burner 

Fair point. Given the appeal to sponsor partners in the press release, I don't think NZF cash is the only cash required either.

You'd hope NZF see that this is required for the long term health & development of NZ women's football, but missing that wouldn't be the most short sighted thing they've ever done.

Nelfoos

Feverish

Nelfoos

Feverish

Is the plan to have the SheNix playing beyond 2023? I can't see a lot of the 2023 Ferns squad playing this season. 

 You'd have to imagine with the academy development going alongside that this is a permanent step - or at least as permanent as the cash to fund it.

Yeah but the cash is NZF cash so depends if they see it as a splash of cash to boost the home WcC respectability or build into the devpt fibre of FFDP. Could be the later, but a big budget burner 

Fair point. Given the appeal to sponsor partners in the press release, I don't think NZF cash is the only cash required either.

You'd hope NZF see that this is required for the long term health & development of NZ women's football, but missing that wouldn't be the most short sighted thing they've ever done.

 
Nzf might have it fully covered for a couple of years. Then the financial landscape would change. So plea is to prob help give it long term sustainability 

@Ranix, seven Australians, but do Kiwis count as foreigners against the squad cap? Because the 4 + 1 visa players is standard across the league.

Anyway, awesome news.

Ryan

@Ranix, seven Australians on pitch, but do Kiwis count as foreigners against the squad cap? Because the 4 + 1 visa players is standard across the league.

Anyway, awesome news.

Kiwis don't count towards the Visa limit stated above -- the team can have more than four Aotearoa reps.
According to Joey Lynch twitter.

We've been granted the standard 4 visa slots, and NZers don't count as visa players, if I'm reading Joey Lynch's tweet right - there's a reply below the linked one clarifying the NZ players

 

Under the terms of their entry, the @WgtnPhoenixFC #WLeague side must have at least seven players that are Australian and they can also field up to four more visa players.

It is likely to be based in NSW until a Trans-Tasman travel bubble returns.

— Joey Lynch (@joeylynchy) September 10, 2021

Do NZF also get a healthy FIFA cash payout from hosting a Womens World Cup, that must be spent only on women's football? Will OFC as a Confederation get some FIFA cash for co hosting a WWC?

Will the SheNix sign some Island players, that enables them to tap into some long term FIFA development funding of women's football in Oceania?

Basically there might be some useful regular FIFA funding around, that helps give the team some long term financial stability.

Exciting news, and congrats to the Club for pulling it off. Notice in the press release is no mention of the FFA, just APL.

Have seen a bit of chat up above.

Still seeking some concrete information on some aspects, but in a nutshell it seems the situation is...

The Phoenix have to sign seven Australian players. This season they are only allowed to sign 11 New Zealand players.

andrewvoerman

Have seen a bit of chat up above.

Still seeking some concrete information on some aspects, but in a nutshell it seems the situation is...

The Phoenix have to sign seven Australian players. This season they are only allowed to sign 11 New Zealand players.

So basically the same as the Nix.  

Sign decent Aussies/foreigners and blood young kiwis for the club to cash in on later.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/women-in-sport/126328117/wellington-phoenix-to-field-womens-team-in-wleague-with-quota-of-australian-players

While the Phoenix have been required to sign at least seven Australians players, it is understood Football Australia has agreed to fund the minimum salary component of one New Zealand player’s contract at each of the other W-League clubs, should they wish to sign a Kiwi, through to the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup, to be hosted on either side of the Tasman.

Five Football Ferns have already signed on to play for other W-League teams for the coming season – Hannah Wilkinson and Rebekah Stott, who are both at Melbourne City, Claudia Bunge at Melbourne Victory, Liz Anton at Perth Glory and Paige Satchell at Sydney FC.

Bunge and Annalie Longo were both part of the Victory team that won the W-League last season, but Longo, a Ferns centurion, announced this month she would not be returning to Melbourne after accepting a job as NZ Football’s women’s development manager.

Longo was present at the launch on Friday ahead of starting in that role on Monday, but was uncommitted as to whether she would be involved with the Phoenix as a player this coming season.

The 2021-22 W-League season is set to be contested by 10 teams, now that the Phoenix are on board, and will consist of 14 rounds followed by a final series. It is scheduled to start on November 12, but it could be delayed as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 outbreaks on Australia’s east coast.

As they launched their W-League team, the Phoenix had no announcements to make about their coaching staff and players. NZ Football’s Future Ferns Domestic Programme manager, Gemma Lewis, is considered the leading contender to take charge, as many of the 11 Kiwi signings are likely to have been involved in that programme, whether at present or in the past.

All Dome would say on Friday was that Phoenix were “working very closely with New Zealand Football” in that regard.

“We've had quite a few discussions already with [NZF chief executive] Andrew Pragnell and his team about both players and coaching staff. We're just working through the details of that and dotting Is and crossing Ts.

“I would suggest that given the proximity to the start of the season, we're going to have to make those decisions pretty quickly, but we are fairly well-advanced on pulling together most of that stuff.

“I would say in the next two or three weeks, we'll be finalising all the details.”

So hopefully we see more NZrs at W league clubs with this arrangement. Currently there are 5 W league teams that don't have a NZ player on contract.

So stoked about this news. But really hope the name SheNix doesn't stick. It is cringeworthy. 

Nixie Chicks?

That's pretty bad too but imho an improvement

Doloras

Nixie Chicks?

That's pretty bad too but imho an improvement

So long as no one starts calling them "ladies"! That's so patronising. The delicate little flowers.....

kwlap

So stoked about this news. But really hope the name SheNix doesn't stick. It is cringeworthy. 

There is some thought that Phoenix is a female term, so perhaps the mens team needs the different name!

Tom Sermanni interviewed about the new Phoenix women's team:
https://www.w-league.com.au/news/why-phoenix-team-can-fan-flames-w-league-growth
That official W-League website is obviously now one us Nix fans will have to follow more closely.
Find all the news on signings by other W-League sides, general league news, fixture list, future match reports etc. there:
https://www.w-league.com.au/

New five year Collective Bargaining Agreement sets new standards for both A-League and W-League clubs, including possibly a world first in a country's top male and female leagues setting the same standards for high performance and medical standards such as training facilities, travel & accommodation, player workload, medical staffing & treatment, player welfare:
https://www.w-league.com.au/news/groundbreaking-deal-drive-professional-leagues
https://www.w-league.com.au/news/creates-framework-build-a-world-class-league
Salary cap & wages:
"61% of increase in the W-League Salary Cap Floor over the course of the agreement, with capacity to increase through annual reviews....
Incremental increases to the W-league and A-League minimum wages." 
Previously a club could have all 18 squad members on the minimum wage if it so desired. No longer possible. A senior international in her thirties with kids could be paid the same as a 17 year-old newcomer straight out of school.

HeNix?

reubee

kwlap

So stoked about this news. But really hope the name SheNix doesn't stick. It is cringeworthy. 

There is some thought that Phoenix is a female term, so perhaps the mens team needs the different name!

Chicks with Nix?
Clerks

7 Australian players does seem like quite a few.
I hope the Nix anticipated this and have been talking to people across the ditch already. Maybe fortunate to have the Illawara / Wollongong connections.
But wonder what the criteria is to classify as Australian. Eligible to play for Australia, so a parent needs to be Australian, born there or have a passport ?

Ranix

7 Australian players does seem like quite a few.
I hope the Nix anticipated this and have been talking to people across the ditch already. Maybe fortunate to have the Illawara / Wollongong connections.
But wonder what the criteria is to classify as Australian. Eligible to play for Australia, so a parent needs to be Australian, born there or have a passport ?

 Honestly I don't mind it as a compromise. And I also hope it means we sign some Aussies with at least some W-League experience, which we may not have otherwise. That still leaves 11 spots for Kiwi girls, which I imagine we will use all of, since foreign players in this climate seems unlikely. 

Fink

Chicks with Nix?
Clerks

Beautiful chicks with Nix that put mine to shame!!!

kwlap

So stoked about this news. But really hope the name SheNix doesn't stick. It is cringeworthy. 

Surely it's:

Fe Nix

Senz Podcast. Domey talks Fe-Nix
https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=902436

4/5 years in the pipeline - wow! FFA really made it tough huh!

Nice interview Riccardo and Domey

So... we have fixtures for the Nix Women, the squad leaves town in just over a month, but we don't have any players announced yet?

Doloras

So... we have fixtures for the Nix Women, the squad leaves town in just over a month, but we don't have any players announced yet?

I imagine they will assemble the 11 Kiwi players pretty quickly. Most from the FFDP, plus some Ferns like Longo, Nayler? etc who are currently in NZ without a pro club. Sounds like the coaches will also be NZF staffers.

The 7 Aussies they need to sign will likely take more time. Perhaps Sydney based Sermanni is helping with that, identifying promising talent in NSW - since that's where team is going to be based.

How the team performs in it's first season ain't that important, esp given how rushed it all is. It's getting as many Kiwi females into a pro environment as possible with a big eye towards WWC 2023.