Wellington Phoenix Women General Discussion and Squad Speculation
It's called the "Gerry Collins Arena" by the locals for good reason. It was/is focussed on Rugby mainly. Just like Sky Stadium was designed with One Day Cricket being at the foremost when designing it....followed by Rugby.
The Great news is that Season Tickets for Women's games is about $99 which is pretty good value as the squad assembled have great potential - I hope to go to some of the practices to report back on how things look.
Does a full men's season Season Ticket cover both seasons??
To prove that Google is always listening, this popped into my feed https://www.tiktok.com/@itscurlsbaby/video/7276341261873745153 which covers the first portion of the walk I believe.
Don't forget M Foster is absent from training as in Europe supporting her father. I'd assume she took her boots so it may pay to have a back up left back.
Wellington Phoenix striker Mariana Speckmaier has been called up for Venezuela’s upcoming friendlies v Uruguay. https://t.co/VXWwvlYu7p
— Phillip Rollo (@ByPhillipRollo) September 15, 2023
Don't forget M Foster is absent from training as in Europe supporting her father. I'd assume she took her boots so it may pay to have a back up left back.
We need to sign Ella Jerez. If she beats another player, the UFC will start offering her deals.
Fantastic skill, pace and can pass/shoot of both feet.
We need to sign Ella Jerez. If she beats another player, the UFC will start offering her deals.
Fantastic skill, pace and can pass/shoot of both feet.
𝐑𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐱 ✍️
— Wellington Phoenix 🔥 (@WgtnPhoenixFC) September 18, 2023
Foster joins the Nix on a one-year deal 23 months on from an horrific car crash that left her with 7 fractures in her neck
“Joining the Phoenix is very symbolic. It’s an arising from something that was literally in ashes." pic.twitter.com/xYyef7gPu6
Interesting back story. Not too many people even walk away with their lives after such an accident.
Nevertheless, credit to her for fighting through it. Must have been some serious demons to overcome along the way!
Nevertheless - Welcome aboard Rylee. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
𝐑𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐱 ✍️
— Wellington Phoenix 🔥 (@WgtnPhoenixFC) September 18, 2023
Foster joins the Nix on a one-year deal 23 months on from an horrific car crash that left her with 7 fractures in her neck
“Joining the Phoenix is very symbolic. It’s an arising from something that was literally in ashes." pic.twitter.com/xYyef7gPu6
Interesting back story. Not too many people even walk away after with their lives after such an accident.
Nevertheless, credit to her for fighting through it, must have been some serious demons to overcome along the way!
Welcome aboard Rylee. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
looks like the selling point was the training base for her injury recovery. Perhaps we could sign a decent global team of rehab players
Sounds like she has plenty of motivation and obviously good character to come back from such an injury. Will set the bar a bit higher for Edwards, if she wants the #1 spot. So good healthy competition.
Could turn out to be a win-win. You would assume that the Nix will have got Foster on a reasonable salary (considering Nix more budget approach to player signings this season). A few other A league clubs have been signing NWSL reserve keepers straight out of the NWSL comp, who you would think be demanding higher salaries.
Hope it works out for all involved.
The WPXW played with a 4-2-2-2 formation for the whole game and looked pretty flexible in how they shaped up in and out of possession.
They scored a header from a corner and then gave away a penalty straight from the kick-off. The penalty was then saved and had to be re-taken due to Foster moving off her line too early. A different taker then scored to level the score.
There were lots of changes and some interesting positional variations including: Knott at right back for a spell, McMeekin at left back, Taylor as a central midfielder, Robertson on the right of midfield for the first half, and then the left for the second, Whinham on the left of midfield in the first half, and Fraser in central midfield in the second half.
The two keepers played a half each with Foster playing well - she has a big kick and is very chatty. She even managed to sledge the 15 year old who had the initial penalty saved before it was retaken by someone else.
It looked like a good hit-out for the team with still plenty to work on with the season fast approaching.
The WPXW played with a 4-2-2-2 formation for the whole game and looked pretty flexible in how they shaped up in and out of possession.
They scored a header from a corner and then gave away a penalty straight from the kick-off. The penalty was then saved and had to be re-taken due to Foster moving off her line too early. A different taker then scored to level the score.
There were lots of changes and some interesting positional variations including: Knott at right back for a spell, McMeekin at left back, Taylor as a central midfielder, Robertson on the right of midfield for the first half, and then the left for the second, Whinham on the left of midfield in the first half, and Fraser in central midfield in the second half.
The two keepers played a half each with Foster playing well - she has a big kick and is very chatty. She even managed to sledge the 15 year old who had the initial penalty saved before it was retaken by someone else.
It looked like a good hit-out for the team with still plenty to work on with the season fast approaching.
Interesting hearing about the positional variations. But I guess we would have been missing a few players.
Brown obviously in NSW and Foster in Europe supporting her dad and the AB's.
Don't forget M Foster is absent from training as in Europe supporting her father. I'd assume she took her boots so it may pay to have a back up left back.
She's in Chile now. Then presumably back to Nix pre season.
Looks like a strong line-up
We ended up with only 11 players retained from last years squad.
1 GK
5 defenders
3 midfielders
2 forwards
And 11 new players.
4 visa players
3 new scholarship players
4 new signings
So a pretty reasonable overhaul of the squad this season. I think we can be pretty confident that we will be defensively competitive, With a lot of our defenders now considered experienced at this level (third season) and they were impressive 2nd half of last season.
DM is interesting. Looks like Taylor will move into that role a bit more. Beside Wisnewski. With Knott and Brazendale as back ups.
Goal scoring, which was our issue last year, and is the big unknown. Will really depend a lot on how our visa players adapt and perform. Breslin and Speckmaier particularly.
Looks like we will have more punch off the bench this season though. When you look at FT's line up and who is potentially not starting.
Mention of the 4222 formation gives me cold shivers after watching the men last season. Will it be more effective in the women's game?
I expect the big 3 will be at the top of the table again. Mel City, Mel Vic and Sydney. After that teams will likely be pretty evenly matched.
They’ll know when they sell all the tickets 3 weeks in a row.
BTW the stand apparently holds 1900, but there is embankments are there not? Or at least an area around where to can have additional spectators? I don’t know I’ve never been there, but if so I imagine they’ll fill that too before changing from a 2-4K stadium to a 30k+ stadium
I thought Domey mentioned on the Pod, there were contingency plans to install temp seating or similar if ticket sales for Jerry Collins looked really strong??
Like last season it won't surprise if the ALW team's biggest crowd, was their first home game. That's at the ROF. I guess from there it will be a watch & see approach, re crowd planning.
Crowds could surprise, but the WWC is already seeming a bit of a memory. Haven't seen one NZ media article yet on the Ferns in Chile. Their first game since the WWC.
Question about sexism and simple sexuality: would it be sexist to slap that photo ( with permission of course) on a billboard downtown?
First Nix home game: x
Season pass: $y
Come see Mariana!
You're selling the women's game as a sexualised product, essentially targetting the game to a bunch of horny men, or old pervs! (ICK)
Instead of the actual quality and talent these players bring to the pitch.
Question about sexism and simple sexuality: would it be sexist to slap that photo ( with permission of course) on a billboard downtown?
First Nix home game: x
Season pass: $y
Come see Mariana!
Sydney, MVC and MCY are gun teams, have very good squads and likely one of them will win the league title.
Western will probably drop off a bit but should still make top six finals, then Brisbane and Canberra have strong womens football programmes and should complete the lot.
This year - we should be on a similar level to the likes of Adelaide/Perth, and hopefully above WSW/Jets/CCM. Finals is an outside chance, so if we make finals, that's an automatic success regardless of what happens in them.
📰 | News - Alfeld to re-join the Phoenix in off-field capacity
— Wellington Phoenix 🔥 (@WgtnPhoenixFC) October 6, 2023
Lily Alfeld is returning to the Nix in a new role
The experienced goalkeeper has been appointed the Phoenix’s operations executive while she recovers from a debilitating back injury
Read more 👇
📰 | News - Alfeld to re-join the Phoenix in off-field capacity
— Wellington Phoenix 🔥 (@WgtnPhoenixFC) October 6, 2023
Lily Alfeld is returning to the Nix in a new role
The experienced goalkeeper has been appointed the Phoenix’s operations executive while she recovers from a debilitating back injury
Read more 👇