Wellington Phoenix Women General Discussion and Squad Speculation

Not sold on Foster all effort but no end product. But can whip in a set piece. I think shes a fullback. But yeah probably get to the point where they ask the players where they want to play....can't get any worse.

Monto

FransenFC

Monto

Doloras

https://impetusfootball.org/2023/01/24/a-guide-to-how-to-be-a-fan-when-your-team-isnt-winning/

"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.

" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."

I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.

Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.

Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.

I agree here, its part of being a professional is critisicm.

But its what encouraging is sensible critisicm. 

Is it the players fault? The systems? The boards fault? Is it an off day or a systematic problem in the team. Most athletes can handle a bad game but lets do it in a way that actually helps the athlete long term. They are peoples friends and family too, theres always a good way to deliver the message

FransenFC

Monto

Doloras

https://impetusfootball.org/2023/01/24/a-guide-to-how-to-be-a-fan-when-your-team-isnt-winning/

"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.

" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."

I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.

Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.

Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.

I agree here, its part of being a professional is critisicm.

But its what encouraging is sensible critisicm. 

Is it the players fault? The systems? The boards fault? Is it an off day or a systematic problem in the team. Most athletes can handle a bad game but lets do it in a way that actually helps the athlete long term. They are peoples friends and family too, theres always a good way to deliver the message

Precisely, being constructive is always the nicer approach. But for that article to suggest not criticizing at all is just weird.

It doesn't say that.  Just had a read of the article and it says:

"Be constructive. Engage with other fans on the subject of how to get their first win of the season. Don’t be a jerk when times are tough and make degrading comments. When Ella Mastrantonio got a horrible comment in her DM she was brave enough to call it out publicly. How many women on teams particularly with losing records have endured these types of terrible comments?"

So it just says don't make nasty comments.

Wow if this is the boards after a 5-0 win! The best result in the clubs short history iirc? 
How about cutting the caretaker who came in with 2 mins notice a little slack? We were happy to allow Uffie and others to talk about not having a proper pre-season and so on. And we’re not talking about Terry money bridging the gap. We gotta remember for the Wahinix this is Ricki territory, not more recent days. 

As Phoenix fans we should be a bit one eyed and optimistic. It’s part of the gig. 

Even if the coach changes at the end of the season, if we can’t find any words of support after a 5-0 win that’s fairly poor. If we’d like a different style I think it’s fair to point out we don’t have the technical skills to play out from the back etc, but let’s not just slag the coach off. 

Showtime Nixie

Not sold on Foster all effort but no end product. But can whip in a set piece. I think shes a fullback. But yeah probably get to the point where they ask the players where they want to play....can't get any worse.

when can we look forward to seeing the retraction statement on this one, just wondering.

Doloras

Honestly, I don't think if you're getting paid $16K / season you're "pro" in a meaningful sense. 

According to the PFA, the ALW minimum contract for 22/23 is au$20,608 for a 29 week period. So they are semi-pros, none of them are making a living from football at this level.

Doloras

Honestly, I don't think if you're getting paid $16K / season you're "pro" in a meaningful sense. 

According to the PFA, the ALW minimum contract for 22/23 is au$20,608 for a 29 week period. So they are semi-pros, none of them are making a living from football at this level.

I think we have seen with Wisnewski last season and maybe Whinham this season, that you need to tread a bit carefully with this sort of stuff. Make sure the players are well supported in that mental health space. Not to say there ain't issues also in the men's game, but the genders are different, and clubs/coaches, fans etc need to realise that.

That ChCh footballer who trolled the Perth Glory ALW player, went way over the line. That stuff needs to be continually called out, and penalties handed down. You'd hope all criticism is fair & measured, but realistically that will never be the case. So players need some support whether they are getting $19K or $19M per season.

theprof

Monto

Doloras

https://impetusfootball.org/2023/01/24/a-guide-to-how-to-be-a-fan-when-your-team-isnt-winning/

"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.

" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."

I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.

Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.

Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.

if you hadn't noticed that this is a trend globally in all sports! Professional athletes are speaking about mental health and how constant focus on high performance is burning them out. 10 year ago noone focussed on this, and it was all about winning and athletes quietly disappeared or did something stupid which we all piled onto them because WTF? Turns out these people could well have been struggling with mental health issues, the pressue is massive and to have it constantly on you is tougher than most fans could ever conceive.

Whist its a massive change I think going back to what sport is all about (fun) is key, yes we want our team to be competitive, yes we want them to be passionate about the team/club, but do we want that at the cost of someone's own personal wellbeing? hell no! Coaches/managers being aware of their players well being is crucial, I love seeing teams enjoying themselves at training - you can guarantee that this "fun" which gets filmed isnt the only thing they are doing. I say let the players enjoy themselves, let them find the love of the game and enjoyment that brought them to the sport, because without that we as fans have nothing to support.

Gonna have to completely disagree with you about the fun thing there. If it only becomes about fun you can kiss goodbye to being competitive. Now this isn't to say that you can't have some fun while being competitive but the focus must always be on winning.

If the only point of these women playing is so they can play for "the love of the game" then why should anyone give a shark about them? What's the difference between them and some Sunday socal team? They're just playing for fun too.

Sports are inherently competitive, the world as a whole tbh, there are winners and there are losers and more often then not those that take it seriously are the ones that come out on top. Winning is everything, otherwise what's what's point in being there.

Yes mental health matters but if you can't hack scrutiny then maybe you will have to reassess whether or not you want to be playing at that level. If it's too much perhaps go back to your local club and play for the love of the game. I'm not trying to be an arse by saying that either, they won't be spared criticism regardless of what pie in the sky ideals we have about being nice. People won't be nice, they never have been and that's never going to change.

Monto

theprof

Monto

Doloras

https://impetusfootball.org/2023/01/24/a-guide-to-how-to-be-a-fan-when-your-team-isnt-winning/

"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.

" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."

I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.

Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.

Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.

if you hadn't noticed that this is a trend globally in all sports! Professional athletes are speaking about mental health and how constant focus on high performance is burning them out. 10 year ago noone focussed on this, and it was all about winning and athletes quietly disappeared or did something stupid which we all piled onto them because WTF? Turns out these people could well have been struggling with mental health issues, the pressue is massive and to have it constantly on you is tougher than most fans could ever conceive.

Whist its a massive change I think going back to what sport is all about (fun) is key, yes we want our team to be competitive, yes we want them to be passionate about the team/club, but do we want that at the cost of someone's own personal wellbeing? hell no! Coaches/managers being aware of their players well being is crucial, I love seeing teams enjoying themselves at training - you can guarantee that this "fun" which gets filmed isnt the only thing they are doing. I say let the players enjoy themselves, let them find the love of the game and enjoyment that brought them to the sport, because without that we as fans have nothing to support.

Gonna have to completely disagree with you about the fun thing there. If it only becomes about fun you can kiss goodbye to being competitive. Now this isn't to say that you can't have some fun while being competitive but the focus must always be on winning.

If the only point of these women playing is so they can play for "the love of the game" then why should anyone give a shark about them? What's the difference between them and some Sunday socal team? They're just playing for fun too.

Sports are inherently competitive, the world as a whole tbh, there are winners and there are losers and more often then not those that take it seriously are the ones that come out on top. Winning is everything, otherwise what's what's point in being there.

Yes mental health matters but if you can't hack scrutiny then maybe you will have to reassess whether or not you want to be playing at that level. If it's too much perhaps go back to your local club and play for the love of the game. I'm not trying to be an arse by saying that either, they won't be spared criticism regardless of what pie in the sky ideals we have about being nice. People won't be nice, they never have been and that's never going to change.

Tell me you don't understand womens footy without telling me you don't understand womens footy. 

chopah

Showtime Nixie

Not sold on Foster all effort but no end product. But can whip in a set piece. I think shes a fullback. But yeah probably get to the point where they ask the players where they want to play....can't get any worse.

when can we look forward to seeing the retraction statement on this one, just wondering.

Huh? I'm Correct shes a full back and I'm correct in saying shes good at set piece and 95%of the time no end product. The sentence about trying playing elsewhere was in reply to some suggestion that Foster should be upfront.

Big wraps. Got a real chance to play herself into the Ferns WC squad over next few weeks. Plus friendlies against Argentina & Portugal in Feb.

See her uncle Mark Foy played for AWs in 3 games.

https://theniche-cache.com/football/2023/1/30/milly-clegg-is-an-absolute-unicorn-of-a-kiwi-centre-forward-prospect

Yet despite having signed on amateur terms she’s still using up a coveted full roster spot within the squad. The club have gone out of their way to ensure she’s a part of this season’s squad and they’ve done so because Milly Clegg is the best centre forward prospect that this country has produced in at least a decade. Not since Amber Hearn, the Football Ferns record goal-scorer, have we seen a number nine as pure as Clegg come through. And perhaps not even then.

But her emergence is a very notable thing because, dunno if you realise this... the Football Ferns don’t score a lot of goals. And one of the main reasons they don’t score a lot of goals is they don’t actually have very many top level pros who play in creative positions. Lots of defenders. An abundance of goalies. But creative midfielders and forwards? Nah not so much.

With ten countries chasing wwc qualification in NZ at the moment, this surely is a superb opportunity to lock in a couple of import spots for the Nix next season? signed on a 2 year contract so the opportunity to get a transfer fee for them would be great. Will be some gems to be discovered I’m sure. Someone along the lines of the Chilean player who was at Victory.

I would be fine with Lawrence continuing. After a shaky start, she found something that worked for the team. Not sure there was much she could do about not having a striker that could score goals on the books. The difference between us and the mid table teams really isn't much.