Contracted For Next Season:
Brooke Nunn, CJ Bott, Makala Woods, Sabitra Bhandari, Grace Jale, Ellie Walker, Emma Main, Tiana Jaber, Mackenzie Barry, Marisa van der Meer, Macey Fraser, Pia Vlok
Off-Contract:
Vic Esson, Manaia Elliott, Lucia Leon, Tessel Middag, Emma Pijnenburg, Zoe Benson, Mikaela Bangalan, Mackenzie Anthony, Lara Wall, Daisy Brazendale, Alyssa Whinham, Aimee Danieli, Brooke Neary, Ela Jerez, Ella McMillan, Ella McCann
Ellie Walker played every single minute. Mackenzie Barry and Marisa van der Meer joined her in starting all 22 games. Other players to surpass 1500 minutes this season were: Vic Esson, Grace Jale, Brooke Nunn, Manaia Elliott, and Pia Vlok. If they’d been there from the start then Makala Woods and Emma Pijnenburg might have joined them. Priestman wasn’t one for much rotation, preferring to pick her best team every week and back them to recover for the next task - hence those players listed make up 10/11 of that best eleven. Of those ten, seven of them are under contract to return with Nunn, Barry, Walker, Woods, and Jale having signed one-year extensions (matching the time remaining on Priestman’s own contract) before the season was even finished in a clear vote of confidence in the team’s direction.
On top of that, Emma Main, CJ Bott, and Sabitra Bhandari were all injured/unavailable for the finals run and would immediately add something to any matchday squad. Macey Fraser missed most of the season for personal reasons but was pretty much reintegrated by the end of it, winning enough favour from her coach to appear in six of the last seven matches off the bench.
You’d have to think they can pretty much take their pick of those uncontracted players. Bangalan and Neary will settle back into Reserve team footy over the winter as they (and many of their teammates) prepare for September’s U20 World Cup. A few others like Jerez and McMillan never seemed to be in Priestman’s plans for whatever reason so they may opt to try something else. Grace Bartlett has already taken that option by joining Auckland United. Lily Brazendale, Harriet Muller, and Zoe Benson were all on youth contracts but all are still young enough to stick around with the Reserves as well.
Elliott and Pijnenburg could draw attention from foreign clubs if the Nix aren’t quick about it, though they have an import spot spare to replace either of them if need be. Vic Esson and Tessel Middag seem pretty committed to the organisation (Middag’s even been popping up on the coaching staff for the academy teams) although in Middag’s case there’s her import status to think about. It’s also the case that there’s one midfield starter position available alongside Grace Jale which means there may not be room to keep Middag, Bott, and Pijnenburg all happy. Could always just move Bott to wing-back as a solution. As for Esson, she shouldn’t take much convincing to return. Continuity between the seasons is never a given for any Wellington Phoenix team but then there’s never been a Wellington Phoenix team like this one before.
I'm an optimistic pessimist.
I'm positive things will go wrong.
