Season two for the Wellington Phoenix Wahine loomed with a very important question to be answered about how they built their squad. Would they continue to trend young and inexperienced or would they seek out a few more recognised professionals this time as well? That may seem like a no-brainer on the surface, of course you sign better players if you have the option. But for this particular team that decision is not quite so simple.

The squad they amassed for their inaugural season was the product of all sorts of duress. With NZ Football’s financial/administrative support in the team there was always likely to be a focus on player development but maybe they wouldn’t have chosen to trend quite so young, quite so inexperienced, had they been greenlit earlier. Including when it came to their seven mandated Australian players. By the time the Nix could offer any actual contracts most other ALW squads were already largely filled out... meaning the Aussie players still available were those deemed not good enough for whatever reason (age, talent, injury, etc.).

That’s simply what they were left to work with. The squad of 20 (including two scholarship players) that coach Gemma Lewis eventually compiled had just four players who’d previously played in the A-League (three Australians and Lily Alfeld). Grace Jale was the only full international. All but three of them were aged under 23. It was a remarkably green team that wore the yellow and black – more of than half of them still teenagers.

None of last year’s group remained under contract – everybody signed single year deals – so it was almost a completely clean slate they had to work with. Plenty of freedom to go in other directions if they wanted. With the World Cup on the horizon and an expanded A-League coming up the time is certainly ripe to target a few top tier Footy Ferns in search of game time... but then what about the players who exceeded expectations by so much (despite a wooden spoon) in year one? Can’t have it both ways. That pesky Aussie player restriction means that any Ferns player they sign denies a spot for one of their previous kiwis. But they have to have ambitions of aiming higher up the table too. You see how this gets slippery?

The Welly Nix women will always operate as a developmental team to some strong degree. That’s their main purpose in existing. We don’t want a situation where too many national team regulars are leaving good gigs in Europe or America to play for the Phoenix when those limited spots could instead go to girls who otherwise wouldn’t be playing as pros. The former shrinks the playing pool, the latter expands it. However a team entirely made up of rookies is not gonna be very competitive so you still need a few of those veterans to set the tone and raise the bar. It’s a matter of striking a balance. That’s the very important question right there. What balance will they seek?

This is all handicapped by those stupid restrictions that the A-League has lumped upon the Phoenix. The men’s team doesn’t have to worry about this yet the women’s team have been told they must have a minimum of seven Australians in their 18-player roster. That leaves only eleven spots (plus a couple scholarships) for New Zealanders and any imports they should choose to sign would come at the expense of a kiwi. It’s dumb but that’s the state of it. Fingers crossed that rule doesn’t last forever.

Particularly now that they’re about to embark on a season with actual home games, based out of actual Wellington. They’ve got some fantastic new facilities at the New Zealand Campus of Innovation & Sport (NZCIS) which oughta stack up well against most other clubs. That’s only gonna make them more appealing to kiwi players however on the flipside the stickler of having to move countries is going to make it much harder to lure those seven Australians. Especially in an expanded season, when so many players in the ALW still have to work second jobs to pay the rent.

Many young players will still jump at the opportunity to reach a higher level sooner. There’ll be some dual-nationals which always goes down well, girls with existing kiwi links and bonds. Others may be coming off injuries or been overlooked by rival clubs. They’ll get there in the end, don’t worry. Just saying the profiles of the Aussie crop probably won’t be too different to what they had last time, is all.

The first signing that the SheNix made for Year Two was... coach Gemma Lewis. The obvious one, gotta reward the work from last time and with her on board the continuity could flow. Mackenzie Barry was then unveiled as the first signing for WahiNix 2.0 on 13 July in the two weeks since there’s been a predictably steady rollout of further players.

Barry was followed by Alyssa Whinham who graduated from her initial scholarship deal to become the first player to sign a multi-year deal with the team, Whinham returning on a two-year deal. Both key players from the inaugural campaign. Both would have had interest from elsewhere but both also can feel pretty confident about the direction their careers are headed in with this club.

Then came the first funky one: Paige Satchell. Emerging under Jitka Klimková as the first choice right winger for the Footy Ferns and off the back of ALW seasons with Canberra United and then Sydney FC (where she played four mins off the bench in the grand final – as well as scoring the goal that clinched them the minor premiership), this was a great get for the Phoenix... and also the first proof that they would indeed be aiming for something more competitive this time.

Slightly weird for Satchell given that she’s literally swapping the minor premiers and beaten grand finalists for the wooden spooners. But she was mostly a bench option for Sydney FC. Featured in 12 games but only played 503 minutes which was less than half what Ava Pritchard (zero Football Ferns caps... so far) managed in the same position for the Phoenix. With the World Cup on the horizon this was very much about playing a maximum amount of football. Being able to play much closer to friends and whanau is also a pleasant benefit too, of course.

Since then captain Lily Alfeld has been re-signed, as has backup goalie Brianna Edwards – who is likely to be the starting GK at the U20 World Cup in a few weeks. That already sorts the goalkeeping contingent. Good momentum for Edwards who as a dual-national gets to count towards the Aussie contingent in that lucky loophole, while Alfeld is obviously in a great place having earned a couple Footy Ferns call-ups on the back of her A-League form last term and with a maturing defence ahead of her there’s no reason to think anything needs to change. She’s an integral part of the project.

As is Kate Taylor, the 18 year old vice captain from year one. Taylor, like Whinham and a few others, felt like absolute sitters to bring back barring one thing: overseas interest (in the ALW and possibly beyond). At some point Taylor and Whinham will, without a doubt, be playing in Europe or America... but they’ve got plenty of time on their hands yet. A consolidating second season in the ALW feels like a good idea. Taylor could probably leave now and get a gig at a half-decent Euro team. Or she could build upon what she’s already done in an environment nicely tailored to her personal growth and then potentially leave in a couple years for a Champions League calibre team. Bet on yourself, right?

Bringing us to the second outsider signing and the biggest headline name of all... Betsy Hassett. The 132-cap Footy Ferns veteran midfielder has played all over the world yet she’s never played in the A-League. The first half of her pro career was a real whirlwind of short-ish deals, going from SC Sand (Germany) to Manchester City (England) to Amazon Grimstad (Norway) to Werder Bremen (Germany) to Ajax (Netherlands) before settling in Iceland where she’s spent the last five seasons, two with KR and three with Stjarnan.

The World Cup was also a factor for Hassett. In her case cutting down on travel as much as anything. Plus after such a nomadic career there’s the natural lure of home to go with the fact that with an A-League contract she won’t have to supplement her income as a kindy teacher as she’s been doing in Iceland.

Betsy Hassett is someone whose classy midfield operations immediately give this team a huge lift. One of the main things they struggled with to begin their existence was keeping possession. Lots of nervous/excited energy spilled over when they won the ball which usually led to them promptly giving it back. Passing accuracy was a major improvement over the course of the season and it’ll take another leap forward with a leader like Hassett in the mix. Plus let it be known that she’s been one of a handful of senior players on an otherwise quite young Stjarnan team for the last few years (bit less so this season) so she’s pretty used to almost the exact dynamic she’s about to walk into. Her last Úrvalsdeild season still has eight more games to go first, doesn’t finish ‘til October. Won’t be much of an offseason for Betsy but at least she’ll be in top shape.

Yet there is a very real downside to Hassett’s signing. When Paige Satchell was announced, it was in the days after Grace Jale had been confirmed to have swapped for Canberra United (one of Satchell’s old clubs). They’re completely different players but effectively one comes in for the other so nothing else has to change. That’s not gonna be the case with other transfers. There are only eleven free places in the squad for NZers so for Hassett to come means someone else has to go... and not only Hassett either because remember that Alyssa Whinham was on a scholarship deal last term and isn’t any longer. Two more players from last season’s squad are not going to be back – hopefully they land on their feet at other ALW clubs, like Jale, but that’s no guarantee.

More signings will no doubt follow quickly. That’ll give us more clues but as it stands the Nix have signed seven players, six of them in those precious non-Aussie spots. Kiwis from last season yet to re-up (in order of most mins played): Chloe Knott, Ava Pritchard, Zoe McMeeken, Grace Wisnewski, Saskia Vosper, Te Reremoana Walker, Kelli Brown & Charlotte Lancaster. Lancaster, of course, was the other scholarship player.

Which two of them will get bounced for Hassett and Whinham? Sorta depends on positional depth and which Aussie players get signed and all that. Though know that of the seven players who played the fewest mins last term, five of them were Australians (plus scholarship Lancaster and injured Brown) so the kiwi crew were definitely prioritised – and understandably so given how the squad was put together. That doesn’t make it easy when wondering who to cut.

One clue about Paige Satchell’s destination was when her current club was listed in various Ferns squad announcements as ‘A-League Off Season Programme’. NZF’s involvement in the Welly Nix did sorta put their FFDP thing into a curious context as the Nix, especially with that young inaugural squad, seemingly usurped its purposes. Sure enough, that’s what’s happened. The FFDP is now the ALOP, for what that’s worth. Although there’s honestly been bugger all information about it. Not even the usual squad list which is a tad rude to tell you the truth.

Worth mentioning that it’s not only current Phoenix players in that group. The U20 World Cup squad also listed Charlotte Wilford-Carroll, Emma Pijnenburg, and Rylee Godbold in that crew alongside Ava Pritchard, Charlotte Lancaster, Grace Wisnewski, Kate Taylor, Mona Walker, Zoe McMeeken, and Melbourne City’s Marisa van der Meer. Alyssa Whinham was listed as a Wellington Phoenix player following her new contract. Macey Fraser and Tui Dugan are there as part of the Wellington Phoenix Academy, a different limb of the same tree. The only one of those players it feels safe to rule out of Nix contention is Rylee Godbold as she’s a goalie.

Also, Annalie Longo made an international comeback recently and if she wants to break into the Ferns squad for the World Cup she’ll probably need to make an A-League return as well. That could be for Melbourne Victory again or it could be for the Wellington Phoenix – whom she’s had a bit to do with already as NZ Football’s women’s development manager.

Plus you know how the ALW has often had NWSL players join on loan in their American offseasons? Well, Katie Bowen is hardly getting a run for North Carolina at the moment and if nothing changes she’ll probably be desperate for some game time. But, again, signing folks like that means cutting adrift someone else who may not have another professional lifeline. Except... not actually in the case of Annalie Longo. She was listed as a non-visa foreign player in her last ALW season, same as how Rebekah Stott is. Must have an Aussie parent or something. Dual-national status, baby. Surely gotta make that happen.

Gemma Lewis was on the radio a few weeks back talking about squad building and she said that the plan was to bring back “a good majority, especially the core group” of last season’s team. Talked about maybe adding 2-4 extra players for experience to help shape things and how that could involve a couple of offshore Ferns. There will be no visa players.

Now, technically Hassett and Satchell already fill the 2-4 new players inc. a couple offshore Ferns quota but probably best to stay open minded about how things’ll go. Also can’t overlook that the ALW does have that rule where they’ll subsidise the contract of one kiwi player per Aussie club as a sort of sweetened chaser to the minimum Aussie player rule. So let’s say that maybe Mona Walker and Saskia Vosper don’t get re-signed. There’s still the hope that another club would see that and think: say, they were pretty decent against us last term... let’s have ‘em. That rule came into play too late to be a factor last season. This time around it should be cited way more... we’ve already seen Liz Anton re-signed by Perth as well as Grace Jale and Rebecca Burrows move to Canberra.

Tough decisions to be made here. But they’re tough decisions that need to be made. The Welly Nix Wahine gained so much progress last season and they can’t rest on their laurels - with Western United joining as a new expansion team there’s no excuse for a second wooden spoon. That work has already begun with the forming of a squad for year two. A squad which is going to look plenty familiar... but with a couple of major upgrades. Striking that balance.

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