Reflecting On The Wellington Phoenix Women’s First Crop Of Import Players
It’s not so easy to compete on an uneven playing field. The Welly Nix Wahine’s lack of imports during their first two seasons (seasons in which they finished dead last both times) was a self-imposed issue and they could have just chosen to sacrifice a few locals in order to bring in that foreign talent. Take them to the next level. Give them some of that technical, tactical, clinical edge. They chose not to do so in order to boost up more kiwi footballers instead, fair enough, but it did leave them with a pretty significant limitation.
That limitation faded into the air when the A-League dropped the Australian player quota that the SheNix had previously been operating under. They lowered it from year one to year two, then eliminated it entirely in year three (partly due to good faith, partly due to its increasing irrelevance as the Phoenix simply signed dual-national NZers instead). With no more mandated Ozstrillians, the club could happily sign imports in those spots instead. Sweet as. Five spots open and an entire world to choose from... it was always going to be curious to see what they did with that newfound freedom.
What they did was to lean very heavily on American pathways. They only signed four imports initially, then added another mid-season when the USA college term ended. All five were from North America. Mariana Speckmaier plays for Venezuela but was born and raised in Florida. Rylee Foster played for Liverpool and was most recently on trial with Celtic but is from Canada and went to university in the USA. Speckmaier and Hope Breslin had played NWSL before. Hailey Davidson and Isabel Cox had not, with Davidson playing second tier in Sweden after graduating and Cox moving straight to Wellington.
It was fascinating to see them lean so heavily on USA college footy because the advent of the Wellington Phoenix has actually stopped a lot of top young kiwis from going to USA unis, as they might have done in the past, with the Nix and the wider A-League instead offering a quicker path to the pros (and arguably better playing opportunities, plus a more likely bridge into the best professional leagues). The A-League has existing connections with the NWSL since the timing of their respective seasons has traditionally allowed a lot of Americans to pop by in their offseasons. Expansion has made that less possible but the connection is still there – as you can see from the NWSL breaking the record A-League transfer fee three times already in 2024 (the biggest of those being the Macey Fraser deal, chur chur).
On the flipside, it’s trickier to sign players from Europe due to the timing of those seasons. Also due to the abundance of playing opportunities there. The NWSL has now expanded to 14 teams. In Europe there are full divisions in all the major nations employing so many more players. In other words there is a higher level of leftover American players available. Lots of reasons why they went in that direction. It’s also not fair to disregard the fact that Speckmaier (Iceland), Foster (England), and Davidson (Sweden) had all played professionally in Europe prior to joining the Nix. There’s nothing exclusive here. They signed the best players they could get and this is how it worked out.
Okay then, how did they go? Yeah...that varies. None were bad, though some were better than others. The one player who was an overwhelming success was Mariana Speckmaier. She was signed to score goals and score goals she did, with 10 of them in 21 matches. That makes her the club’s all-time leading scorer and the first to reach double-figures in a season. She did suggest that she felt she should have scored more but she bagged those 10 goals from 7.9 xG so she was batting overs.
Despite her international pedigree, Speckmaier was more of a risk than it seems. She’d never had a season like this before where she led the line and scored in bundles – she’d always been a younger player trying to prove herself at other clubs. But the Nix saw a spark and they fanned it into flames. A couple of sneaky injuries did mean that Speckmaier was used off the bench here and there, meaning we got to see them with and without her... and nobody affected the team’s attacking potency more than Specky. The Nix’s xG differential was +9.1 with Speckmaier on the pitch. She’s quick and wants to take on defenders. Already established that she’s a good finisher. An outstanding signing. Given how tricky it can be to retain imports, she should be priority tahi for players to bring back. Although just know that the Phoenix have yet to retain a top scorer. Grace Jale and Milly Clegg both moved to other A-League teams immediately after topping the charts for the yellow and black. Will Mariana Speckmaier be next?
Isabel Cox only joined the team in December, arriving straight out of college after five years at the University of North Carolina. That’s the same school that Katie Bowen went to, coincidentally. It’s also the most successful women’s soccer team in NCAA history and thanks to Cox’s extra covid year of eligibility she holds the record for team appearances. She wasn’t NWSL Draft good but she was a valued squad member throughout her career at UNC, plus the Nix got her immediately out of college so her case was the purest evidence in the wider pondering of where the American university system sits in an increasingly professional women’s footballing landscape (from the kiwi perspective, of course).
Joining midway through the term means that Cox only appeared in 13/22 games, with only ten of those being starts... but with three goals and three assists she had an instant impact. Good dribbler, plenty of tenacity, versatile across that front line. She averaged 0.54 goals plus assists per ninety minutes. Mickey Robertson topped that with exactly 1.00, then Specky was at 0.70. Cox ranked fourth just behind Emma Main’s 0.56. Once she got settled she became a ubiquitous presence – nobody played more minutes across the final ten matches than IC. Would’ve liked to see that stretched out over a full campaign but can’t argue with what she did, especially without even having a preseason. Another one that they should be trying to recruit again for next time.
The other three are more in the so-so range as far as re-signing preferences go. Rylee Foster was a good sturdy goalkeeper with excellent leadership and shot-stopping ability. Questions about her distribution at times, however she clearly raised the bar for goalkeeping at this club (Brianna Edwards seemed to respond positively to the challenge in the occasional appearances she made).
Rylee Foster was an import though, and you expect your imports to be your premier players and that’s where this tilts. While she was good for the Nix, she wasn’t one of the league’s best golveswomen. She conceded more than her post-shot xG suggested she ought to, kicked long the most often whilst being one of the least accurate (big boot though, in fairness, and some of that inaccuracy is more the fault of her teammates not winning headers), was not particularly good against aerial balls, and only ranked mid-table for sweeping outside her area. That last bit is more because the Nix didn’t play a very high line... which maybe they could look at in the future although that’d require more pace along the backline than they had this past season.
To summarise: Foster was a successful signing who improved the team... but with Bri Edwards closing the gap between starter and reserve it’s possible they prefer to use that import spot elsewhere. It’s also possible that Edwards might not return if she’s only offered another backup gig and that has to be a consideration. If the rumour mill is to be trusted, RF’s probably going to have higher bidders for her services anyway.
Hope Breslin had the highest profile coming in, having played for a couple of NWSL teams. She ended up being the only Phoenix player to featured in all 22 games – the only one! - although it was a weird campaign from Breslin. She was signed as an attacking midfielder but ended up spending a lot of the season operating much deeper... and that had it’s oddities for sure. Breslin’s technique was more than good enough to perform the role but she had a tendency to make risky decisions much more in keeping with the attacking third than the defensive third. Blind passes and reckless turns and that kinda thing. It also begged the question why they didn’t just sign a proper midfielder import – granted, they weren’t expecting Chloe Knott to be out of commission after six games, nor Grace Wisnewski to do an ACL.
Breslin was way more effective in attack with two goals and three assists but had to do a job elsewhere for the team. Hard to judge. Clearly the coach had a lot of trust in her abilities and HB was never short on self-belief. The workrate was impossible to question. Some of her attacking stuff didn’t translate as well as she’d have hoped, with some low take-on success for example, plus somehow she ended up attempting fewer shots per ninety mins than Kate Taylor. But her set piece delivery was excellent (leading to two of her three assists) and she was a surprisingly effective tackler. Hope Breslin was capable of things that nobody else in the squad could match, yet inconsistencies meant you never quite knew when the magic would arrive. You get the feeling that the numbers would’ve risen if she could have spent the whole season as a winger.
Hailey Davidson played at right back throughout and was the last player left who’d started every game when she was named on the bench for the Central Coast game at the exact halfway stage. Davidson was the least pedigreed addition, someone who wasn’t drafted into the NWSL and whose only pro experience prior to this was in second tier Swedish football. Always reliable... but didn’t really do anything else. Occasionally she got exposed by speedy wingers, though not often, and she was pretty good in the challenge when she chose to commit. Very few mistakes. Also hardly offered anything at all going forward. HD took one shot all season and only attempted ten crosses. 0.2 xA combined across 1593 minutes. She was a solid, dependable role player and there’s lots to be said for that... but that’s not something you need to spend an import spot for. Seems notable that she only started two of the last five matches having been so everpresent to begin with. Seems even more notable that she’s already confirmed that she wasn’t offered a new contract.
So one of these imports was excellent. A couple more were very good but with qualifications. All of them were decent. It will be telling heading into next season just how many of this quintet return, if any, and whether perhaps they keep looking towards that American college system or if they choose to look a little more towards Europe or Asia.
It’s a tricky balance because the imports who do well are hard to re-sign because they get better offers. The ones who don’t stand out as much, you tend not to want to retain them. It’s also a factor that this was a young squad, with only one player aged over 27 (Annalie Longo), and the imports were part of that. They signed five players whose prior pro experience was almost entirely as fringe players trying to break into teams. They were hungry with something to prove which is super valuable. But, you know, maybe a couple wise veterans who’ve been there done that before could have helped this team maintain their levels both home and away. Who was the oldest of their imports? Who was the best of their imports? Mariana Speckmaier is the answer to both questions so there ya go.
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