Both of the NZ National Leagues are doing a stellar job of producing professional and international players. A-League clubs are scooping up prospects - not just the New Zealand teams either - and national age grade selectors are all over everything. This upcoming WNL happens to coincide with a couple of youth World Cups: the Women’s U17s is taking place in October (which will clash with the WNL) while the U20s only just finished. Almost all of that U20 World Cup squad have played National League. Many of them have now progressed beyond it so we won’t have too much overlap beyond the Wellington Phoenix crew but that just goes to prove the original point. This competition holds valuable real estate upon the kiwi footballing pathway.

This is real deal footy producing real deal players and if you’re tracking The Niche Cache’s coverage then you knew all about players like Ela Jerez, Ruby Nathan, Helena Errington, Lara Colpi, or throwing it back slightly further Rebecca Lake, Michaela Foster, and Macey Fraser, before they got to where they are now. This year’s edition is the same as last year’s edition. We’ve got the two Central League qualifiers playing as club teams but with some Capital Football assistance. The Wellington Phoenix Reserves will be making their second bow. Still got the three federation teams from Central, Canterbury, and Southern. Dunno what the future will bring but for 2024 at least we don’t have to worry about any changes. Just the best teams in the country battling for national glory. Sweet as. Here’s a peek at the fixtures and be sure to track The Niche Cache throughout the season for all our coverage. Highlights on the socials. Write-ups on the website. A few chats on our podcast. Teams of the Week in our Substack newsletter. All that good stuff.

Auckland United

Winter Season: NRFL Premiership champions

Head Coach: Ben Bate

Top Scorer: Unsurprisingly it was Kate Sheppard Cup heroine Charlotte Roche who led the league scoring for Auckland United with 14 goals – she’s moved up from Canterbury this year and had an immediately positive impact.

Key Player: This is the most stacked club team in the country so there are candidates all over the place but if you want someone with huge name recognition and consistently fantastic performances then ex-Wellington Phoenix midfielder Chloe Knott fits the bill.

Notable Youngster: Hopefully we get a bit of Pia Vlok this season, though the U17 World Cup could mess with that possibility (she’s currently with the NZ U16s trying to qualify for next year’s edition). Otherwise the likes of Dani Canham, Alexis Cook, and Charlotte Roche are young enough to count. All three were unlucky to miss selection for the U20 World Cup.

Defending National League champions. Kate Sheppard Cup champions. Oceania Champions League victors. NRFL Premiership trophy-holders. Auckland United have already lifted three pieces of silverware this year and the only one left to go, the National League title, they happen to have won last year. This is the strongest club team in the country and it’s impossible to argue that. West Coast Rangers gave them a good run but they couldn’t hang with the champs. AU won 19 out of 21 league games and drew the other couple. They scored 65 goals and conceded only nine. That’s twenty fewer goals against than the second best defence in the division. 13 clean sheets. At the OCL they scored 10 goals and conceded 2, winning all five matches (although they did get taken to extra time in the semis)... and that wasn’t even with a full-strength squad. In the KSC they won five matches on the way to the trophy, scoring 19 goals and conceding 2... and they beat four fellow WNL qualifiers in the process (the other three NRFL clubs plus the WeeNix). Add it together and it all competitions we’re talking about a 2024 consisting of: 29 wins, 2 draws, 0 defeats... with 94 goals scored and 13 against.

In Greer Macintosh and Chelsea Elliott they have a superb central defensive pairing. Talisha Green and Saskia Vosper at fullback is as good as it gets at this level. Jess Philpot was on the bench for the KSC final... she’d wander into any other starting eleven in the country. Japanese midfielder Yume Harashima is the unsung legend of the side. Rene Wasi and Alexis Cook provide excitement out wide. American goalie Hannah Mitchell has been superb. Charlotte Roche scores goals like it’s her destiny. Alaina Granger, Poppy O’Brien, and Penny Brill give them some quality young depth. Mate, they even had Michaela Foster (briefly) and Ruby Nathan pop by during their A-League offseasons. The WNL won’t be a walk in the park for AU, no way, but they will be the clear favourites. The team that everyone else is targeting. The ones with all the expectation. And with only two months remaining in 2024, they haven’t faltered yet.

West Coast Rangers

Winter Season: Second in the NRFL Premiership

Head Coach: Andy Dunn

Top Scorer: Shannon Henson, whose 16 goals were good enough to win her the NRFL Prem Golden Boot.

Key Player: Gotta be Marissa Porteous after what a superb WNL campaign she had last year on loan at Southern United. She’s fast, she reads the game well, she wins basically all her challenges. Awesome player.

Notable Youngster: Emily Lyon should be up there after scoring eight goals in the NRFL. She’s a young striker who played a bit for Eastern Suburbs in the previous WNL. Luci Hollister is another one to pay attention to. And Porteous herself is only a little bit older than them.

West Coast Rangers came into 2024 with a mission. They’d missed out on National League qualification by one nasty old one point, though they did have the consolation of seeing a few of their players loaned elsewhere to great success, with Marissa Porteous and Kendrah Smith instrumental in Southern United’s efforts. That mission proved a simple task. They began with five high-scoring wins in a row and remained in the top two from pillar to post. WCR did lose all three times (plus again in the KS Cup) to champs Auckland United, whom they finished 10 points behind, but other than that they won every game except for a 2-2 draw with Western Springs and a 1-0 loss to Eastern Suburbs in the last game.

It wasn’t only about year to year improvements. WCR also made some clever additions, bringing in Maisy Dewell, Shannon Henson, and Bree Johnson from Auckland United - chipping away at the depth of a rival by offering more minutes to a those proven performers. That ended up being a master-stroke as Henson won Golden Boot with 16 goals and Johnson was fourth-equal with 11 goals. Emily Lyon also scored eight and she played some WNL with Eastern Suburbs last year. Don’t overlook six goals for Anelise Karakostas either, a Canadian midfielder who has been in town (probably due to the sister club deal with WCR and Canadian club Fusion FC where she used to play – coach Andy Dunn has worked for both which is how that came about). Oh and if you’re lucky you might even see a couple former Football Ferns with Emma Kete and Nicole Stratford both amongst the WCR scene.

Eastern Suburbs

Winter Season: Third in the NRFL Premiership

Head Coach: Katie Duncan

Top Scorer: Sofia Garcia and Zoe Benson each scored 11 goals to share the spotlight... way ahead of Shion Hwang who was next for ES with five G’s.

Key Player: If you’ve got Sofia Garcia in your team then you’re always a threat, though Saki Yoshida has been nothing short of brilliant for this team for a couple of years now – whether in midfield or central defence.

Notable Youngster: Zoe Benson still qualifies for this one despite leading the entire National League in assists last year. ZB was the youngest player in NZ’s U20 World Cup squad recently by a distance of five months. Very skilled winger with an eye for a pass who should add a few more goals this time too if the winter season is anything to go by. Millie Boyle and Zoe Brazier are amongst a handful of premier talents from the next wave.

They almost didn’t make it. A run of three defeats in a row around May got the Lilywhites into trouble and they hit the floor when they were smoked 6-1 by Auckland United in June. They lost as many games as they won, struggling to find any kind of consistency... but 31 points was enough to get them over the line for third. It’s been a transitional year for Eastern Suburbs. Footy Ferns icon Katie Duncan is now coaching the side and they’ve managed to scoop up a bunch of ex-Western Springs players to reinvigorate their squad (Sammi Tawharu, Sofia Garcia, Jess Innes). They needed that because most of their best players from last year have moved over to Aussie, either in the ALW (Deven Jackson) or the NPL grades (Charlotte Wilford-Carroll, Nicole Cooper, Charlotte Lancaster). Some of them might pop back for the Nats. That’d sure help. But it is a different Lilywhites team than folks might be used to.

It’s hard to know what to make of a team that’s been this erratic. Their NRFL Prem results went: WLWWDLLLWWLLWLWLWLWLW. In other words, they never won more than two games in a row and despite the volatility there, they only ever drew one match. But you get the feeling this is a squad that has a much better idea of who they are now than they did a few months ago and being Eastern Suburbs you know they’re a chance to make a few clever transfer additions for the big stage. They usually do. Don’t underestimate them.

Western Springs

Winter Season: Fourth in the NRFL Premiership

Head Coach: Maia Vink

Top Scorer: Surprisingly, it was Megan Lee with 7 league goals... all the way down in tenth on the overall NRFL Prem standings. This team’s had a real shake-up in it’s attack this year which explains that lack of a focal point. Unfortunately Lee appeared to suffer a pretty bad injury in the Kate Sheppard Cup final so we might not even see her in the National League. Kitty Jacob and Rina Hirano each scored five times.

Key Player: They seem to go everywhere together so it’d be rude to split the Japanese dynamic duo of Arisa Takeda and Rina Hirano. Takeda is a supremely technical fullback. Hirano is a creative force who can be the best player on the pitch in any attacking position. At a time when Vink’s squad has lost a number of senior players, these two are as important as ever.

Notable Youngster: Ella Findlay moved over from Eastern Suburbs recently. She’s a central defender/defensive midfielder who was recently a starter at the U20 World Cup. Good with the ball and pretty strong in the air. Kitty Jacob up front is another prospect, she used to be a defender but apparently now is a goal-scoring centre-forward. Winger Maia Lythe brings some energy on the wing as well. Jacob and Lythe have come through the Springs system, unlike Findlay.

You may recall that Western Springs had some off-field dramas last year. Whether or not that played a part in some of their outgoing transfers doesn’t really matter at this stage. It is what it is. But when you do see a chunk of your leadership group disappear at once to a close rival you’re supposed to need a rebuilding phase. Well, Western Springs made the Kate Sheppard Cup final and still qualified for National League during that rebuild so no issues there. Part of their ongoing success has come from being able to bring in pedigreed players like Rebecca Burrows (an A-League rep just last year, also played pro in China) and Alosi Bloomfield (NZ futsal rep). Plus Liz Savage, whose WNL term was interrupted by injury in 2023, is in typically sharp form while Megan Lee has taken on a more prominent role. Both Lee and Savage have played for the Football Ferns, with Savage also making 24 A-League appearances for Adelaide and Perth back when kiwi faces in that league were far more scarce than they are these days.

Like Eastern Suburbs, the Swans nearly didn’t make it. They were on the outside looking in for much of the season but a 3-2 win over Fencibles in the penultimate round clinched the deal. Rosie Missen equalised in the 83rd min for Fencies but Megan Lee scored in stoppage time for Springs. Even a draw in that match would’ve left them sweating since their last fixture was against Auckland United (they lost 1-0). But Lee’s winner ensured that game was merely practice for when they met the same team one week later in the KSC final. Crazy stat from that final is that Springs have lost 1-0 to Auckland United on all four occasions they’ve met this year so stay tuned for October 19 at Keith Hay Park when we see if that becomes 5/5. Also, spare a thought for Fencibles who really did look like they could finish ahead of either Suburbs or Springs only to miss out. They’re the ones to call if your club is looking for some Porteous/Smith-esque loan additions.

Wellington United

Winter Season: Champions of the Central League

Head Coach: Guillermo Schiltenwolf

Top Scorer: Natalie Olson buried 10 goals through the Central League, narrowly ahead of Hope Gilchrist who had 9 of them.

Key Player: That’d be Hope Gilchrist with her unstoppable midfield exploits. She’s got an impeccable work-rate and an impressive array of passes. Will probably be required to be more defensive-minded than we saw during winter but she’s still a goal threat from midfield. Zoe Barrott is also a crucial player, just an outstanding central defender who reads the game as well as she wins challenges.

Notable Youngster: Haven’t really had much national age grade representation for the Diamonds in recent years, not like it used to be when Michaela Robertson, Maggie Jenkins, Hope Gilchrist, Emma Main, et cetera were coming through. That’s most likely because that calibre of prospect now ends up at the Wellington Phoenix instead. But Lillian Davies is definitely one to be aware of in this squad with her work out wide. Farina Anchico too if she gets out there, she’s a Colombian immigrant who moved here at 5yo and we all know that Colombian women’s footy is very trendy these days.

It went down to the wire like it always does. An earlier postponement meant that Wellington United faced Waterside Karori in the last game of the Central League and the 1-1 draw that the Diamonds walked away with (Hope Gilchrist equalising in the second half) was enough to take the trophy. A trophy that continues to alternate between these two clubs. Wellington United won in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Waterside Karori won in 2022 and 2023. Wellington United have won in 2024. The story continues. Not only are these two capital rivals neck and neck through the winter stuff but last year’s National League, the first in which clubs from outside of the Northern region were incorporated, saw them finish bang even on the ladder. They had exactly the same records of four wins, one draw, four losses, with 18 goals scored and 16 goals conceded. Needless to say, the single draw that they each experienced was against each other.

So what have we got here? The core of last year’s squad is mostly the same under Guillermo Schiltenwolf. Hope Gilchrist. Zoe Barrott. Molly Simons. Natalie Olson. Jemma Robertson. Fingers crossed we also see Anna Green, 82-cap Football Ferns defender, continue on into the summer yarns. The Diamonds have an excellent defensive foundation that tends to lead into quick, counter-attacking footy with the pace they have up top. Both the Central League qualifiers are also being run in conjunction with Capital Football again so it’s an expectation that they’ll divvy up a few players from non-qualifying Wellington clubs – most notably Petone who boast the likes of Caelin Patterson, Pepi Olliver-Bell, and Danielle Ohlsson... all of whom played for the Diamonds in last year’s Nats. In the 2023 WNL, United’s four defeats came against the four teams who finished above them, they drew the team they were level with, and they beat the four teams below them. Barometer areas. But of course the main objective is to finish ahead of Waterside Karori.

Waterside Karori

Winter Season: Second in the Central League

Head Coach: Tory Schiltgen

Top Scorer: Nikki Furukawa, whose 12 goals earned her the Golden Boot of the league. The Canadian forward also scored five times for Karori in the Nats last year so she’s no stranger.

Key Player: Between Jess Shilton in defence, Sarah Morton either in defence or midfield, Kennedy Bryant as a more attack-minded midfielder, and Renee Bacon making things happen on the wing... you’ve got a few choices there. Morton’s even been capped by the national team.

Notable Youngster: One of the strengths of the Wharfies is their experience but be sure to stay alert to Daphne Ranta in the midfield, a natural ball-winner who’s been getting plenty of starts lately.

WKAFC finished one point behind Wellington United but 13 points clear of Petone. It was a very distinct top two. They’ve got a consistent team from last year, the only real loss being Kaley Ward (though that’s admittedly a big one – lots of goals there) but Nikku Furukawa just won CL Golden Boot so you can’t claim they don’t have a marquee scorer there. Five clean sheets in 14 matches, conceding less than a goal per game overall. They won 12 of 12 games against the teams below them, it was only the two games against Wellington United where they hit a wall – a 2-1 loss and that 1-1 finale draw. They did also get knocked out of the Kate Shep by the Wellington Phoenix Reserves though, losing 3-2 at Karori Park.

Speaking of the Phoenix, Wharfies head coach Tory Schiltgen is going to see out the National League campaign but after that the Minnesotan is joining the Wellington Phoenix ALW staff as the second assistant (behind Paul Temple and Amy Shepherd) as well as U18 Women’s Academy head coach (effectively the third tier of Nix footy behind the first team and U20s/Reserves). That could mean a shift in how the Wharfies look and perform down the line. It could also give them that last bit of motivation to do something awesome in the WNL before Schiltgen goes.

Wellington Phoenix Reserves

Winter Season: Seventh in the Boy’s U15 Capital Development League

Head Coach: Callum Holmes

Top Scorer: Olivia Ingham, a first-team scholarship winger, who scored six times in the league. The next two top scorers were Manaia Elliot (5 goals) and Ella McMillan (4 goals) who also have A-League contracts. Elliott’s is even a full contract.

Key Player: Ella McMillan’s the universally respected captain of the side and should be around in either defensive midfield or as a centre-back whenever she’s not required with the A-League side. All the scholarship contractees should be prominent figures, to be fair.

Notable Youngster: The whole team... but Ela Jerez is special. She scored the winning goal for Western Springs in last year’s Kate Shep final as a 15-year-old and has since made the move to the Phoenix Academy where she’s already signed a scholarship deal. She’ll probably play A-League this season so catch her in the Nats while you can.

This is the second year of WeeSheNix existence and there has been a recalibration with the team moving from Capital Development Boy’s U17s level to Boy’s U15s instead. Same division as the Phoenix Women’s U18s already play (as well as the Boy’s U15s)... and that proved to be a more competitive level for them where their skills weren’t overshadowed by the greater physicality of the males – keep in mind that this is a pretty young reserves team so many of them were simply the same age as the lads they were up against. As such, they were able to win 7/20 games with a couple of draws this year. There were games where they conceded a heaps but there were also games where they were very competitive. It’s all development, after all.

The other thing that they did this year was they entered the Kate Sheppard Cup for the first time... making it all the way to the semi-finals where they were only narrowly beaten 2-1 by eventual champs Auckland United. Took a late goal to take them down. Those were the only games they played against women through the season (well, those and the fixtures against their own U18s team) so they made for an interesting gauge on where the team is at. There’s always some refreshing going on with the WeeNix sides due to the nature of being a youth/reserve side. Each year the best players move up to the first team and a new wave of youngsters rise into the squad. They’ve also changed coaches with Katie Barrott departing.

The Phoenix Reserves only won two games last season, in particular struggling in defence, but they seem to be better suited to that task this time around. Expect to see first-teamers like Manaia Elliott, Ela Jerez, Ella McMillan, Daisy Brazendale, Aimee Danieli, and Olivia Ingham getting some minutes as they have done throughout the A-League offseason. Maybe Zoe McMeeken too, although with Mickey Foster leaving she could be an ALW starter now. The recent U20 World Cup squad also included Marie Green, alongside most of the aforementioned, and she’ll be a feature here. Beyond them, Alyssha Eglinton, Lara Smith, Georgie Furnell, Mackenzie Greene, and Brooke Neary are also names to track.

Central Football

Winter Season: N/A

Head Coach: Jamie Dunning

Top Scorer: As far as the Central League goes, Kya Solomon (Taradale) and Ruby-Aroha Gurnick (PN Marist) each scored 8 goals which led the way for the Central region representatives.

Key Player: Last year it was some combination of Maddi Hughes and Mikaela Bouwmeester... both of whom you’d assume will be back this time around. A team like Central needs to be scoring goals to stay in the hunt and these two will provide them.

Notable Youngster: Sophie Campbell debuted in the WNL when she was 14 years old. The talent was clear from day one, talent that she’s taken into the NZ U17 scene. She’s now 17 and should be ready to bring that weekly consistency to her game. Campbell and Isla Cleall-Harding were the two Central players in the squad that qualified for the upcoming U17 World Cup... though ICH has moved to the Wellington Phoenix since then.

Central Football usually finish last. They did manage to avoid that fate last year thanks to Ellerslie, breaking a streak that had continued since 2017, but the emergence of West Coast Rangers means there isn’t an equivalent candidate this time around. It’s gonna be tough for Jamie Dunning’s team... who also haven’t been helped by the emergence of the Wellington Phoenix Reserves down the road who keep scooping up the top talents from the region. But credit where it’s due because Central regularly discover and develop exciting young female footballers worthy of being scooped. This WNL experience that they get at an early age with Central is a absolutely a useful part of that journey. Mackenzie Barry. Jana Niedermayr. Charlotte Lancaster. Rebekah Trewhitt and Georgie Furnell. The production line is in working order.

Taradale, Palmerston North Marist, and Moturoa all finished mid-table in the Central League so there’s a decent pool of players to pick from. Presumably that squad has already been selected but nobody’s told us what it is yet. No doubt a list will emerge in the coming days but for now it’s kinda hard to say much else without knowing who’s going to be playing so we’ll park this one for now with our best wishes and continue onwards.

Canterbury United

Winter Season: N/A

Head Coach: Shane Verma

Top Scorer: Well, nobody because this is a federation team... but within the catchment Anna McPhie did score nine times for Cashmere Technical on their way to the South Island League title, including the decisive goal in the win against Dunedin City Royals that clinched the trophy.

Key Player: That remains to be seen. Annalie Longo’s been playing for Cashy Tech but you’d imagine she’s re-signed with the Wellington Phoenix so it shan’t be her. Fullback Lara Wall’s always a great one for the Cantabs, as is defensive midfielder Whitney Hepburn.

Notable Youngster: Goalkeeper could be a funky spot, since Una Foyle’s moved to Ireland to play for Cork City while Maddie Iro’s been at uni in the States. Amber Bennett was one of Iro’s backups at the recent U20 World Cup while Scarlett Gray is also highly rated so replacement options abound. Also hoping to maybe see a bit of creative midfielder Amber de Wit prior to the U17 World Cup. Darsha Keoghan is another we need to be tracking.

Don’t yet know who’ll be playing for the Pride... but we do know that they’ll be coached by Shane Verma, since Alana Gunn has moved up into the NZ Football ranks – currently coaching the NZ U16s at the Oceania Champs. Verma’s been around this team in various capacities for a few years so that’ll be a smooth transition. No dramas. Generally this side is a combination of the two dominant Cantab clubs: Cashmere Technical and Coastal Spirit, perhaps with a couple of Nelson’s finest to fill things out. That’d serve up a selection of renowned WNL servants like Wall, Margi Dias, Aimee Phillips, and Lisa Evans (Cashy Tech); plus Hepburn, Ellena Firth, Britney-Lee Nicholson, and Bel van Noorden (Coastal).

Anna McPhie graduated college in the States last year and returned to play for hometown Nelson Suburbs before joining Canterbury United Pride for the Nats. She’s reinforced that with a switch to Cashmere Tech in 2024 where the quantities of goals she’s supplied have her in breakthrough player contention. By the way, a weird twist in the fixtures means that Canterbury United make zero trips to Auckland this year (unless they make the final). All four NRFL Prem opponents play them in Christchurch. The furthest they have to travel is Palmerston North. Compare that to Southern United who make three trips to the AK. Also, curious to see if they can lure Nicola Dominikovich and Charlotte Mortlock back after a superb time of it with Northern Tigers in Oz.

Southern United

Winter Season: N/A

Head Coach: Yeah... dunno.

Top Scorer: Abbey Neilson of Roslyn-Wakari was the top scorer in the Football South stuff but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be in the Southern squad. The top scorers in the South Island League were all from Canterbury clubs but Rose Morton did bag six goals for Dunedin City Royals.

Key Player: It’s always Rose Morton. The Southern Football Women’s Player of the Year for 2024 has long since established herself as one of the premier domestic players with her tireless mahi and undeniable tackling. Not to mention the immaculate leadership qualities.

Notable Youngster: Again, can’t really answer that until a squad list drops. Southern aren’t so active on the ol’ social medias these days so not sure when that’ll happen.

Once upon a time, Southern United were perennial strugglers in this competition but they’ve made sturdy leaps over more recent seasons which culminated in a grand final appearance last time. Spectacular stuff. They were strong in defence, they were industrious in midfield, they were clinical in attack. Just a really good footballing team who managed to win seven out of ten matches despite the obvious struggles that can come from being a federation team that only gets a few weeks to prepare. As such, no idea who’s in the squad yet. That hasn’t been announced. Don’t even know who the coach is since they were advertising the role back in May. Hopefully we don’t have to wait until the lineups are filed ahead for the opening game to find out.

What we do know is that this team is usually built around the best that Dunedin City Royals have to offer and that DCR were electric throughout the year. They bossed their way through the Football South stuff and then went within one result of winning the South Island League. They needed a win or draw against Cashmere Technical in their final fixture but they lost 1-0 under the roof at Forsyth-Barr Stadium (a rare goal conceded, given they only allowed four in 10 SIL games... and none in their federation league). That was one of only two losses they suffered this year – the other being a 3-0 defeat to Western Springs in the Kate Sheppard Cup semi-final.

That DCR side featured the likes of Rose Morton, Hannah Mackay-Wright, Abby Rankin, Lauren Patterson, Toni Power, and a few more who were instrumental for the 2023 Southern United side. Chuck in some others from around the region, and maybe a few sneaky loan players, and they’ll be very competitive once again. Although, two of their star players from last year were Marissa Porteous and Kendrah Smith who joined them after West Coast Rangers failed to qualify. But WCR did make it this time, which takes Porteous out of the mix, while Smith has been playing in Australia (but could pop back for Rangers). As was local striker Amy Hislop who was also a crucial part of that final run. Retaining/replacing them won’t be a simple task.

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