Football Ferns vs Australia: Squad Yarns & Preview
Look, there’s something fishy going on here. For some reason the Football Ferns persist in not picking their best players and there’s never been a satisfying explanation why. Lots of vague quotes from coach Michael Mayne about expanding the depth and blooding new players but nothing specifically stating why, for example, the Ferns are about to take on Australia without the services of Katie Bowen or Rebekah Stott despite both being fully fit and active. Damn, Stotty just got nominated for the FIFA Best 11 awards and then days later she was left out of another Ferns squad! It doesn’t make sense.
Initially it seemed like maybe the fact that senior players such as Bowen, Stott, and Bott being left out of squads may have been an overhang from the way that Jitka Klimkova’s reign ended – that was all tight-lipped stuff but we know for sure that JK lost the trust of her dressing room. Kinda felt like a bit too much of a coincidence. A cynical take is that the absences could have been an unpublicised slap on the wrist from the governing body in response. An even more cynical take would be that perhaps a new-ish coach (Mayne was an assistant to Klimkova and had already been in charge on an interim basis for much of 2024, including at the Olympic Games, when these shenanigans ensued) wanted to begin the steps of taking this team in a different direction with fewer confident voices in the room to challenge him. But that doesn’t seem like Michael Mayne’s modus operandi. It’s certainly not the kiwi method of leadership - just look how collaborative the All Whites are with adopted kiwi Darren Bazeley in charge.
Nah, leave the cynicism at the door and it’s probably as simple as what’s been hinted: that Michael Mayne is trying to have a look at a bunch of different players, working out who suits what positions in the team’s new formation, and there are a few senior players in there that he already knows well and who can perhaps use the rest instead. Whether you agree with that ploy or not, at least it’d be cohesive... not that anybody’s bothered to explain it to the fans. Mayne hasn’t done much media work since getting the job full-time (another consequence of the Ferns always playing overseas) but throughout his carefully selected press release quotes there’s always been an emphasis on the bigger picture of the wider World Cup cycle. This latest squad announcement was no different...
Michael Mayne: “We’ve spent the past six months putting together a campaign plan we believe will put us in the best position to finish 2025 with a clear understanding of the strengths and potential within our wider squad, and move into the new year focused on cohesion and refining our team ahead of qualifying in early 2026. It was important for me to bring some fresh faces back into this camp and continue providing opportunities to players who deserve a recall and may bring new and welcomed competition for places... I appreciate there are players not selected for this tour who want that opportunity, which is only healthy for our future in this campaign.”
That idea about “refining our team ahead of qualifying in 2026” would appear to suggest there’s a ramp-up coming next year as they move into the next phase with official qualifiers. Which in turn suggests that we’re not yet at that stage with this squad. Which in turn means that the absences of Bowen and Stott still fit within that framework of giving others a chance to see what the depth is up to.
Alright, cool, hopefully that’s what we’re dealing with and when the new year arrives we can put the foot on the accelerator with squads that actually reflect the best available talent. Because tending to the depth is good, it’s important. It’s something that previous Football Ferns eras haven’t done nearly enough of, instead relying on the same small group who, while undoubtedly the best players, would have benefitted from some healthy competition for places. But you also can’t go too far in the opposite direction by marginalising your best footballers because we don’t have enough of them to go around.
This was a theme of the last Ferns tour recap and also one of our recent newsletters: Aotearoa happens not to have very many female footballers in world class club situations at this moment in time. We’ve lost our long association with England’s WSL and America’s NWSL (asterisk on Milly Clegg hopefully breaking through at Racing Louisville next year after returning from a Canadian loan). The only two players at top-10 ranked global leagues who are playing regularly for clubs not entrenched in relegation battles are Kate Taylor and Katie Bowen (and the internationally retired Abby Erceg). Taylor has been everpresent this year for the Ferns whereas Bowen was left out of the first three squads without explanation, then returned to feature in all three games last tour... only to be inexplicably dropped for these Aussie games. The same thing happened to Rebekah Stott who returned to face Venezuela only to dip back out again in the two squads since. These games are in Australia, that’s as convenient as it gets for Stotty. But she’s not going to be there.
At least CJ Bott seems to be back on the scene after having been picked in the past two squads (albeit missing the previous trip with injury). Ironically, she’s part of that reverse-pilgrimage club situation because she just left WSL club Leicester City to join her hometown Wellington Phoenix. Fair enough, she’s at a point in her life and career where that’s what she wants after many years overseas. The issue is that Bott settled into the WSL as Ria Percival was finishing up but nobody has come along to tag in for CJB.
It’s also curious that when Bowen and Stott were selected they were used predominantly as midfielders rather than as the central defenders they’ve been at club level for the last few years. That might be more of a reflection on the state of our midfield depth rather than anything else though. Coincidentally, CJ Bott’s recently been flipped into a midfielder for the Phoenix so it’ll be funky to see where Mayne deploys her for the Ferns. CJB has the tools to make the same transition that Ria Percival did at a similar age from right back to defensive midfield... but her passing and touch will need improving. Mayne’s shown a tendency to roll with such positional switches at club level (Mickey Foster at CB, Betsy Hassett at LWB, Indi Riley at wing-back, et cetera) so it’s a matter of where CJB’s elite tackling abilities are best deployed.
Another funny aspect to this is that there are only six active Ferns players with at least 50 caps (we’ve had nine centurions retire within the past six years) and while Bowen, Bott, and Stott seem to have been marginalised, at least for the time being, and Betsy Hassett’s motherhood has seen her become a lot less prominent... Annalie Longo and Meikayla Moore have been permanent selections. That’s despite Longo not even having a professional club right now. Sure, she’s in as close to that situation as she can get playing domestically with Auckland United... but Flea’s only actually made two appearances for AUFC since joining them two months ago. She plays more for the national team than for her club. And Moore, good hearty servant that she is, has only started 2/7 games for NZ this year and is predominantly a bench option. Bowen and Stott play those same positions and a) would be legit starters who’d improve the team, and b) will definitely be available for the 2027 World Cup. It still doesn’t make sense. Why are we not picking our best players?
Now for another whinge (sorry about that) because the All Whites played Australia a few months ago and it was publicised through the roof and they played one game in Canberra and one game in Auckland. The Football Ferns are now getting a similar two-game series against the Aussies and both games are in Oz and nobody seems to care. There’s hardly been any publicity. The only mainstream media to even both covering the squad announcement (despite all the juicy angles you’re reading about in this jumbo preview) have merely parroted the press release. Worse still is seeing the games happen in Gosford and Adelaide. There’s no doubt that they’ll get bigger crowds in Oz but it’d be choice if we were allowed nice things too.
Since the World Cup that these two nations co-hosted, Australia will have played 35 times once this window is completed and 20 of those games will have been in Australia. Not only in the obvious cities either. They’ve spread them out across: Perth (6), Melbourne (3), Adelaide (2), Sydney (2), Brisbane, Gold Coast, Geelong, Newcastle, Canberra, Bunbury, and Gosford. They’re hosting the Asia Cup in March too. In contrast, the Football Ferns will have played 24 games with only two at home, both in Christchurch in April 2024. We can’t expect the same 50-50 split as the Aussies get, it’s not economically feasible, but this is ridiculous. Playing at home builds the connection with fans and gives the team a better chance of winning (as well as allowing more media access to ask where Katie Bowen is). Those should be our main priorities. We will at least get to host the semis and the final of Oceania World Cup qualifying in April... two full years after the previous couple of home games.
Now’s the part where our atrocious record against Australia gets mentioned...
Lost 3-1 & 2-1 in 2022 (A)
Lost 2-1 in 2021 (N – Olympics)
Lost 2-0 in 2019 (A)
Drew 1-1 & lost 2-0 in 2016 (A)
Lost 3-2 in 2015 (H)
Drew 1-1 & Lost 1-0 in 2013 (A)
Lost 2-0 & Drew 1-1 in 2012 (A)
Lost 2-1 & 3-0 in 2011 (A)
And that’s just in the past 15 years. The last time we beat Australia was in 1994 when Wendy Sharpe scored a double in Port Moresby for a 2-1 victory. There are only two players in the current squad who were even born when that happened (Esson and Longo). Since then the two team have met on 33 occasions and it doesn’t make for encouraging reading...
33 G | 0 W | 3 D | 30 L | 13 GF | 76 GA
We’ve been held scoreless in 22/33 games... although only in two of the past eight. The Ferns have scored multiple goals in exactly two of those matches. Gabi Rennie is the only player in the current squad who has scored against Australia before. 26/33 games, soon to be 28/35 games, were hosted by Australia. Okay let’s not speak of this any more. Too depressing.
Back to the squad, it’s great to see the return of Anna Leat who was our number one at the Olympic Games yet hasn’t played since after leaving a stink situation at Aston Villa and taking a break. She returned as a striker for Hibiscus Coast before taking the gloves back when she moved to Eastern Suburbs midseason. Leat played one game for Newcastle Jets and was instantly back in the Ferns (she’s also since played a second... against the Wellington Phoenix, as it happens). For others that might seem like a premature revival but for Leat it’s just a reflection of what she’s already earned. Liv Chance has also made her way back. She hasn’t played for NZ since the World Cup more than two years ago... but has strung together a pretty impressive season with Kolbotn in Norway (alongside Jacqui Hand and Liz Anton). The club did get relegated... but the three kiwis were among their best performers so don’t blame them for that pesky circumstance.
With Betsy Hassett recalled after playing against Venezuela but not against Mexico or USA, that means both of our new footy mums are in this squad. Hassett’s become a specialist left-back for Stjarnan in Iceland where she played in all 23 games as they finished fourth. Chance has been used as a deeper midfielder by Kolbotn. CJ Bott will also be taking the pitch for the first time since the Olympics.
There’ll be more on the wing-back situation soon. That’s where all the other changes seem to have happened. Out go Grace Neville, Manaia Elliott, and Hannah Blake... in come Ally Green, Betsy Hassett, and Lara Wall. Wall was with the squad last time as an injury replacement but this time she’s here from the beginning. Blake is a winger/forward rather than a wing-back but we know that Mayne likes to have some very attacking options in those spots too. These three changes don’t feel like droppings so much as rotations. Neville, Elliott, and Blake got their chances last time. Now Green, Hassett, and Wall get theirs. This is where those bigger picture selections are most obvious.
Speaking of which, the injury replacement call-ups for Wall, Maddie Iro, and Rebecca Lake last tour means that Michael Mayne is up to 39 players that he’s brought into squads in 2025 alone. Chuck in the injured Malia Steinmetz (working towards an ACL return with FC Nordsjaelland) as well as whoever breaks through in the A-League this season (Zoe McMeeken, Marisa van der Meer, and Charlotte Lancaster feel like ones to watch... Pia Vlok is an inevitability but that’s probably a few years down the track). Seems like the coach has got his wish about squad depth... it’s just the top end talent that we need more of.
Here’s the breakdown of squad selections this year. Bold text means they’re in the current squad (also this isn’t counting injury replacement call-ups aside from the two mentioned at the end, since they haven’t been in a full squad during this span)...
Every Squad: Annalie Longo, Claudia Bunge, Liz Anton, Emma Pijnenburg, Jacqui Hand, Kate Taylor, Katie Kitching, Kelli Brown, Maya Hahn, Meikayla Moore, Mickey Foster, Milly Clegg, Victoria Esson
4 Selections: Indiah-Paige Riley, Manaia Elliott, Grace Wisnewski, Grace Neville, Alina Santos
3 Selections: Deven Jackson, Hannah Blake, Ruby Nathan
2 Selections: Ally Green, Betsy Hassett, CJ Bott, Gabi Rennie, Claudia Jenkins, Grace Jale, Mack Barry
1 Selection: Anna Leat, Brianna Edwards, Geo Candy, Jana Radosavljevic, Katie Bowen, Lara Wall, Macey Fraser, Olivia Chance, Rebekah Stott
Additional Injury Replacements: Rebecca Lake, Maddie Iro
You can see that there’s a solid core forming with the likes of Kate Taylor, Katie Kitching, Maya Hahn, and Milly Clegg emerging as new on-field leaders in this group. Once the new core and the old core (Longo, Bowen, Stott, Bott, Moore, et cetera) are finally brought together, then we’ll really see what this team is building towards. But it seems that’ll be a 2026 resolution.
GOALKEEPERS
Vic Esson – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (31 caps/0 goals)
Anna Leat – Newcastle Jets, AUS (22/0)
Alina Santos – University of Denver, USA (0/0)
There was an unusual situation last Sunday when Vic Esson and Anna Leat played against each other. That wouldn’t have happened since their National League days many years ago. Neither kept a clean sheet as the Wellington Phoenix drew 1-1 with Newcastle Jets but it’s great to have them both back in regular action having been stuck on the bench for so much of the last European season – Esson with Rangers in Scotland, Leat with Aston Villa in England. Esson’s move to the A-League makes competitive sense as her occasional Champions League qualifying appearances (like when she played against Arsenal in September 2024, losing 6-0 to the eventual UWCL champs) were too few and far between amidst double digit wins against the weaker SWPL sides. At least in the A-League she gets to settle into some middle ground where every game is competitive.
For Leat, the move back to the ALW is hopefully only temporary because she’s too good for this level. But she got stitched up in England having to serve apprenticeships as the back-up to four different keepers in four different years (as well as dealing with a pretty bad concussion in preseason of that fourth year). Admittedly, one of those was Hannah Hampton (at Aston Villa) who recently got awarded the Yashin Trophy at the FIFA Awards, deeming her the best goalkeeper on the planet in 2025. Still wasn’t fair though. Leat ended up taking a break from pro footy to refresh after those struggles but she’s back now and after Esson started the previous seven games in a row, you’d imagine Leat will get at least one of these matches having been the number one at the Olympic Games when she was last available. Started all three games in Paris 2024 (none of our games were actually in Paris but close enough).
Then we’ve got Alina Santos who is here ahead of A-Leaguers Brianna Edwards (Western Sydney) and Claudia Jenkins (Adelaide). Edwards started the first game of the ALW season but was on the bench behind Sham Khamis for the next two. Jenkins is the undisputed starter at Adelaide. Yet it’s the uncapped college student who keeps getting the nods... granted, we are talking about the third GK spot here. This is the player least expected to feature so other factors come into play, like dedication in training and unselfishness in helping the other keepers prepare. It’s another curious selection but it’s one that doesn’t really matter.
And in fairness, Santos has also had a fantastic college season (which is kinda rare for kiwi players) and while that may not be professional football there’s a chance that Mayne just really likes what Santos brings to the table and thinks the Kāpiti Coast keeper is a better number three than the other alternatives. Could also be shenanigans at play... but Santos has obviously doing something right to have been selected in four straight squads, hanging in there even after Leat’s return.
DEFENDERS
Liz Anton – Kolbotn, NOR (25/0)
CJ Bott - Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (50/3)
Claudia Bunge – Melbourne Victory, AUS (36/0)
Michaela Foster – Durham, ENG (28/1)
Ally Green – Calgary Wild, CAN (18/2)
Meikayla Moore – Calgary Wild, CAN (73/4)
Kate Taylor – Dijon FCO, FRA (28/2)
Lara Wall - Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (1/0)
The position breakdowns get very tricky with the wing-back spots because half of them are defensive minded and half are attack minded. Not to mention that CJ Bott might actually be a midfielder now. One thing we know for sure is that Kate Taylor has started every game this year as the middle centre-back, a role that has made her the first name on the teamsheet when Mayne is picking his line-ups... particularly with Bowen, Stott, and Bott not having yet played this year and with Vic Esson now under threat from Anna Leat. Indi Riley and Milly Clegg also seem like first eleven locks, possibly Annalie Longo too though it’s hard to know for how much longer. But Kate Taylor is the one that it all emanates from now... and you know the thing about our very limited number of elite pros? Yeah no stress there for KT. She’s starting every week in the French top flight going up against stacked glamour teams like Lyon and PSG (Dijon haven’t been as good this year as they were last term but Taylor’s had a strong start to the season).
As to the rest of the back three, across these past seven games we’ve seen starts for Liz Anton (5), Claudia Bunge (4), Meikayla Moore (2), Mickey Foster (2), and Mack Barry (1). Bit surprising to only see Claudia Bunge once during the three-game window in October, perhaps there were some match fitness issues there with the ALW only having just started compared to Foster and Anton who were deeper into their club seasons. Anton’s actually just finished, getting relegated with Kolbotn as already mentioned. But Anton did emerge as a key player for that side within a tough situation and even stepped into the captaincy over the last month or two. Foster played midfield for Durham last season but has mostly been a centre-back this year and the same thing has been mirrored in how she’s been used for the Ferns. Midfield in February and May... left side of the back three in October. She’s too slow to be a wing-back in this formation but LCB with her long passing ability works really well and she was one of NZ’s best performers against Mexico.
Meikayla Moore started both games against Venezuela but was only used off the bench against Mexico and USA. Meanwhile Mackenzie Barry started against USA yet was dropped for this tour while Moore retains her spot. That’s possibly a reflection of Foster now being considered a centre-back because they haven’t picked anyone else. It’s also a slightly smaller squad with only two games to play. Moore had a fantastic start to her season with Calgary Wild yet by the end of it her club had missed the playoffs and she was in and out of the side. In contrast, Rebecca Lake was late to join Vancouver Rise but she finished the season by starting the last seven games in a row including all three playoff games as Vancouver were crowned the inaugural champions of the Northern Super League. Lake didn’t make this squad though (she was an injury replacement last time but didn’t get on the pitch).
Put that all together and we’ve got a likely first choice back three of: Bunge/Anton, Taylor, Foster. Moore slides in as the fifth choice, a regular squad selection but not always getting on the pitch. Mackenzie Barry and Rebecca Lake are the ones on the outside looking in, perhaps just needing to sustain what they’ve been doing for a wee bit longer to keep the pressure on those ahead of them. Katie Bowen and Rebekah Stott should fit into the picture somewhere... Bowen ought to be the starting RCB unless she’s preferred in midfield or even at right wing-back. Stott is also of first eleven calibre though could equally be seen as a midfielder.
We’re also finally seeing Marisa van der Meer back on the field with the Wellington Phoenix... it was in warm-ups ahead of a potential Football Ferns debut back in late-2023 that she busted her ACL for the first time (she tore it again towards the end of that initial recovery period). Too soon for her to get back into the national team frame just yet but she’ll be in that Barry/Lake category by the time this team’s next in action. Centre-back is the one position where we’ve never had any trouble finding depth and that fact remains as true as ever.
Which brings us to the wing-backs... where the one thing we know for sure is that Indi Riley is an absolute tank, starting every game she’s been available for this year (she was injured for the Venezuela matches) including three games in seven days last tour despite playing in the most demanding position. All the running she’s got to do on top of being one of our main creative instigators.... it’s crazy stuff. Dunno how she does it. Perhaps she’s been banking all the minutes she hasn’t been getting for Crystal Palace. That’s an annoying situation there because Riley has the potential to be up in that Bowen/Taylor category of elite pros but after starting 11 games in the WSL last season, she’s only gotten 108 minutes through Palace’s first nine league games since being relegated to the second tier. Different manager, different vision. IPR is a crucial player for the Ferns though – she’s the one wing-back who truly combines the defensive and attacking aspects of that position. Everyone else leans heavily one way or the other.
For example, others who have started at WB during the past seven games: Grace Neville (defensive), Hannah Blake (attacking), Grace Jale (attacking), Jacqui Hand (attacking), Manaia Elliott (attacking... but more balanced than the rest). You may have noticed that four of those previous five names aren’t even in this squad. That’s the rotation we were on about earlier. CJ Bott is finally available and could take up her normal spot at RWB if she’s not used in midfield. Lara Wall is a left wing-back who is doing that exact role for the Wellington Phoenix and debuted off the bench against USA, now here for a full tour crack. Ally Green is also a LWB who has only made one substitute appearance this year, not always in squads, so this is a big chance for her to find a foothold while others are being swapped around. Note that Neville and Blake are right-sided specialists and two new lefties have been picked (Wall is right-footed but a left-sided player). Not to mention Betsy Hassett who is now a left-back for her club in Iceland and was used there off the bench in the last Ferns squad she made. Make that three lefty specialists. Strongly suggests that Indi Riley will play on the right side during this window, right? Against the nation that she made one senior appearance for back in 2021 before being blessed with the gift of enlightenment and switching to Aotearoa, the land of her birth.
We have seen Jacqui Hand used a bit on the wing... don’t really like that, she should be a striker. Hand isn’t defensively solid enough for the role and doesn’t have the dynamism needed to spark things from the deep positions where those WBs are often collecting the ball. Put her close to the goal, on the other hand (no pun intended), and she’s going to make things happen with her smart touches and clever movement. Ah but Gabi Rennie is the opposite. She’s a winger who has been mistaken for a striker – and she absolutely has the dynamic range to be a wing-back, which we did see a little during the last tour. Rennie is strong and fast with a great engine and her crossing has become a real threat for Eskilstuna United where she just completed an outstanding season with 7 goals and 11 assists as her club won the Swedish second tier and earned promotion. Nobody more assists than Rennie across the entire division. Deadset, not only should she be playing RWB for the national team... she might even be a first eleven candidate if given an extended run there.
MIDFIELDERS
Olivia Chance – Kolbotn, NOR (47/2)
Maya Hahn – Viktoria Berlin, GER (6/1)
Betsy Hassett – Stjarnan, ISL (159/16)
Katie Kitching – Sunderland, ENG (21/6)
Annalie Longo – Auckland United, NZ (142/15)
Emma Pijnenburg – Feyenoord, NED (6/0)
Grace Wisnewski – FC Nordsjælland, DEN (3/0)
This formation has three midfielders: two eights and a ten. Not what it says that all of the midfielders listed here can play in any of those spots. Deven Jackson did start the second game against Mexico as a ten and wouldn’t be used any deeper than that but otherwise our midfielders are all all-rounders. Kitching might be in the same bag too, come to think of it. She’s been a ten/striker for club and country this year. Could easily play as an eight... but has only very rarely done so for the Football Ferns.
Nice to see Liv Chance back in the side. She took longer to earn her way back after giving birth than Betsy Hassett did (even though Chance’s son was born first), largely because Hassett had an existing club situation to return to whereas Chance moved to a new club in a league in a new country – although she did soon get some company with Liz Anton and Jacqui Hand both joining her at Kolbotn. All three were first choice picks from the moment they arrived. All three will now be looking for new gigs after their best efforts weren’t enough to avoid relegation. Chance is nearing the 50-cap milestone and much of her international career has been spent as a left-winger, even though she’s always been better through the middle. That was a concession to what the Ferns had (or didn’t have) available to them in those days. Nowadays there’s a new formation and Chance won’t have to worry about that because there’s no way she’ll be picked at wing-back. She’ll be a central midfielder same as she’s been for Kolbotn... and now we’ll get to see what that looks like in this environment.
Maya Hahn’s been in good form for German second-tier club Viktoria Berlin. They started the season with a bunch of draws but have had some big wins lately with Hahn quickly becoming a key player in their midfield. She and Annalie Longo have been the two most commonly picked mids under Mayne... and they have two contrasting situations because while Hahn has started all ten league games for VB, Longo retired from pro footy with the Wellington Phoenix at the conclusion of their last season and her only non international games since then have been a wee run with Cashmere Technical followed by two appearances (one start) for Auckland United. She’s been amazing in those games... but we’re talking about a very different level. Again, it’s just odd that Longo is always there as a semi-retired player while Katie Bowen isn’t despite being at the highest club standard of any of our players. Not that it’s an either/or situation... just pick both! Annalie Longo absolutely remains one of NZ’s finest midfielders.
Emma Pijnenburg hasn’t started any games for the Ferns yet but she has sneakily appeared off the bench in six consecutive fixtures since her debut. Still working at earning more minutes for Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, she’s made 20 appearances in that division since her debut in early 2024. Usually at fullback although she’s a midfielder by trade and clearly Michael Mayne sees something worth developing in her sharp technique and smooth passing. Back in her Western Springs days she was a living, breathing assist machine with the through balls she used to send from midfield (and that was as a teenager).
But the midfielder we oughta be most excited to see here is Grace Wisnewski. Still with only three caps to her name due to a long ACL absence and then a few untimely niggles that have limited her action this year. Her last cap came in September 2023... but recent months have seen her career skyrocket since leaving a stink situation in an American second-tier competition and joining FC Nordsjælland in Denmark where she’s been scoring goals and playing continental footy and starting heaps of games and all that good stuff. The Wiz was picked for the previous tour but got injured and only just returned last week. Of all the non-established players available to Michael Mayne and his crew, Grace Wisnewski has the most untapped potential. Only three caps but she might be a first eleven talent, we shall see.
Last time that happened was Macey Fraser – who is absent again, having stepped aside for a refresher after getting out of her own rubbish situation in America (all too common a story, sadly) and going straight into the Wellington Phoenix during their preseason without catching a breath. Her “leave of absence” was met with widespread understanding though it needs to be said that her situation isn’t some vague thing. It stems from the very tangible struggle of being stuck in a foreign country and dealing with a coach who wouldn’t select her (despite the team’s losing record) and having to negotiate an early release to get out of there. She literally had months of being trapped in that state of affairs, of course that’s going to take its toll. It’ll be interesting to see where she fits into the Nix when she’s ready to return because her signing was an opportunistic move from the club very late in the process of putting their squad together (only Brooke Nunn, their last import, was signed afterwards). Fraser was not necessarily a centrepiece for Bev Priestman, even if she should be on merit when fit and available. But that’s not something we need to ponder just yet.
Something that is worth pondering: Grace Jale has missed out on another squad. She’s gone from a regular starter over the second half of Jitka Klimkova’s time to now not even being selected. Jale never took her chances as a striker and the right midfield spot no longer exists in this formation but her recent conversion to a central midfielder for the Wellington Phoenix could be just the ticket. Jale tends to be more effective when she’s getting on the ball earlier, with room to drive or to use her shooting range. She also seems to get into the fight more when she’s scrapping for tackles. Once upon a time she and Malia Steinmetz formed an awesome CM combo at an U20 World Cup. Maybe we’ll see that again at senior level one day (Steinmetz is still with FCN, a teammate of Wisnewski’s, so fingers crossed she’s back from her ACL injury after the winter break in Denmark).
FORWARDS
Kelli Brown – Newcastle Jets, AUS (7/0)
Milly Clegg – Racing Louisville, USA (18/2)
Jacqui Hand – Kolbotn, NOR (37/9)
Deven Jackson – Melbourne City, AUS (5/0)
Gabi Rennie – Eskilstuna United, SWE (43/2)
Indiah-Paige Riley – Crystal Palace, ENG (32/7)
And that brings us, finally, to the players expected to score the goals... you know, the thing we do worst. Didn’t score at all in 270 minutes during the previous tour, albeit against a couple of very strong opponents, although the Ferns did find the net in five consecutive games before that. Unfortunately, the Australians are much closer to USA levels than Costa Rica levels but we’ll see how it goes.
Milly Clegg has started five of the last six games. Absolutely golden prospect coming through the ranks but she’s only just turned 20 years old and didn’t have a great time of it on loan in Canada this year (one goal in 1216 minutes... admittedly for the worst team in the league). Her record of 2 goals in 18 caps doesn’t look great but remember those goals came against Japan and Venezuela. She hasn’t met any Oceania opposition yet which is when most NZ footballers, male and female, get to pad their scoring stats. The only other players in this squad with multiple career goals against non-OFC teams are: Betsy Hassett (7), Annalie Longo (5), Jacqui Hand (4), Katie Kitching (4), CJ Bott (3), Meikayla Moore (2), and Olivia Chance (2)... all of whom are way more established than Milly Clegg.
Ideally we’d be able to ease Clegg in and rotate her round while she finds her feet as a professional but we just don’t have the depth to do that. It is what it is. Kelli Brown has made a nice impression with her high effort, high intensity approach up top but is still searching for her first international goal. Deven Jackson seems to have become a regular now – she scored a couple for Melbourne City during their Asian Champions League efforts recently. Good recognition for both of those two after a breakthrough couple of years in the A-League (and beyond).
Then there’s Jacqui Hand who just experienced the anti-Marko Stamenic (three league and cup doubles in a row with three different clubs) by getting relegated for a third season in a row with a third different team. It happened with Lewes and Sheffield United in the English second tier and now it’s happened with Kolbotn in Norway. But while the two English stints saw her struggle for goals, Hand was prolific for Kolbotn scoring four times with two assists in only 12 matches, doing as much as anyone to keep them in the division even if it ultimately turned out to be in vain. A striker rotation of Milly Clegg, Kelli Brown, Jacqui Hand, and a bit of Katie Kitching (particularly against better teams when her midfield abilities will come in hand as we’re forced deeper) is pretty decent, to be honest. Stronger than we’ve had for at least five years. Now it’s up to that lot to see who delivers the production.
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