W-League Melbourne Victory squad announced...a new keeper and lots of local talent

Coach of the Melbourne Victory W-League squad has been announced by coach Vicki Linton, pictured right.

We already know Matilda captain and number one goal keeper Melissa Barbieri was controversially dropped from the squad by Linton a few weeks ago to make way for 16-year-old Brianna Davey.

It's a big call to axe the national team's captain and probably the most well known female player in Australia for a year 11 school student, but the writing was on the wall last year when Linton 'rested' Barbieri to give Davey a chance in round seven against Perth.

Linton in her second year at the helm after replacing Matt Shepard is obviously going down the development path in naming Davey.

She also selected youngsters Georgie Koutrouvelis and Jackie Vogt from Victoria's talent development program the national training centre, which she also heads.

Eight new players join the core squad, quite a shake up for the team which made the finals series for the first time last year.

This includes three outstanding players from the local Women's Premier League including South Melbourne's Laura Spiranovic (yes she is Socceroo centre-back Matthew Spiranovic's sister) who won the competitions top player and golden boot award last season.

Stephanie Tanti from Sandringham SC and Box Hill United's Cassandra Dimovski also made the squad in a tentative endorsement of the local league, which in the past had some issues with the W-League who refused to let local players participate in the WPL.

The new signings will join other local players such as Louisa Bisby of Box Hill and Amy Jackson of Altona City.

I think its about time coaches look to the local league for players, as the A-League has proved its essential training ground for players who might later play for Australia or be recruited to an overseas club.

Its also a reward to the WPL clubs ans coaches to have players who can reach the high standard of the W-League competition.

International talent is also in the mix defender Danielle Johnson who is the headline recruit from from Sky Blue FC in the USA, Kendall Fletcher and Jodie Taylor also return for 2011.

English Taylor was a bit of a disappointment up front last year, but Linton has retained the faith in her.

One more disappointing thing about the Melbourne Victory womens team this year is thier new ground at the Veneto Club in Bulleen plus they will play no curtain raisers to the mens A-League games this season.

In a conversation with ABC sports commentator Steve Robilliard after the inaugural season of the W-league he said playing on quality grounds was essential for raising the level of the competition.

I confess I have not seen the quality of the Veneto ground, but its a long way from Edihad or AMMI stadium and frankly these are the grounds the women should be playing on.

Vic WPL Round One Verdict

It was a great weekend to watch football and the Victorian Womens Premier League's first round gala certainly drew a crowd.

Of course not as big as the crowd watching South Melbourne and the Melbourne Knights at John Cain stadium right next to the DISC pitches...but hey.

Never the less if you want to read all about the round visit the FFV website and read my match report. And the ladder and results are here.

Five matches were played, but I was only able to watch one full game - the grand final rematch between reigning champs Box Hill and Heidelberg.

It was a salivating prospect as these two have met in the final for the past five years with Box Hill taking the spoils four times.

But it was Heidelberg's day yesterday and their star striker Melanie Camilleri had a cracker opening game.

Camilleri fired a hat trick for Heidelberg United’s to defeat of reigning champions Box Hill Inter 3-1.

The Bergers emphatic victory over Box Hill was their best ever result over the eight-time champions and see them top the table at the end of the first round.

Camilleri’s quick and aggressive style suited astroturf surface at Darebin and Heidelberg’s coach John Liopas believes the striker is in her best form since she joined the club in 2007.

That’s quite a rap given Camilleri has topped the WPL goal scoring for the past two years and took out the top player award in 2009.

“You never know what you will get with Box Hill so to come away with three goals is a bonus,” Camilleri said after the match.

“This is the perfect way to see how where we are as a group, and it can only get better.”

“I always aim to capitalise on the opportunities I get and this year (the goal is) to get the girls to a grand final and lift the trophy,” she said of her ambitions this season.

Box Hill looked sluggish yesterday, but probably against any other team they may have had a win.

Their usual performers in Louisa Bisby and Lousia Farrugia were solid, but the Bergers looked more hungary for the ball and they had some young blood with enthusiasm to burn.

I suspect Box Hill may have had a poor pre-season and probably some injuries, but will they be able to maintain their impressive reputation as the league's long-time champion this year?

It will be fascinating to watch it all unravel in 2011.

Victorian women soccer starts

Some big rivalry's will be renewed this weekend...no not in the AFL but in the Victorian Womens Premier league, which starts on Sunday.

I am excited about 2011 - its a world cup year and the WPL competition has taken a youth leap this year with two talent development and a number of other teams opting for renewal.

The grand final rematch between Box Hill and Heidelberg is the block buster of the round and will be a good test to see which team fared better in the off season.

Box Hill is stacked with talent including a number of W-League players, but Heidelberg, the perrenial bridemaid should be hungary for success.

Everytime Heidelberg have beaten or drawn with Inter they have played agressively from the whistle and their forward have taken every chance to nail home goals.

The other two rivals which are new to the premier league is Doncaster Rovers and Bundoora United. The have moved up in the same leagues together and battled for top position in Division One of the womens competition last year.

It wouldn't be an exageration to call this a grudge match as both teams are going to need all the points they can get and keen to start thier inaugral season in the top league with a win.

The Ashburton and VCL Country will test both teams.

Ashburton by their own admission have undergone a renewal process and will feature a lot of young players while the country team will be playing only thier second match together are probably still trying to gel as a team.

Casey Comets is another team which has been re-vamped over the summer with a new coach and personnel and South Melbourne under the guise of former socceroo Alan Davidson improved as the season went on last year.

Sandringham could be the sleeping giant this year as they have a massive junior program and an experienced coach in Shaune Parton.

They have also recruited former WPL coach of the year, Deb Nichols, who parted ways with Casey Comets and led Casey to finals, Not only that she was known to play in goals for the club they were short on keepers.

Altona on the otherhand struggled last year and would have been relegated but for Bendigo withdrawing.

Can Box Hill and Heidelberg maintain thier dominance in a competition with a sawg of young and hungary girls?

Lets find out - you can find the fixture here

Victorian Womens Premier League Expands in 2011

Wow the Victorian Womens Premier League has really snuck up on me! It starts TODAY with a rescheduled match between the new teams VCL Country and the Emerging Athletes team.

Have a comment about this years WPL or the womens game - then tweet me @sangriablues

The league has undergone a major expansion this year, which includes two talent development teams.

The league has increased to 11 teams with two new teams Bundoora United and Doncaster Rovers joining the WPL after Prestons Lions’ relegation and Bendigo Vipers withdrawal.

The league kicked off this week with one game played on Sunday and the remaining games being played next weekend.

VCL Country and Emerging Athlete Program (EAP) started their season today and are playing both making their WPL debut as the FFV tried to ramp up its talent development pathway.

Both teams will play as a senior team only, will be exempt from relegation and they will play for points but not be able to play finals football.

They will have young and upcoming players as will Bundoora and Doncaster which will play their first year at the top level.

The lean towards to younger players is also being reflected in a number of established teams including Ashburton and Casey Comets.

Casey have a new coach after the club parted ways with Deb Nichols, leaving the WPL with no female coach in the top league.

Ian Williamson, who has coached in the FFV’s Champions League for a number of seasons, has taken over at the Comets and said he has been given direction from the club to rebuild the squad.

“We have a young and enthusiastic team with a lot of speed and commitment,” Williamson said adding that only five regular players from last year remain in the team.

Chris Michail has been reappointed at Ashburton and will be relying on many of his reserve players to step up to the next level.

Ashburton’s reserves team have topped the league in five out of the past six years.

“We have a completely different team this years, the average age has dropped dramatically as we enter a rebuilding phase,” Michail said.

The two powerhouse teams Box Hill and Heidelberg will have the same look and feel and will form the benchmark of the competition.

Box Hill are not without their own talent program with five club members being selected in the Victorian under-17 state teams last year.

They also have a string of Melbourne Victory players including Matildas captain Melissa Barbieri, New Zealand international Marlies Oostdam and Louisa Bisby.

Sandringham will look to build on their third place finish in 2010, which was their best to date, and South Melbourne’s Alan Davidson will be looking to consolidate after reversing the club’s decline last year.

Altona City will return to the WPL for their second year, despite finishing second last in their maiden season in 2010, escaping relegation when the Vipers withdrew.

The new talent program teams will add an element of the unknown to the WPL as will the rebuilding going on in a number of the established teams.

Injuries and squad depth will probably play a big role in making the top four but its probably a given that Box Hill and Heidelberg will battle it out at the top.

Expect some upsets and expect to see some young talent start to make an impact – in a world cup year for the womens game that’s about as good as it can get.

Roar deserves W-League title

I know its been nearly a week since the Brisbane Roar womens team took out the W-League but I thought I'd offer my (late-ish) views.

The match was high quality and the best team on the day took home the title.

Brisbane got off to a flying start with Tameka Butt's goal after some tidy work y Lana Harch who was having a blinder until she went off with an awful ankle injury just before half time.

Sydney leveled before half time with almost the strike of the season from Sydney's Kylie Ledbrook.

I haven't been too impressed with Peter Wilkin's commentary of the W-League on ABC1 (and I am not the only one!) but his comment that 'you will never see a better strike than that in the W-League' was spot on.

While we are on the topic of the ABC - a big thumbs down (or 'dislike' for the facebookers) for the national broadcaster not putting the game on live in Queensland. Seriously bad move Aunty! The local fans in Qld were pretty jacked off

Brisbane brought on Lisa DeVanna when Harch was stretchered off and in the 65th minute the West Australian slotted home the winner. Then she got herself a yellow card for doing a Pat Cash (wow they had some bad outfits in 1987...sorry got distracted) - going up into the grand stand to celebrate.

I simply love watching DeVanna in action - as a defender I think she would be your biggest nightmare. Quick, technically brilliant and unpredictable.

I can't wait to see what she does in the FIFA Womens World Cup later this year.

If you missed the action you can watch the whole thing on ABC's Iview or just the highlights here

If you want the low down on the match, with commentary on the season from someone who knows female football I high recommend Fiona Crawford's blog on the 442 website (or the match report on 442 which is here).

For a sanitised version of the match try the official Roar's W-League website and have to give a shout out to the guys from the Football Sack who also covered the league.

The Football Sack also picked a W-League team of the year. Hmm interesting - very Sydney/Brisbane top heavy AND they excluded the Matildas captain Melissa Barbieri.

The Womens Game also covered the match and have been providing excellent info about the W-League and everything else to do with female football. Teo Pellizzeri and his crew were awesome giving us live coverage of lots of the matches.

And how exciting was it during the final to see so many people twittering about it - if you haven't already check out #wleague.

I have been watching the W-League from the start and its not a cliche to say its been better every year its simply the truth. The more these women play, the better the coaching the facilities the better they are. Bring on the World Cup.

Did I mention that I tipped Brisbane before the match. No? Its true

Adelaide United dump women's team

The future of Adelaide United women’s team is in doubt with the clubs new owners set to dump the W-League team.

The Lady Red’s had a horror season failing to win a match, scoring only four goals and conceding 36.

Their last win was November 2008 and since the inception of the W-league three years ago they have only managed two wins.

Reds chairman Greg Griffin revealed in December last year the Lady Reds cost $100,000 to run in the 2010 season and they were losing patience with the team.

I'd personally like to see the maths on this calculation because none of the women playing are paid much more than their costs and its an exceptionally short season.

Adelaide’s W-League coach Mike Barnett blames the terrible results on the hit-and-miss women’s program in South Australia.

Most other W-League teams have strong links to their state talent or sport institute program, allowing them to train together all year.

Some W-League teams are managed by the club but others by their state federation.

For example Melbourne Victory carries the clubs name but is managed by the Victorian Football Federation, but Adelaide has had little interaction with the state body which generally runs the talent programs.

The Adelaide team came from the local league, trained for only two weeks in the pre-season and were expected to compete with the likes of Brisbane and Sydney which are littered with Matildas and bolstered by quality coaches and facilities.

"Until we're on an even playing field with what the other states are doing, we'll be playing for the next 100 years and not win a game," Barnett told ninemsn.com.

While Adelaide have yet to make a formal announcement those involved have said that it’s a foregone conclusion.

"There are some discussions going on at the moment whether the FFSA may take this program on," Barnett said.

"It is going to be the only solution that will change the face of how the women's game is going.

"If it doesn't happen…we won't produce any good young talented girls and nothing will change.

He indicated the Football Federation of South Australia should take over the management of the team.

Fans are furious at the decision and have been venting their anger on online forums.

They are particularly riled the way in which the new owners have treated the players who have so far found out everything via the media.

The team has been neglected by its club and left to fend for themselves in a competition where the standard has lifted and simply left them behind.

Week after week the W-League standard has been impressive and with that the players confidence and skills have improved.

In a world cup year it sets the Matildas up for a great shot at getting past the round of 16 for the first time ever.

We can only hope the SA Football Federation has the resources to assist the Lady Reds and that the fans keep the faith.

Otherwise there will be a lot of young girls in South Australia who's dreams of playing at the top level will be that much harder.

Other articles
Lady Reds among sport's biggest losers - Ninemsn.com, 2 Feb 2011
Saving the lady reds - Fiona Crawford, www.auFourfourtwo.com, 19 December 2010