Poletti 
Western United 2024/25 A-League Women's season preview. Photo: Provided by Texi Smith. Design: Round Ball Australia.
Coming into their third season, Western United have been competitive throughout their previous two, finishing runners up to Sydney FC for both pieces of silverware in 2022/23, and third last season before a first week finals exit to the Newcastle Jets.
It was a chaotic start to the season for the club, with Mark Torcaso adding the Philippines Women’s National Team job to his portfolio before the last campaign began.
He briefly attempted to juggle both before leaving his role at Western United and would be replaced by Kat Smith, who helped steady the ship to find success at Tarneit last season, before falling short of silverware.
With a full off-season, some smart recruiting, and the magic of Ironbark Fields, can Smith guide Western United to silverware, or will they fall short again?
The Manager: Kat Smith
Smith committed to a second season at the club before her first had even finished after taking over from Torcaso.
Smith has brought a ton of coaching experience to the club across state, national, and international level at various roles, and the club should be well placed to continue their success into the 2024/25 season under her tutelage.
She has kept together a strong core of last season’s squad, whilst also using her extensive knowledge of the game to replace key outs with some exciting and talented additions to the squad.
Being able to manage all of these talented players on the pitch will be a skill required of Smith, although the fact that a heap of them re-signed following Torcaso’s departure indicates that will not be a problem for the coach.
It will also be a big question off the pitch. How does she manage player expectations around playing time? With the size of the match-day squad, some players will inevitably miss out, and managing these players to maintain team harmony will be an absolute necessity.
The Squad
Gone are the likes of Hannah Keane, Stacey Papadopoulos, Jaclyn Sawicki, Emma Robers and TJ Vlajnic, which are big shoes to fill.
However, with the likes of Sasha Grove, Chloe Lincoln, Sara Eggesvik, Claudia Mihocic, Alana Cortellino, and Isabel Dehakiz coming in, the talent is there in spades to replace those who have departed.
Grove, who departed Canberra United after four seasons, said that part of the reason behind the move was challenging herself to continue her development and growth as a player.
As mentioned, the club has re-signed over 10 players from last years squad, and could be in for quite a boost with a couple of those signings in Chloe Logarzo and Catherine Zimmerman.
Both players dealt with injuries throughout last season, and if both can stay healthy, it adds a new cog of attack to the side which could be a key difference in winning and losing tight games this season.
The continued development of young superstar Avaani Prakash will be a key story at Ironbark Fields this season, who re-signed with the club after signing her first professional contract last year.
The talented midfielder can be a game-changer, but even at 17-years-old, has controlled the midfield and dictated the pace of play at an NPL Women’s NSW level, and a season alongside the likes of Grace Maher and Logarzo should allow her to learn how to do it at the A-Leagues level.
In all areas of the pitch, this squad that Smith has put together is exciting in one way or another, and it will make for a fascinating watch for fans and neutrals alike.
Expectation
It does not feel right to say the expectation is to make finals, given the benchmark the side has set in its first two seasons has been second and third respectively, and so the next logical step is to say silverware, right?
But it is going to be incredibly hard for this side, albeit an extremely talented line-up, to crack the top two of Sydney FC and Melbourne City to claim the Premiership, and navigating the finals series from outside of the top two presents an added layer of challenge, which Western know all too well after their elimination to sixth place Newcastle Jets last season.
Even still, the expectation should be a top two finish. With the squad that Smith has built, it screams silverware contender on paper, and being able to take points away from both City and Sydney will be key to that success, and being in the top two will be a necessity to do so.