Wellington Phoenix coach Natalie Lawrence has urged the club to invest in her and her young squad, believing she can turn them into a playoff contender next season if given sufficient time.
The first year coach is off-contract now that their A-League Women season has come to an end but despite her keenness to stay on, Lawrence is in the dark over what the future holds for her.
“The club will make whatever decision they come to. They know where I stand. Ultimately it is up to them, but I know us as a staff can take this team, with time, to the level we want to reach. I feel really confident in that,” Lawrence said, after their season-ending draw with Melbourne Victory on Saturday.
“But it’s not in my control, it’s the club and whatever happens, happens. I’ll always be this club’s biggest supporter if they choose to go in another direction.”
The young team Phoenix finished bottom of the pile for the second year in a row, with a record of three wins, four draws and 11 defeats.
While that meant they failed to achieve their main goal of avoiding the wooden spoon, their improvement over the back end of the campaign was clear to see – highlighted by a 1-0 win over premiers Sydney FC.
After picking up one point from their first eight games, the Phoenix collected 12 from their next 10 to almost double last season’s points tally, finishing on 13 points, one shy of 10th place Newcastle Jets.
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Phoenix coach Natalie Lawrence, right, greets striker Milly Clegg after she was subbed off against Melbourne Victory.
Their 2-2 draw with Victory in the final game was another notable result, almost denying the two-time defending champions a spot in the finals after midfielder Grace Wisnewski equalised in the 99th minute.
Nine of the squad have been selected in the Football Ferns throughout the season, including 17-year-old Milly Clegg, who was called up for the first time for their upcoming friendlies against Iceland and Nigeria.
“If this team is invested in and given time, and the resource it requires and deserves, we could be challenging [for finals].
“Did we achieve our goal of not finishing bottom of the table? No we didn’t, we fell short, we’ve left with 13 points and a better goal difference than last season, but ultimately we’ve still finished bottom.
“But I looked at how we finished that game [against Victory] on the back of three games in eight days, you’ve got to be a little excited about what we can produce if we keep the players we want to keep.”
Their poor start can be largely attributed to a disjointed pre-season which saw Lawrence replace Gemma Lewis at short-notice, no friendlies arranged against A-League opposition and injuries to key players.
Despite finishing last, Lawrence was adamant there were strong foundations to build on, should she and the core of her squad be retained. Only Alyssa Whinham and Chloe Knott have contracts for next season.
“There’s lots of positives and lots of areas we really need to progress and fix in order to compete and be where we want to be, which is a top-six team next season,” Lawrence said.
“We have time to do that should we be gifted the power of time. We leave today not achieving our goals but proud of the progressions we made.”
Next season’s A-League Women will feature a full 22-game home and away season following the inclusion of Central Coast Mariners. The finals series will also be expanded to include six teams.
