Scrambling to make those important last-minute changes to your Official Liberty A-League Fantasy squads?
With the season kicking off on Saturday, October 14, thousands of fantasy managers are tinkering with their squads ahead of the start of the campaign; to help you through the process, aleagues.com.au has identified four players who could burst out of the blocks early doors, and net you strong first-round scores.
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Kurea Okino – Melbourne Victory
- Position: FWD
- Price: $165k
- Ownership: 8.3%
If there’s any player worth an early-season fantasy punt, it’s Melbourne Victory striker Kurea Okino.
Okino earned her way into the A-Leagues after a destructive season in the NPL; playing for Boroondara Eagles in her first season in Australia, Okino scored an incredible 31 goals in 21 regular-season matches, guiding her club to the NPL Victoria semi-finals – and scooping up a number of individual honours in the post-season.
Okino won the NPLW Gold Medal, the Golden Boot, Players’ Player of the Year and NPLW Media Player of the Year.
Okino scored against Western United in Victory’s final pre-season hit-out in early October; after the departure of both Catherine Zimmerman and Melina Ayres in the off-season, Okino could prove a shrewd fantasy pickup if she picks up the goalscoring slack in Jeff Hopkin’s side.
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Fiona Worts – Sydney FC
- Position: FWD
- Price: $224k
- Ownership: 11.3%
As the old saying goes: form is temporary, class is permanent.
In the 2021-22 season, Fiona Worts was the Liberty A-League’s best player. She won the Julie Dolan Medal having scored 13 goals and notched four assists in 15 games for Adelaide United – a haul that, if Official A-Leagues Fantasy was up and running that season, would have seen Worts rack up 233 fantasy points, more than any player that season who is currently signed to a Liberty A-League club.
Last season, however, Worts scored just three goals for the Reds – a team that, as a whole, failed to deliver on expectations.
Worts has since departed Adelaide in favour of Sydney FC – the reigning Premiers and Champions. If the striker can get anywhere close to her 2021-22 form, don’t expect her to remain at her $224k price for long. Worts is a player of huge fantasy potential this season made all the more enticing by that slashed starting price.
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Alyssa Dall’Oste – Western United
- Position: GKP
- Price: $155k
- Ownership: 8/5%
Western United’s Hillary Beall won the Liberty A-League Goalkeeper of the Year award in the club’s maiden season in the competition; the American’s off-season departure has paved the way for young goalkeeper Alyssa Dall’Oste to claim the No.1 duties moving forward.
Western were one of the most defensively-stringent teams in the league last season, conceding just 20 goals in the regular season. At $155k, Dall’Oste’s price pales in comparison to the likes of Sydney FC’s Jada Whyman ($368k) and Melbourne Victory’s Lydia Williams ($320k); it’s unlikely for Western to compete up the top of the table for a second season running without a resolute backline – and if that is the case, then the cut-price Dall’Oste could prove a tremendously valuable pick moving forward.
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Claudia Cicco – Newcastle Jets
- Position: DEF
- Price: $165K
- Ownership: 4%
Defined as a defender in A-Leagues Fantasy, Claudia Cicco can play anywhere along the backline, as well on the wing – and the Young Matildas star could be set for a stellar debut season at her new club Newcastle Jets if the hype surrounding the Wellington Phoenix recruit is anything to go by.
Like Okino, Cicco’s affordable price tag is perfect for fantasy owners looking to preserve funds with their fourth or fifth defensive pick to target big-money midfielders and forwards; should Cicco get on a roll in her second A-Leagues season, that price tag will rise – netting Round 1 owners a handy windfall should they sell to target more expensive players later in the season.
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