The wait is over! On Friday night, the 2024-25 Ninja A-League season kicks off and there are six huge games on the agenda.
Read on as aleagues.com.au brings you everything you need to know for the first round of the season.
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2024-25 ULTIMATE GUIDE: Fixtures, signings, kits & more
TAKE NOTE: 10 storylines to follow this season
Friday, 7pm (AEDT): Western United v Wellington Phoenix
Ironbark Fields – Paramount+ / 10 Play
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The 2024-25 Ninja A-League season kicks off in Tarneit as Western United host Wellington Phoenix at Ironbark Fields – the club’s new home.
Western are set to play their first full season at the new venue and welcome the ‘Nix to Tarneit in the first of a series of Friday night fixtures to be held there.
Kat Smith’s side were Championship contenders in 2023-24, and sat on top of the table with three rounds to play thanks to a six-game winning streak but were ultimately bundled out of the Finals Series by Newcastle Jets in the Elimination Finals.
A disappointing end to the campaign will serve as motivation to hit the ground running this season against a Phoenix outfit learning to cope without their former stars Macey Fraser, Mariana Speckmaier, Michaela Robertson and Rylee Foster, four of the 11 players who departed the club in the off-season.
Phoenix head coach Paul Temple will hope his side can show improvement on the road this season, beginning with Friday’s trip to Tarneit. Wellington won eight of 11 home games last season but won just two of 11 away games to finish eighth on the table.
2024-25 ULTIMATE GUIDE: Fixtures, signings, kits & more
TAKE NOTE: 10 storylines to follow this season
Saturday, 2pm (AEDT): Central Coast Mariners v Sydney FC
Industree Group Stadium – Paramount+ / 10 Play / 10 BOLD
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Central Coast Mariners host Sydney FC in Gosford in a repeat of last season’s Semi-Final matchup – and there’s added tension between these NSW rivals due to the off-season transfer activity between the two clubs.
Matildas legend Kyah Simon has traded the Mariners for the Sky Blues, as has Faye Bryson; Simon and Bryson were two of the Mariners’ big recruits for the club’s return to the Ninja A-League last season but they’ve since joined the champions, who come into the new campaign without Matildas star Cortnee Vine on the pursuit of a third-consecutive Championship.
Matildas midfielder Taylor Ray went the other way in the off-season, signing for Central Coast Mariners after seven seasons in sky blue.
After signing for Sydney FC, Simon fuelled the rivalry between the two clubs by suggesting she’ll have “extra motivation” to defeat the Mariners in Round 1.
“I think there’s always that little bit of extra motivation. It’s obviously a derby just being up the freeway as well,” Simon said.
“I think ultimately, being in the Sydney FC setup, any team is a rivalry.
“I think always when you’re at the top, every team has that extra motivation to want to beat the best, and ultimately, Sydney are the best from last season. So there’ll definitely be, I think, an extra bit of rivalry. And yeah, I’m sure we’ll be up for the challenge.”
“I think that adds to the drama, to the hype and that extra motivation. As players, that ultimately it gives you bragging rights.
“We want to win. We’re here to win and be a successful club and team. And ultimately, every game that we go in is going to be a rivalry or a derby, to some extent.”
2024-25 ULTIMATE GUIDE: Fixtures, signings, kits & more
TAKE NOTE: 10 storylines to follow this season
Saturday, 4pm (AEDT): Canberra United v Brisbane Roar
McKellar Park – Paramount+ / 10 Play
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Canberra United return to action in 2024-25 with new head coach Antoni Jagarinec at the helm, and Matildas legend Michelle Heyman back for another season in green as the 36-year-old looks to spearhead her side’s charge back towards the Finals Series places.
Heyman became the first player in Ninja A-League history to breach the 100-goal barrier last season and will look to add to her record tally of 106 as Canberra return to action against Brisbane Roar at McKellar Park.
Canberra lost several key players in the off-season with Chloe Lincoln, Sasha Grove, Vesna Milivojevic, Emma Ilijoski and Nickoletta Flannery all seeking opportunities away from the club but Jagarinec has recruited well in his first off-season in charge, bringing Sally James, Elizabeth Anton, Aideen Keane, Jynaya Dos Santos, Darcey Malone, Bethany Gordon, Maja Markovski and Emma Robers to the club.
As for the Roar, Alex Smith will hope for improvement in his second season in charge after a ninth-place finish in 2023-24. Smith has Matildas stars Tameka Yallop and Sharn Freier to call on once again this season and the star attacking duo will cause problems aplenty for defences around the Ninja A-League.
Saturday, 5pm (AEDT): Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory
ServiceFM Stadium – Paramount+ / 10 Play
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ServiceFM Stadium will host a showcase event on Saturday evening as Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory meet in the first Original Rivalry of the season.
Adrian Stenta’s United finished last in 2023-24 but the return of Fiona Worts, who won the Julie Dolan Medal in 2022 while at the Reds, has significantly bolstered Adelaide’s firepower ahead of the new season.
Chelsie Dawber is back for another season and will add to Worts’ attacking threat while the return of Australian international defender Matilda McNamara will help to shore up Stenta’s defence.
But McNamara and co. won’t be in for an easy evening at ServiceFM Stadium as a Victory outfit brimming with attacking talent comes to town.
Victory’s incredible array of Matildas talent includes 2023 Julie Dolan Medalist Alex Chidiac, Emily Gielnik, Beattie Goad and Rachel Lowe, while new signings Nickoletta Flannery, Sofia Sakalis and Alana Jancevski add to the danger posed by Jeff Hopkins’ side in the final third.
Victory finished fourth in season 2024-25 but were bundled out of the Finals Series by Central Coast Mariners in a dramatic Elimination Final penalty shootout. Victory have watched their other rivals, Sydney FC, lift two consecutive Championships after their own Championship double in 2021-2022 and Hopkins will be determined to get his team back up the table this season to crash Sydney’s party.
2024-25 ULTIMATE GUIDE: Fixtures, signings, kits & more
TAKE NOTE: 10 storylines to follow this season
Sunday, 3pm (AEDT): Melbourne City v Perth Glory
ctrl:cyber pitch – Paramount+ / 10 Play
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On Sunday afternoon attention turns to ctrl:cyber pitch, as the battle between two sides under new management takes place at the home of Melbourne City.
City finished first and clinched the Premiers Plate in 2023-24 but failure to convert in the Grand Final left Dario Vidosic’s players licking their wounds at full-time of a 1-0 defeat to Sydney FC at AAMI Park.
The new season begins with a new coach at the helm: Michael Matricciani, who has taken on his first top job in the Ninja A-League; the same can be said for Stephen Peters, Perth Glory’s new boss, who is set to oversee his first game as a Ninja A-League head coach when Glory travel to take on the reigning Premiers.
It’s been an off-season of upheaval at Glory, with the departure of captain Tash Rigby and coach Alex Epakis triggering a snowball effect as several key figures left the club.
Homegrown superstar Hana Lowry left for Sydney FC – as did striker Millie Farrow – while goalkeeper of the year Morgan Aquino and international import Jessika Cowart also bid farewell to the WA club.
But Peters will be optimistic about what his club can achieve this season, with 16 new players arriving to bolster his first-ever Glory squad.
The big-name signing of Glory’s off-season is veteran goalkeeper Casey Dumont who is yet to arrive at the club; Dumont is taking part in AFLW club Hawthorn’s push toward the finals and will swap codes at the completion of their campaign.
2024-25 ULTIMATE GUIDE: Fixtures, signings, kits & more
TAKE NOTE: 10 storylines to follow this season
Sunday, 4pm (AEDT): Newcastle Jets v Western Sydney Wanderers
Cessnock Sportsground – Paramount+ / 10 Play
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Round 1 wraps up with a clash between Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers at Cessnock Sportsground, as the Jets look to prove they can cope with the loss of star strikers Sarina Bolden and Melina Ayres in the off-season.
Bolden (12 goals in 17 games) and Ayres (five goals in 11 games) combined for 17 of Newcastle’s 43 goals in 2023-24 and their combination in the final third, particularly late on in the season, was a key factor in the club’s surge to the Semi-Finals.
But head coach Ryan Campbell is without both players in the new campaign; his off-season business and the green shoots shown by several young players last season are two important factors that point to Campbell and the club turning to youth and emerging talent to fire the club back into finals contention this season.
Re-signed trio Emma Dundas (17), Lara Gooch (19) and Claudia Cicco (19) look particularly promising at the Jets after outstanding seasons in 2023-24.
The Wanderers, meanwhile, return to action having just missed out on the Finals Series last season after being pipped by the fast-finishing Jets. Level on points (33) and total wins (10), Newcastle edged the Wanderers into sixth spot on goal difference alone.
Western Sydney head coach Robbie Hooker has a not-so-secret weapon at his disposal this season as reigning Julie Dolan Medalist Sophie Harding returns for another spin in red and black.
Harding, Matildas midfielder Amy Harrison and talented winger Holly Caspers are among the Wanderers stars heading into the new season and it’s only fitting they begin with a clash with the Jets in a matchup between two teams that were barely separable on the table at the end of season 2023-24.
2024-25 ULTIMATE GUIDE: Fixtures, signings, kits & more
TAKE NOTE: 10 storylines to follow this season
