Welcome to Made With Mitre Moments, where aleagues.com.au brings you all the biggest talking points from each round of the 2024-25 Ninja A-League season.
It was another exciting weekend with goals galore and storylines to follow – in-form Brisbane Roar showed no mercy in a devastating performance fuelled by the sister of a CommBank Matildas forward, Melbourne City stayed unbeaten as a young gun continued her comeback, while Wellington Phoenix made history against slumping Sydney FC – and there was so much more as season 2024-25 continued.
Read on for all the biggest talking points from Round 7, thanks to Mitre.
BUY TICKETS TO ROUND 8 OF THE NINJA A-LEAGUE!
Western United gun catapulting herself into Golden Boot mix
Is this the season of Kahli Johnson? Based on her early 2024-25 form and performance against Central Coast Mariners, everything points to yes.
MATCH REPORT: Young Matilda’s three-minute brace sends Western United flying into top four
Johnson has now scored four goals in seven games this season – already making it the 20-year-old’s best season of her career, surpassing 2023-24 when she bagged three goals in 13 appearances.
Only behind Matildas star Emily Gielnik of Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United’s Fiona Worts (both six) in the Golden Boot standings, Johnson told Paramount+: “That’s two pretty big names up the top there. I have to be happy with that.
“I’ve worked really hard to try and start consistency, and in the games, just perform for the team.
“Pretty happy to be contribution with goals as well this season.”
Melbourne Victory love playing Canberra… just look at their record
Melbourne Victory have now gone seven years without losing to Canberra United after winning 2-0 on Saturday evening.
MATCH REPORT: High-flying Melbourne Victory extend 7-year streak against stuttering Canberra
Victory have now gone 10 games without defeat against Canberra, dating back to January 2017.
“A good Christmas gift for sure. The vibe is high,” said Victory captain Kayla Morrison on Paramount+.
She added: “I think the first half I like the way that felt a lot more. I felt like we were really dominating, we were under control, calm and scoring goals.
“The second half was quite tense. I don’t like it when we’re playing that way. However, I know football brings out the passion in us all and we needed to get that win, so we were willing to do whatever it took.”
The conversation that led to a stunning free-kick
Western Sydney Wanderers captain Amy Harrison scored a brilliant free-kick but she did not plan on taking the set-piece on a dramatic night.
Western Sydney’s Harrison had the second-bottom Wanderers minutes away from their second win of the campaign prior to Kelli Brown converting a penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
MATCH REPORT: 96th-minute penalty rescues Perth a point in dramatic draw with Wanderers
“To be honest, no,” Harrison told Paramount+ when asked if she planned to the free-kick. “We were kind of going back-and-forth a bit.
“It probably suited a left-footer more but I felt pretty good. I just had communication with (Olivia Price) Liv and (Amy) Chessari to make sure they split because I saw there was a pretty decent gap they were covering behind Casey.
“I told them to split and thankfully they listened.”
Phoenix’s historic afternoon: ‘What we need’
At long last, Wellington Phoenix got the better of Sydney FC on home soil.
MATCH REPORT: Wellington Phoenix make history with win over slumping Ninja A-League champions
The Phoenix had trumped Sydney away from home in March 2023 but never before had they claimed maximum points against the Sky Blues on home soil… until the weekend.
Fifth-placed Wellington are also in the midst of their longest unbeaten streak, which stands at four games.
“I think these results are what we need to take that next step as a team,” Phoenix head coach Paul Temple told reporters.
“I know they’re struggling for form, but they’re Sydney FC and they’ve got serial winners in that team and good players in that team.
“They’re still very tough to beat and it’s a big step for us as a team to do that today.”
As for the slumping Sky Blues, they fell to the foot of the table with just four points from seven games.
Sydney captain Nat Tobin told Sky Sport New Zealand: “We’ve worked really hard and we’ve always been on top, but we’re now in a new position that we’ve never found ourselves in.
“We have a very good morale within the team and I think we’ll just keep working hard to pull ourselves out of this and see it as a new challenge.
“We are determined we will be in the Grand Final, but for now we need to be resilient and work towards focusing on next week.”
Hat-trick hero’s fairytale starting debut for red-hot Roar
Laini Freier, take a bow.
The 23-year-old capped her first start with a hat-trick as in-form Brisbane Roar showed no mercy in their 6-1 rout of Newcastle Jets on Saturday, despite the absence of star captain and Australia international Tameka Yallop.
It was a memorable outing for Laini Freier – the twin sister of Roar team-mate and CommBank Matildas forward Sharn after scoring a hat-trick – her maiden professional goals, with two of those goals setup by her sibling.
MATCH REPORT: Football fairytale and wondergoal headline Brisbane Roar’s biggest win in 4 years
The Jets were no match for the merciless and second-placed Roar, who celebrated their biggest triumph since crushing Melbourne Victory 6-0 in January 2021.
While Laini Freier took home the match ball, team-mate Momo Hayashi scored an incredible free-kick after 17-year-old sensation Grace Kuilamu got the ball rolling with a memorable solo goal at No.2 Sportsground.
397-day wait over for Melbourne City star
In Round 6, Holly McNamara returned from her third anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. On Friday night, the Melbourne City sensation scored for the first time in more than a year.
After her long-awaited comeback against Canberra United off the bench, the Australia international was a second-half substitute as she scored for the first time since suffering an ACL injury in her two-goal haul against Newcastle Jets in November 2023.
City – through to March’s AFC Women’s Champions League quarter-finals – are still unbeaten through seven games.
Michael Matricciani’s City made a dream start with less than 30 seconds on the clock when Mariana Speckmaier’s curling effort from just inside the penalty area beat Adelaide keeper Claudia Jenkins and nestled into the bottom-right corner.
The Venezuelan recruit has now scored four goals in the league this season.
But before the 10-minute mark, Adelaide were level and it was an error from City keeper Melissa Barbieri that allowed the hosts back into the game, though TJ Vlajnic’s brilliant goal restored the visitors’ lead prior to McNamara’s effort.
