Whether it be Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord or Alanna Kennedy, there’s nothing better than seeing the Westfield Matildas rip it up on the Westfield W-League stage.
And, perhaps spurred on by a potential ticket to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in June, Australia’s best players truly turned on the style in the 2018/19 Season.
If the likes of Kerr and Foord can translate their form on home soil when the curtains are raised in France, opposition best beware of Ante Milicic’s side.
Let’s revisit the campaign that was and showcase the Westfield Matildas who impacted it most.
VIDEOS: Remember the Westfield W-League 2018/19 season that was
BEST OF: Top long-range stunners of the Westfield W-League 2018/19 Season
BEST OF: Top free-kicks of the Westfield W-League 2018/19 Season
Sam Kerr (Perth Glory)
The inspirational Perth Glory skipper has scored goals, smashed records and amassed individual honours for fun in recent years.
But this season the 25-year-old elevated her penchant for the spectacular to a whole new level.
Kerr found the net 17 times in 2018/19, the best return of her career in Australia, as well as producing four assists.
She also became the competition’s highest ever goalscorer, overtaking former Westfield Matildas teammate Michelle Heyman in the process, and brought up 50 goals for Perth Glory in February.
The Western Australian’s stunning Semi Final hat-trick against Melbourne Victory will live long in the memory, and although few pursued it admirably, no other striker could prevent her from snapping up her second consecutive Golden Boot win.
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514572001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6000426398001
Caitlin Foord (Sydney FC)
Kerr’s goal-scoring exploits was one of the 2018/19 Season’s undoubted highlights, but so to was Caitlin Foord’s coming of age as a world-class striker.
Foord snapped at her Westfield Matildas teammate’s heels all the way, and like Kerr, this season was the Sydney FC forward’s best ever goal return.
The 24-year-old has in previous years been deployed in a variety of roles, but she flourished in 2018/19 as the Sky Blues chief goalscorer and struck 10 goals and five assists.
It was her goal-scoring run – which included December’s hat-trick against Brisbane Roar and consecutive January braces that truly stoked the Sky Blues’ Championship-winning momentum.
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514572001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6003626701001
Alanna Kennedy (Sydney FC)
They say a good defender is seldom noticed, but Alanna Kennedy is an exception to that old adage.
Whether it was dispatching picture-perfect free kicks or skipping past opponents with a quick shift of the feet, Sydney FC’s impressive defender was influencing the action at both ends.
Kennedy’s two stunning – and nearly identical – free kicks against Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory as Sydney FC will be remembered as real highlights of the season.
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514572001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6003286843001
Eliza Campbell (Perth Glory)
Was this Eliza Campbell’s best Westfield W-League season yet?
The Perth Glory shot stopper was close to unstoppable at her best for the Western Australians.
Her form earned a thoroughly merited Westfield Matildas re-call, and the 23-year-old will fancy her chances at pushing Lydia Williams and Mackenzie Arnold for the goalkeepers gloves in the years to come.
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514572001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5971413384001
Emily Gielnik (Melbourne Victory)
Emily Gielnik had crafted a reputation as one of the competition’s best super sub strikers in her decade-long success at Brisbane Roar.
But without losing her sense of the big occasion, a move to the wing has seen the 26-year-old’s game go to the next level.
Gielnik, alongside forward Natasha Dowie, was a driving force behind Melbourne Victory’s Premiership charge.
She scored four goals and registered two assists for the Premiers.
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514572001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6006912368001