Two seasons ago, Wellington Phoenix director of football Shaun Gill graded the women's programme a C-minus. On Saturday night, they play Melbourne City in the A-League Women's grand final. That's not a turnaround story — that's a rebuild that actually worked.
The timing carries its own weight. Game 100 for the Phoenix women. First grand final in the club's history. A near-6,000 crowd at Porirua Park for the semifinal, compared to an average of 739 last season — the lowest home attendance in the entire league. Something has genuinely shifted in Wellington, and it goes deeper than one good season.
How bad was it before this?
Very bad. The Phoenix joined the A-League Women in 2021 and finished last in each of their first two seasons. In year one, they were stuck in Wollongong due to COVID travel restrictions, recording two wins in 14 games. Year two: same position, worse competition. Wooden spoon, again.
The 2023/24 season brought a modest improvement to eighth place — at the time their best-ever finish. Then they dropped to ninth last season with seven wins and 13 losses. For context, they've now gone from ninth to grand finalists in a single year. That kind of jump doesn't happen by accident.
The biggest factor is Bev Priestman. The Englishwoman arrived this season carrying genuine baggage — a one-year ban from football for her role in a drone spying scandal at the 2024 Paris Olympics while coaching Canada. Her appointment was controversial in a way most A-League Women coaching hires simply aren't. But she also coached Canada to Olympic gold at Tokyo and took them to the 2023 World Cup. The credentials were real, and the Phoenix were willing to take the heat.
It's paid off. The Phoenix finished second in the regular season — their first-ever playoff qualification — then came back from a one-goal deficit across the two-legged semifinal against Brisbane Roar to reach the final on aggregate. Priestman is already signed for next season, and defender Mackenzie Barry, the club's most-capped player and a day-one signing, has framed the whole project as a two-year build. They're halfway through it.
The pieces that made it work
Goalkeeper Vic Esson returned to New Zealand after seven seasons abroad and helped the Phoenix build the best defensive record in the competition. American forward Makala Woods — signed as an injury replacement mid-season — became their leading scorer. English forward Brooke Nunn leads the league in goal assists. Neither is leaving.
Teenage midfielder Pia Vlok scored the club's first-ever hat-trick and earned her first Football Ferns call-up. Centreback Marisa van der Meer came back from back-to-back ACL injuries, scored in the opening game, and played 22 matches in the regular season. Grace Jale, a Football Fern who's played for several A-League clubs without ever reaching the playoffs, is now in a grand final for the first time.
The injury list has been brutal by any measure — three ACL injuries this season, two in the same month, plus forward Emma Main ruled out of the playoffs with a chronic lumbar spine injury. The club investigated whether their ACL prevention practices were at fault and found they were in line with industry standards. Female players face a structurally higher ACL risk than men, and it's now part of a FIFA study. Wellington have had to build depth and resilience into the squad because they've needed both.
The captaincy has also been cursed. Inaugural captain and goalkeeper Lily Alfeld played almost every game of year one before injury ended her career. Football Fern Annalie Longo had injury-disrupted seasons as skipper before stepping away from football entirely last year. This season, CJ Bott was named captain before announcing her pregnancy in January — she remains club captain, with Mackenzie Barry taking on the on-field role.
On the financial side, Phoenix ownership has invested more into the women's programme than the men's in previous seasons. Barry put it plainly before the playoffs: "Compared to other women's teams in the A-League, it's miles ahead of them." Melbourne City, three-time Premiers Plate winners, will be formidable opponents at AAMI Park. But the gap in resources between Wellington and the rest of the league isn't as wide as the gap in results used to suggest.
"I think, even though it's not verbally said, there is an expectation for us to do well," Barry said. After 100 games, that expectation finally has something to back it up.
