A-League Women 2024-25 Players to Watch

With the new Australian A-League Women season about to begin, we look at five players to keep a close eye on in 2024-25.

Kyah Simon
Sydney FC

Kyah Simon returns to Sydney FC looking to add to her two A-League Women Premierships (2009, 2010-11) and Championships (2009, 2012-13) with the Sky Blues. In her last six appearances for the team in the 2016-17 season she scored four goals, including one against Perth Glory in her final outing.

She’ll be looking to continue that scoring run and add to her tally of 35 goals – the second most of any player for Sydney FC in A-League Women history, behind Leena Khamis on 39.

Last season showed Simon still has undeniable attacking qualities that Sydney FC will benefit from as they aim for their third consecutive Championship. Simon accumulated 5.6 expected goals for Central Coast Mariners last campaign, the second most of any Mariners player despite only making 12 appearances (Wurigumula – 6.9).

Despite her limited play time, only Wurigumula (10 – 8 goals, 2 assists) and Rola Badawiya (10 – 8 goals, 2 assists) were directly involved in more goals for the Mariners than Simon (4 – 3 goals, 1 assist). For Sydney FC, only Cortnee Vine (8.6) and Princess Ibini (6.1) accumulated more xG in the campaign than Simon’s tally for the Mariners.

Of all players to feature for more than 700 minutes last campaign, only Hannah Wilkinson of Melbourne City (0.71) registered a higher expected goals per 90 tally than Simon’s 0.68, showing that she still has the ability to get into excellent shooting positions.

Taylor Ray
Central Coast Mariners

After six seasons and 61 career appearances with Sydney FC that included two Premierships and two Championships, Taylor Ray embarks on a new challenge in her A-League career as she heads north to join the Central Coast Mariners.

Ray saw increased game time for the Sky Blues across the last three seasons, culminating in 20 appearances in the 2023-24 Championship-winning campaign – her most in a single season. Ten of those 20 appearances did come as a substitute, but that didn’t stop Taylor from having a big impact when she came on.

That started with her work ethic and tenacity out of possession. Ray won possession 25 times after being subbed on, the third most of any substituted player (Emily Condon – 27 and Shea Connors – 26), while overall she won 56% of her 82 duels last season, the third best rate (min. 20 duels contested) of any Sydney FC player.

On the ball she was tidy and positive in possession. Among the 10 Sydney FC players to make 500+ passes in the 2023-24 A-League Women season, only Shay Hollman (72%) recorded a better passing accuracy than Ray (71%), while she played 21 passes into the opposition box after coming off the bench, the second most of any such player last campaign.

In addition, her 15 chances created was also a season-high in her career (14 in 2021-22).

Grace Jale
Wellington Phoenix

New Zealand international Grace Jale is back on home soil in the A-League Women, joining up with the Wellington Phoenix for the 2024-25 campaign after stints at Canberra United and the Perth Glory.

She’ll be back in the yellow and black of the Phoenix for the first time since 2021-22 when she scored six goals in 12 appearances for the club. Those six strikes were the most of any player for the Phoenix in their inaugural season, and it’s a tally that has her ranked second on the club’s all-time goal scorer list behind only Mariana Speckmaier (10).

Jale has had respectable seasons for Canberra United and the Perth Glory, but ultimately only netted six goals in 36 games since departing the Phoenix at the end of the 2021-22 season. If a homecoming can unlock the form that she found during her debut season, Jale is absolutely one of the key players to keep an eye on this campaign.

Six goals from just 17 shots in 12 appearances for the Wellington Phoenix in 2021-22 made Jale the most potent attacking player in the league. She finished the season with a shot conversion rate of 35.3% which was not only the best of any player that season (minimum 10 shots) but the best of any player in any of the last four A-League Women campaigns.

She’s also been a key part of the Football Ferns’ international campaigns, scoring seven goals for New Zealand during their 2024 OFC Women’s Olympic Qualifiers. The Wellington recruit was a key force at the 2024 Olympic women’s tournament as well, not with goals but in the air. Jale contested 16 aerial duels throughout the group stage of the tournament – winning nine of them – which was second only to Canada’s Jordyn Huitema. Jale has shown she can be a focal point of the attack as well as a goalscorer.

Sharn Freier
Brisbane Roar FC

At the age of 22 Sharn Freier has already earned four caps for the Matildas and will be expected to play a key role for Brisbane Roar FC as a creative force in the 2024-25 A-League Women season.

Her five assists last campaign was the joint-most of any Brisbane Roar FC player (also Tameka Yallop – 5). Those assists came from a league-leading 6.4 expected assists, too, suggesting Freier was arguably unlucky not to have at least another assist to her name.

In total, the Australian created 42 chances in 2023-24, a figure that was 16 more than any other Brisbane Roar FC player. Fourteen of those opportunities were ‘big chances’ – the joint-most of any player overall in the campaign (also Vine – 14 for Sydney FC).

Freier was an all-action midfield dynamo for Brisbane Roar last season. As well as her clear creativity, she also pushed forward into the box frequently, making more touches in penalty area than any other teammate in the campaign (130) and the second most overall (Vine – 181 for Sydney FC).

Chloe Lincoln
Western United FC

19-year-old goalkeeper Chloe Lincoln has been called up to the Matildas’ squad for the upcoming October internationals against Switzerland and Germany following an impressive start to her career at Canberra United.

Now at Western United FC, Lincoln will be looking to provide security between the posts for a team that accumulated only four clean sheets across the 2023-24 season.

Lincoln had a strong campaign at Canberra United in 2023-24. She was certainly busy, making the third-most saves (86) of any goalkeeper in the league (Morgan Aquino – 129, Isobel Nino – 95).

She conceded 30 goals from shots worth 34.5 expected goals on target. That suggests Lincoln conceded 4.5 fewer goals than she ‘ought’ to have done, an overperformance that put her third behind Aquino (5.4) and Jada Whyman (5.0). Those are impressive numbers for someone so young.

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