# 2021–22 Western United FC season

The 2021–22 season was the third in the history of Western United Football Club. In addition to the domestic league, Western United also competed in the FFA Cup for the first time.
They finished third in the regular season and then won the Championship, beating holders Melbourne City in the Grand Final.
The season was documented in the docuseries United.

## Review
### Background

Western United's 2020–21 campaign had seen an eight-game losing streak and a lack of creativity lead to a disappointing tenth-place finish in the league, the club's lowest in their history forcing them to play in the 2021 FFA Cup seventh preliminary round against Newcastle Jets. Three days after their league finish on 8 June 2021, the club parted ways with their head coach Marko Rudan who was their manager since their first season in 2019–20.

## Players
### First-team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Jamie Young |
| 4 | DF | SUI | Léo Lacroix |
| 5 | DF | AUS | Dylan Pierias |
| 6 | DF | JPN | Tomoki Imai |
| 8 | FW | AUS | Lachlan Wales |
| 9 | FW | AUS | Dylan Wenzel-Halls |
| 10 | MF | AUS | Steven Lustica |
| 11 | FW | AUS | Connor Pain |
| 12 | DF | AUS | Dalibor Markovic |
| 13 | DF | AUS | Ivan Vujica |
| 16 | MF | SVN | Rene Krhin |
| 17 | DF | AUS | Ben Garuccio |
| 19 | DF | AUS | Josh Risdon (vice-captain) |
| 21 | MF | AUS | Sebastian Pasquali |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Alessandro Diamanti (captain) |
| 25 | MF | AUS | Luke Duzel |
| 26 | MF | AUS | Nicolas Milanovic (scholarship) |
| 27 | MF | AUS | Jerry Skotadis |
| 31 | MF | AUS | Adisu Bayew (scholarship) |
| 33 | DF | AUS | Ben Collins (scholarship) |
| 34 | MF | AUS | Christian Theoharous (scholarship) |
| 36 | DF | AUS | Ajak Deu (scholarship) |
| 37 | GK | AUS | Ryan Scott |
| 38 | FW | AUS | Noah Botic |
| 42 | MF | AUS | Rhys Bozinovski (scholarship) |
| 44 | DF | AUS | Nikolai Topor-Stanley |
| 88 | MF | AUS | Neil Kilkenny |
| 99 | FW | SRB | Aleksandar Prijović |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred from | Type/fee | Contract length | Date |
| 9 | FW | Dylan Wenzel-Halls | Brisbane Roar | Free transfer | 3 years | 21 June 2021 |
| 17 | DF | Ben Garuccio | Melbourne City | Free transfer | 2 years | 18 July 2021 |
| 44 | DF | Nikolai Topor-Stanley | Unattached | Free transfer | 1 year | 29 July 2021 |
| 1 | GK | Jamie Young | Brisbane Roar | Free transfer | 2 years | 2 August 2021 |
| 38 | FW | Noah Botic | Hoffenheim | Free transfer | 2 years | 2 August 2021 |
| 88 | MF | Neil Kilkenny | Unattached | Free transfer | | 27 August 2021 |
| 4 | DF | Léo Lacroix | Sion | Undisclosed | 1 year | 1 September 2021 |
| 16 | MF | Rene Krhin | Unattached | Free transfer | 1 year | 26 September 2021 |
| 99 | FW | Aleksandar Prijović | Unattached | Free transfer | Multi-year | 15 October 2021 |
| 34 | MF | Christian Theoharous | Unattached | Scholarship | 2 years | 1 November 2021 |

#### From youth squad

| N | Pos. | Name | Age | Notes |
| 31 | MF | Adisu Bayew | 19 | 2 year scholarship contract |
| 36 | DF | Ajak Deu | 20 | 2 year scholarship contract |
| 42 | MF | Rhys Bozinovski | 17 | 2 year scholarship contract |
| 33 | DF | Ben Collins | 21 | 1 year scholarship contract |

### Transfers out

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred to | Type/fee | Date |
| 14 | MF | Max Burgess | Sydney FC | Free transfer | 23 May 2021 |
| 4 | DF | Andrew Durante | Retired | Retired | 5 June 2021 |
| 1 | GK | Filip Kurto | Unattached | End of contract | 18 June 2021 |
| 2 | DF | Aaron Calver | Unattached | End of contract | 18 June 2021 |
| 9 | FW | Kaine Sheppard | Unattached | End of contract | 18 June 2021 |
| 17 | MF | Brad Inman | ATK Mohun Bagan | End of loan | 18 June 2021 |
| 22 | DF | Tomislav Uskok | Unattached | End of contract | 18 June 2021 |
| 34 | FW | Iker Guarrotxena | Unattached | End of contract | 18 June 2021 |
| 7 | FW | Besart Berisha | Unattached | End of contract | 18 July 2021 |
| 3 | DF | Brendan Hamill | Melbourne Victory | End of contract | 26 July 2021 |
| 20 | MF | Víctor Sánchez | Unattached | Mutual contract termination | 7 September 2021 |
| 24 | FW | Ayom Majok | Unattached | Mutual contract termination | 9 February 2022 |

### Contract extensions

| No. | Name | Position | Duration | Date |
| 25 | Luke Duzel | Midfielder | 2 years | 23 June 2021 |
| 6 | Tomoki Imai | Defender | 3 years | 2 July 2021 |
| 19 | Josh Risdon | Right-back | 1 year | 10 November 2021 |
| 10 | Steven Lustica | Central midfielder | 1 year | |
| 19 | Josh Risdon | Right-back | 2 years | 6 December 2021 |
| 10 | Steven Lustica | Central midfielder | 1 year | 18 February 2022 |
| 8 | Lachlan Wales | Winger | 2 years | 22 February 2022 |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| A-League | 20 November 2021 | 8 May 2022 | Matchday 1 | 3rd | 26 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 40 | 30 | +10 | 050.00 |
| A-League Men Finals | 14 May 2022 | 28 May 2022 | Elimination-finals | Winners | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 075.00 |
| FFA Cup | 13 November 2021 | 7 December 2021 | Playoff round | Round of 32 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 32 | 17 | 6 | 9 | 49 | 34 | +15 | 053.13 |
Last updated: 29 January 2022 Source: Competitions

### A-League Men
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Melbourne City | 26 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 55 | 33 | +22 | 49 | Qualification for finals series and 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Melbourne Victory | 26 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 42 | 25 | +17 | 48 | Qualification for finals series |
| 3 | Western United (C) | 26 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 40 | 30 | +10 | 45 | Qualification for finals series |
| 4 | Adelaide United | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 38 | 31 | +7 | 43 | Qualification for finals series |
| 5 | Central Coast Mariners | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 49 | 35 | +14 | 42 | Qualification for finals series |
* ↑ Determined by which of the Premiers for the 2021–22 or 2022–23 seasons accrued the most combined points over both seasons. Melbourne City qualified as they were Premiers in both seasons.
* ↑ The top two teams enter the finals series at the semi-finals, while the teams ranked third to sixth enter the finals series at the elimination-finals.

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 13 | 20 | 21 | 23 | 24 | 22 | 26 | 8 | 25 |
| Ground | H | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | A | A | H | H | H | H | A | A | A |
| Result | L | W | W | W | W | L | L | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | W | D | L | D | W | D | L | W | W | L | D | L |
| Position | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Points | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 29 | 32 | 33 | 33 | 34 | 37 | 38 | 38 | 41 | 44 | 44 | 45 | 45 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 23 September 2021.
Notes:
* ↑ Awarded score. Original score 1–0 to Western United; result was changed after Australian Professional Leagues determined there were insufficient players on the match list for Sydney FC below a certain age.

#### Finals series
### FFA Cup
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

Players with no appearances not included in the list.
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | A-League Men | A-League Men | FFA Cup | FFA Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | | Jamie Young | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | | Léo Lacroix | 27 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 3 |
| 5 | DF | | Dylan Pierias | 11(14) | 2 | 1(1) | 0 | 27 | 2 |
| 6 | DF | | Tomoki Imai | 26(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| 8 | FW | | Lachlan Wales | 29(1) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 31 | 4 |
| 9 | FW | | Dylan Wenzel-Halls | 12(15) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 5 |
| 10 | MF | | Steven Lustica | 25(1) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 5 |
| 11 | MF | | Connor Pain | 23(3) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 3 |
| 12 | DF | | Dalibor Markovic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | | Rene Krhin | 12(5) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| 17 | DF | | Ben Garuccio | 28 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 2 |
| 19 | DF | | Josh Risdon | 19(2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | | Alessandro Diamanti | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | | Luke Duzel | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | FW | | Nicolas Milanovic | 1(10) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1 |
| 27 | MF | | Jerry Skotadis | 5(12) | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| 31 | MF | | Adisu Bayew | 4(12) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 2 |
| 33 | DF | | Ben Collins | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | | Christian Theoharous | 1(3) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 37 | GK | | Ryan Scott | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 38 | FW | | Noah Botic | 0(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 39 | FW | | Sabit James | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 42 | MF | | Rhys Bozinovski | 0(4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 44 | DF | | Nikolai Topor-Stanley | 18(3) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 2 |
| 55 | DF | | Daniel Di Francesco | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 88 | MF | | Neil Kilkenny | 25(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| 99 | FW | | Aleksandar Prijović | 24(3) | 13 | 0(1) | 1 | 28 | 14 |

### Disciplinary record

The list is sorted by squad number when total cards are equal. Players with no cards not included in the list.
| Rank | No. | Pos. | Name | A-League Men | A-League Men | A-League Men | FFA Cup | FFA Cup | FFA Cup | Total | Total | Total |
| 1 | 6 | DF | Tomoki Imai | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 4 | DF | Léo Lacroix | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 19 | DF | Josh Risdon | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 44 | DF | Nikolai Topor-Stanley | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 8 | FW | Lachlan Wales | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 9 | FW | Dylan Wenzel-Halls | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 88 | MF | Neil Kilkenny | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 10 | MF | Steven Lustica | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 11 | FW | Connor Pain | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 23 | MF | Alessandro Diamanti | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 99 | FW | Aleksandar Prijović | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 26 | FW | Nicolas Milanovic | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 27 | MF | Jerry Skotadis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 5 | DF | Dylan Pierias | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 16 | MF | Rene Krhin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 17 | DF | Ben Garuccio | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 34 | FW | Christian Theoharous | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 42 | MF | Rhys Bozinovski | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |

### Clean sheets

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | A-League | FFA Cup | Total |
| 1 | 1 | GK | | Jamie Young | 12 | 0 | 12 |