# 2021–22 A-League Women

The 2021–22 A-League Women, known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the fourteenth season of the A-League Women, the Australian national women's association football competition originally known as the W-League until the previous season. Wellington Phoenix were announced as an expansion club, taking the total teams to 10.
Sydney FC were the defending premiers, having won their third premiership title in 2020–21. Melbourne Victory were the defending champions, having won their second championship title in 2020–21. Both clubs successfully defended their respective titles.

## Clubs
### Stadiums and locations

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Adelaide United | Adelaide | Marden Sports Complex Coopers Stadium | 6,000 16,500 |
| Brisbane Roar | Brisbane | Suncorp Stadium Lions Stadium Moreton Daily Stadium | 52,500 5,000 11,500 |
| Canberra United | Canberra | Viking Park | 7,000 |
| Melbourne City | Melbourne | Frank Holohan Soccer Complex | 2,000 |
| Melbourne Victory | Melbourne | AAMI Park | 30,050 |
| Newcastle Jets | Newcastle | Newcastle Number 2 Sports Ground McDonald Jones Stadium | 5,000 33,000 |
| Perth Glory | Perth | Macedonia Park | 7,000 |
| Sydney FC | Sydney | Jubilee Oval Leichhardt Oval | 20,505 20,000 |
| Wellington Phoenix | Wellington Wollongong | Sky Stadium WIN Stadium | 34,500 23,000 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Sydney | Marconi Stadium CommBank Stadium Wanderers Football Park | 9,000 30,000 1,000 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturers | Kit sponsors |
| Adelaide United | Adrian Stenta | Isabel Hodgson | UCAN | SA Power Networks |
| Brisbane Roar | Garrath McPherson | Ayesha Norrie | New Balance | Ausenco |
| Canberra United | Vicki Linton | Michelle Heyman | ISC Sport | Club Lime University of Canberra |
| Melbourne City | Rado Vidošić | Emma Checker | Puma | Etihad Airways |
| Melbourne Victory | Jeff Hopkins | Kayla Morrison Lia Privitelli | Macron | MATE |
| Newcastle Jets | Ash Wilson | Cassidy Davis Gema Simon | VIVA | Port of Newcastle |
| Perth Glory | Alexander Epakis | Natasha Rigby | Macron | BHP |
| Sydney FC | Ante Juric | Natalie Tobin | Under Armour | The Star |
| Wellington Phoenix | Gemma Lewis | Lily Alfeld | Paladin Sports | NZCIS |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Catherine Cannuli | Erica Halloway | Kappa | Intermain |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position on table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Dean Heffernan | Resigned | 2 June 2021 | Pre-season | Catherine Cannuli | 2 June 2021 |
| Brisbane Roar | Jake Goodship | Resigned | 10 July 2021 | Pre-season | Garrath McPherson | 17 August 2021 |
| Wellington Phoenix | Inaugural manager | Inaugural manager | Inaugural manager | Pre-season | Gemma Lewis | 11 October 2021 |

### Foreign players

| Club | Visa 1 | Visa 2 | Visa 3 | Visa 4 | Non-Visa foreigner(s) | Former player(s) |
| Adelaide United | Fiona Worts | Reona Omiya | Nanako Sasaki | Kayla Sharples | | |
| Brisbane Roar | Mariel Hecher | Rie Kitano | Cannon Clough | Shea Connors | | |
| Canberra United | Margot Robinne | Ally Haran | Chelsee Washington | | | |
| Melbourne City | Marisa van der Meer | Hannah Wilkinson | | | Rebekah Stott$^A$ Tyla-Jay Vlajnic$^A$ | |
| Melbourne Victory | Claudia Bunge | Kayla Morrison | Catherine Zimmerman | | Brooke Hendrix$^R$ | Lynn Williams$^G$ |
| Newcastle Jets | Marie Dølvik Markussen | Elizabeth Eddy | | | | |
| Perth Glory | Mie Leth Jans | Gemma Craine | Elizabeth Anton | Cyera Hintzen | | |
| Sydney FC | María José Rojas | Paige Satchell | | | | |
| Wellington Phoenix | | | | | | |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Isabella Habuda | Malia Steinmetz | | | | |
The following do not fill a Visa position: $^A$ Australian citizens who have chosen to represent another national team $^G$ Guest Players $^R$ Injury Replacement Players, or National Team Replacement Players

## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Sydney FC | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 6 | +30 | 35 | Qualification to Finals series |
| 2 | Melbourne City | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 11 | +18 | 33 | Qualification to Finals series |
| 3 | Adelaide United | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 33 | 17 | +16 | 27 | Qualification to Finals series |
| 4 | Melbourne Victory (C) | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 26 | 22 | +4 | 24 | Qualification to Finals series |
| 5 | Perth Glory | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 23 | −3 | 24 | |
| 6 | Brisbane Roar | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 28 | 30 | −2 | 17 | |
| 7 | Canberra United | 14 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 24 | 29 | −5 | 13 | |
| 8 | Newcastle Jets | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 15 | 30 | −15 | 10 | |
| 9 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 14 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 27 | −20 | 7 | |
| 10 | Wellington Phoenix | 14 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 13 | 36 | −23 | 7 | |

### Fixtures and results

| Home \ Away | ADE | BRI | CAN | MCY | MVC | NEW | PER | SYD | WEL | WSW |
| Adelaide United | | | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | |
| Brisbane Roar | 2–8 | | 3–3 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 4–0 | 0–1 | | | 0–1 |
| Canberra United | 1–3 | 3–3 | | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 3–3 | | 0–3 | |
| Melbourne City | 3–1 | 0–1 | | | 1–2 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| Melbourne Victory | 5–1 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 1–5 | | | 0–2 | 2–2 | | 5–0 |
| Newcastle Jets | | 1–5 | 3–3 | | 0–1 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 5–1 | 2–2 |
| Perth Glory | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–4 | | | | 1–3 | 3–2 | 1–0 |
| Sydney FC | | 2–0 | 6–0 | 3–0 | | 3–1 | 4–0 | | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 1–4 | 2–3 | | | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–5 | | 0–0 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 0–3 | | 0–5 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 0–2 | 2–3 | |

### Matches

* All times were in AEDT (UTC+11:00)

### Round 14
## Regular season statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Fiona Worts | Adelaide United | 13 |
| 2 | Hannah Wilkinson | Melbourne City | 12 |
| 3 | Chelsie Dawber | Adelaide United | 10 |
| 4 | Michelle Heyman | Canberra United | 9 |
| 5 | Larissa Crummer | Brisbane Roar | 8 |
| 6 | Shea Connors | Brisbane Roar | 7 |
| 6 | Rhianna Pollicina | Melbourne City | 7 |
| 8 | Grace Jale | Wellington Phoenix | 6 |
| 8 | Cortnee Vine | Sydney FC | 6 |
| 8 | Catherine Zimmerman | Melbourne Victory | 6 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Hannah Wilkinson $^5$ | Melbourne City | Melbourne Victory | 5–1 (A) | 26 December 2021 |
| Mackenzie Hawkesby | Sydney FC | Wellington Phoenix | 5–0 (A) | 30 December 2021 |
| María José Rojas | Sydney FC | Canberra United | 6–0 (H) | 15 January 2022 |
| Fiona Worts $^5$ | Adelaide United | Brisbane Roar | 8–2 (A) | 13 February 2022 |
| Fiona Worts | Adelaide United | Melbourne Victory | 3–0 (H) | 26 February 2022 |
| Larissa Crummer | Brisbane Roar | Newcastle Jets | 5–1 (A) | 4 March 2022 |
| Michelle Heyman | Canberra United | Brisbane Roar | 3–3 (A) | 10 March 2022 |
Key :
| $^5$ | Player scored five goals |
| (A) | Away team |
| (H) | Home team |

### Clean sheets

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Jada Whyman | Sydney FC | 10 |
| 2 | Melissa Barbieri | Melbourne City | 6 |
| 3 | Casey Dumont | Melbourne Victory | 5 |
| 4 | Morgan Aquino | Perth Glory | 4 |
| 4 | Annalee Grove | Adelaide United | 4 |
| 6 | Chloe Lincoln | Canberra United | 3 |
| 6 | Sarah Willacy | Western Sydney Wanderers | 3 |
| 8 | Lily Alfeld | Wellington Phoenix | 2 |
| 8 | Courtney Newbon | Perth Glory | 2 |
| 8 | Isabella Shuttleworth | Brisbane Roar | 2 |

## Finals series
### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Preliminary Final | Preliminary Final | Preliminary Final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| 1 | Sydney FC (a.e.t.) | 4 | | | | 1 | Sydney FC | 1 |
| 2 | Melbourne City | 2 | | | | 4 | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
| | | | 2 | Melbourne City | 1 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Melbourne Victory | 3 | | | |
| 3 | Adelaide United | 1 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Melbourne Victory | 2 | | | | | | |

### Grand Final
## End-of-season awards

The following awards were announced at the 2021–22 Dolan Warren Awards night on 26 May 2022.
* Julie Dolan Medal – Fiona Worts (Adelaide United)
* Young Player of the Year – Holly McNamara (Melbourne City)
* Golden Boot Award – Fiona Worts (Adelaide United) (13 goals)
* Goalkeeper of the Year – Casey Dumont (Melbourne Victory)
* Coach of the Year – Adrian Stenta (Adelaide United)
* Referee of the Year – Lara Lee
* Goal of the Year – Rachel Lowe (Sydney FC v Wellington Phoenix, 30 December 2021)