# 2019–20 W-League

The 2019–20 W-League season was the twelfth season of the W-League, the Australian national women's association football competition. Nine teams competed in the league, with most of the players from Australia but 33 of them from 11 other countries.
Melbourne City was undefeated through the regular season, the third time this has occurred in the W-League and the second time it has been achieved by Melbourne City.
The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season has had a significant impact on the season. Apart from the need to defer a few matches, there were a number of matches that were played in a smoke haze, with some players requiring asthma medication during the matches.
The grand final was played behind closed doors, due to the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.
The season was also notable for the number of high-profile players who left the W-League to join English teams. This included Sam Kerr moving to Chelsea, Hayley Raso to Everton, Caitlin Foord to Arsenal and Chloe Logarzo to Bristol City.

## Clubs
### Stadia 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 | 52,500 5,000 |
| Canberra United | Canberra | McKellar Park Seiffert Oval | 3,500 15,000 |
| Melbourne City | Melbourne | CB Smith Reserve AAMI Park | 2,000 30,050 |
| Melbourne Victory | Melbourne | Lakeside Stadium Epping Stadium AAMI Park Latrobe City Stadium Marvel Stadium | 12,000 10,000 30,050 12,000 56,347 |
| Newcastle Jets | Newcastle | Newcastle Number 2 Sports Ground McDonald Jones Stadium | 5,000 33,000 |
| Perth Glory | Perth Bunbury | Dorrien Gardens Hay Park | 4,000 – |
| Sydney FC | Sydney Wollongong | Seymour Shaw Jubilee Oval Leichhardt Oval WIN Stadium | 5,000 20,505 20,000 23,000 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Sydney | Marconi Stadium ANZ Stadium Spotless Stadium | 9,000 83,500 24,000 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturers | Kit sponsors |
| Adelaide United | Ivan Karlović | Amber Brooks | Macron | SA Power Networks |
| Brisbane Roar | Jake Goodship | Clare Polkinghorne | Umbro | Brisbane Airport |
| Canberra United | Heather Garriock | Nikola Orgill Karly Roestbakken | Viva Teamwear | University of Canberra Drake International |
| Melbourne City | Rado Vidošić | Steph Catley | Puma | Etihad Airways |
| Melbourne Victory | Jeff Hopkins | Natasha Dowie | Adidas | Back in Motion |
| Newcastle Jets | Ashley Wilson | Cassidy Davis Gema Simon Clare Wheeler | Viva Teamwear | Greater Bank City of Newcastle |
| Perth Glory | Bobby Despotovski | Natasha Rigby | Macron | BHP |
| Sydney FC | Ante Juric | Teresa Polias | Under Armour | The Star |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Dean Heffernan | Erica Halloway | Nike | Intermain |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Position on table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | Ref. |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Dan Barrett | End of contract | Pre-season | Dean Heffernan | 24 April 2019 | |
| Brisbane Roar | Melissa Andreatta | Quit | Pre-season | Jake Goodship | 3 September 2019 | |
| Newcastle Jets | Craig Deans | Assigned caretaker of men's squad | 7th 8th | Ashley Wilson (interim) (full-time) | 13 January 2020 22 February 2020 | [39] [40] |

### Foreign players

| Club | Visa 1 | Visa 2 | Visa 3 | Visa 4 | Non-Visa foreigner(s) | Former player(s) |
| Adelaide United | Lais Araujo | Julia Ashley | Amber Brooks | Mallory Weber | | |
| Brisbane Roar | Rylee Baisden | Celeste Boureille | Shea Connors | Carson Pickett | | |
| Canberra United | Camila | Simone Charley | Kaleigh Kurtz | Katie Stengel | Elise Thorsnes$^R$ | |
| Melbourne City | Yukari Kinga | Claire Emslie | Milica Mijatović | Lauren Barnes | Rebekah Stott$^A$ Ally Watt$^G$ | |
| Melbourne Victory | Natasha Dowie | Haley Hanson | Darian Jenkins | Emily Menges | Annalie Longo$^A$ | |
| Newcastle Jets | | | | | | |
| Perth Glory | Arianna Romero | Celia Jiménez Delgado | Morgan Andrews | Crystal Thomas | Stacey Cavill$^A$ | |
| Sydney FC | Lindsay Agnew | Aubrey Bledsoe | Sofia Huerta | Veronica Latsko | | |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Kristen Hamilton | Abby Smith | Sam Staab | | | Denise O'Sullivan$^G$ Lynn Williams |
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

The regular season runs from 14 November 2019 to 1 March 2020, including a two-week break at the end of January and beginning of February. The season consists of 12 matches per team, 6 home and 6 away, usually with one match per week for each team. Because the league has an odd number of teams, at least one team each week does not play. In most weeks, the league has scheduled one match on Thursday and the remaining matches on Saturday and Sunday. To date, two matches have had to be rescheduled due to bushfires, either because of direct fire threat or because of smoke.

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Melbourne City (C) | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 4 | +23 | 34 | Qualification to Finals series |
| 2 | Melbourne Victory | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 24 | 14 | +10 | 23 | Qualification to Finals series |
| 3 | Sydney FC | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 13 | +8 | 22 | Qualification to Finals series |
| 4 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 24 | 20 | +4 | 22 | Qualification to Finals series |
| 5 | Brisbane Roar | 12 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 22 | 19 | +3 | 17 | |
| 6 | Canberra United | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 29 | −16 | 13 | |
| 7 | Perth Glory | 12 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 19 | 24 | −5 | 11 | |
| 8 | Adelaide United | 12 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 12 | 24 | −12 | 7 | |
| 9 | Newcastle Jets | 12 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 12 | 27 | −15 | 7 | |

### Results

| Home \ Away | ADE | BRI | CNU | MCY | MVC | NEW | PER | SYD | WSW |
| Adelaide United | | | 1–2 | | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 3–2 |
| Brisbane Roar | 3–2 | | 5–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–1 | | | 1–3 |
| Canberra United | 3–1 | 1–2 | | 1–2 | | | 2–0 | 0–4 | 0–4 |
| Melbourne City | 1–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | | |
| Melbourne Victory | | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–4 | | 2–1 | | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Newcastle Jets | 2–0 | | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–7 | | 2–4 | 0–2 | |
| Perth Glory | | 4–2 | 1–1 | | 1–2 | 1–2 | | 1–3 | 2–3 |
| Sydney FC | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 1–2 | 3–0 | | 1–2 | | 3–0 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 2–1 | 0–4 | | 0–4 | | 1–0 | 3–1 | 5–0 | |

## Finals series

The grand final was played behind closed doors, due to the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| 1 | Melbourne City | 5 | | | |
| 4 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 1 | | | |
| 4 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 1 | Melbourne City | Melbourne City | 1 |
| | | | Sydney FC | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 3 | Sydney FC | 1 | | | |

### Grand final
## Regular season statistics
### Top scorers

    As of 29 February 2020
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Morgan Andrews | Perth Glory | 7 |
| 1 | Natasha Dowie | Melbourne Victory | 7 |
| 1 | Kristen Hamilton | Western Sydney Wanderers | 7 |
| 1 | Remy Siemsen | Sydney FC | 7 |
| 5 | Emily van Egmond | Melbourne City | 6 |
| 6 | Tara Andrews | Newcastle Jets | 5 |
| 6 | Simone Charley | Canberra United | 5 |
| 6 | Darian Jenkins | Melbourne Victory | 5 |
| 6 | Milica Mijatović | Melbourne City | 5 |
| 10 | Kyra Cooney-Cross | Western Sydney Wanderers | 4 |
| 10 | Claire Emslie | Melbourne City | 4 |
| 10 | Hayley Raso | Brisbane Roar | 4 |
| 10 | Kyah Simon | Melbourne City | 4 |
| 10 | Mallory Weber | Adelaide United | 4 |
| 10 | Lynn Williams | Western Sydney Wanderers | 4 |

### Own goals

| Player | Club | Against | Round |
| Kaitlyn Torpey | Brisbane Roar | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
| Amber Brooks | Adelaide United | Sydney FC | 7 |
| Isabella Wallhead | Perth Glory | Western Sydney Wanderers | 10 |
| Lais Araujo | Adelaide United | Western Sydney Wanderers | 11 |
| Kim Carroll | Perth Glory | Sydney FC | 13 |
| Cassidy Davis | Newcastle Jets | Melbourne Victory | 13 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref. |
| Kristen Hamilton | Western Sydney Wanderers | Brisbane Roar | 3–1 | 28 November 2019 | |

### Clean sheets

    As of 23 February 2020
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Lydia Williams | Melbourne City | 8 |
| 2 | Aubrey Bledsoe | Sydney FC | 7 |
| 3 | Casey Dumont | Melbourne Victory | 5 |
| 4 | Mackenzie Arnold | Brisbane Roar | 4 |
| 5 | Abby Smith | Western Sydney Wanderers | 3 |
| 6 | Sham Khamis | Canberra United | 1 |
| 6 | Claire Coelho | Newcastle Jets | 1 |

## Monthly awards

| Month | Player of the month | Player of the month | Coach of the month | Coach of the month | Young player of the month | Young player of the month |
| Month | Name | Club | Name | Club | Name | Club |
| November 2019 | Remy Siemsen | Sydney FC | Dean Heffernan | Western Sydney Wanderers | Kyra Cooney-Cross | Western Sydney Wanderers |
| December 2019 | Denise O'Sullivan | Western Sydney Wanderers | Dean Heffernan | Western Sydney Wanderers | Indiah-Paige Riley | Brisbane Roar |
| January 2020 | Natasha Dowie | Melbourne Victory | Rado Vidošić | Melbourne City | Ellie Carpenter | Melbourne City |
| February 2020 | Morgan Andrews | Perth Glory | Jeff Hopkins | Melbourne Victory | Hollie Palmer | Brisbane Roar |

## End-of-season awards

The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2019–20 Dolan Warren Awards night on 23 July 2020.
* Julie Dolan Medal – Kristen Hamilton (Western Sydney Wanderers)
* NAB Young Footballer of the Year – Ellie Carpenter (Melbourne City)
* Golden Boot Award – Morgan Andrews (Perth Glory), Kristen Hamilton (Western Sydney Wanderers), Remy Siemsen (Sydney FC), and Natasha Dowie (Melbourne Victory) (7 goals)
* Goalkeeper of the Year – Aubrey Bledsoe (Sydney FC) and Lydia Williams (Melbourne City)
* Coach of the Year – Rado Vidošić (Melbourne City)
* Fair Play Award – Melbourne Victory, Newcastle Jets, and Perth Glory
* Referee of the Year – Rebecca Durcau
* Goal of the Year – Amy Jackson (Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory, 28 December 2019)

## International competition

The W-League was represented in the first edition of the AFC Women's Club Championship, which took place from 26 to 30 November 2019 in Yongin, South Korea. Melbourne Victory were invited to participate in the tournament, as the Premiers of the 2018–19 season. They finished in last place with one point from their 3 matches.
As Premiers in 2019–20, Melbourne City qualify to the 2020 AFC Women's Club Championship.