Coaches in dark over A-League Women's future

A-League Women grand final coaches Jeff Hopkins and Ante Juric want clarity over the competition's future ahead of a busy 15-month period for the game.

After the conclusion of the A-League Women season on Sunday, neither of the two grand final coaches know when they will next take charge of their teams.

A-League Women's Uncertainty

Both Grand Final coaches are unsure of when the next season commences.
Holding onto talent and large gaps between seasons are seen as issues for the league going forward.
Calls for a full home/away schedule were also repeated.

More A-League Women's news can be found on The Women's Game.

Melbourne Victory sealed their second-straight championship with a 2-1 win over Sydney FC with goals from Amy Jackson and Catherine Zimmerman giving them the advantage.

Cortnee Vine pulled one back for Sydney and, if it weren't for a player-of-the-match performance from Victory goalkeeper Casey Dumont, could have had more.

There was a sense of frustration for both Victory coach Jeff Hopkins and Sydney counterpart Ante Juric that they don't know when the next season would start ahead of a critical period for the women's game in Australia and New Zealand.

There's a World Cup scheduled to begin in late July 2023 but there's no clarity on how long the 2022/23 A-League Women season will last.

The 10-team league currently lasts just 14 regular season games, starting in November and ending in a March grand final with no home/away fixturing.

With a significant time gap between the end of the A-League Women and the start of the World Cup, it's going to make it hard for clubs to keep hold of their talent, attract bigger names and generate interest before the world's best come down under.

Juric was resigned to the fact that he would lose a few, with forwards Remy Siemsen and Vine keen on testing themselves abroad.

"These girls need to go so if I lose four or five, we'll have to find other players and restart," he said.

"That's a sad thing, because if we were professional here and they got paid well, we'd be together for another four years.

"I don't want to be a sook but I don't think I've figured out the starting game until two weeks before the season starts for about five years.

"It'd be nice to know we're starting this day and doing this, instead of trying to fit into other nations or leagues or whatever."

Hopkins, who became the most successful coach in the competition's history with his fourth title, said his club had begun to lock some of their regular starters into contracts for next season.

But he admitted they needed transparency over how the next 15 months would look.

"I'd like to know," he said. "We've spoken to most of the players about next year.

"The hard thing is we don't know when the season will start and what it'll look like. It'd be good to get the nuts and bolts sorted so we can get prepared."