9. NEWCASTLE JETS

By far the quietest club during this off-season's transfer dealings has been Newcastle Jets, who admittedly made a big splash early, but for all the wrong reasons.

It was a hammer blow to Newcastle to lose their iconic captain Emily van Egmond, but what was interesting - and perhaps worrying for Novocastrians - was the team's early admission that they weren't looking to replace her.

Nor, Katie Stengel or any of the other Newcastle faces that have led to the club punching above their weight consistently during the W-League era.

Instead, the Jets are focusing on producing youth. Entirely focusing. There are lots of promising up-and-comers, but the only really familiar names in the team are Gema Simon and Larissa Crummer.

That puts a huge amount of pressure on experienced gaffer Craig Deans to try to make something of the next season.

Now we've written quite a bit about Newcastle's famed academy - the only traditional youth academy in the W-League - are why the Jets' focus on youth is excusable. In fact, in many ways, it should be celebrated.

The rapid rise of Clare Wheeler is just one example of how the Jets could end up becoming a fantastic story over the next two or three seasons.

But that doesn't mean they're going to be very fun to watch this campaign. Even Deans admits "it's going to hard." Let's hope they produce another Van Egmond sooner rather than later.