In the W-League's 11 year history, a wooden-spooner has never made the following season's finals.

Every single week Dean Heffernan's Wanderers squad break new records.

It's a combination of factors, many of which will already be evident to our eager readers. But honestly, the situation is a little strange.

Firstly, it's becoming obvious that Western Sydney Wanderers were vastly underachieving in the W-League until this point.

We're talking about one of the A-League's biggest, wealthiest and best-supported clubs. Yet, they were perennial W-League underachievers, hopelessly so.

The following statistics, more than anything, affirm just how bad the Wanderers were for large periods of their history. Last season included.

But first, let's look at what Western Sydney are doing right, in the hope of providing some context to how exactly this turnaround has happened.

FIRST, YOU GET THE MONEY

It's brilliant for Western Sydney's diehard supporters that the club has managed to turn it around this season in such startling fashion.

But behind every other change that's gone on at the club, are simple, raw economics. It's taken an increase in investment across the board - bringing in guest players, poaching top-drawer NWSL talent, building a new stadium with new resources...none of this is cheap.

Chief executive John Tsatsimas described it to the Sydney Morning Herald before the season began as a "significant investment".

"What we've tried to do is strip it back and provide a statement that we mean business," Tsatsimas said.

"We'd like to think everything is in place for them to have a really great season, enjoy their football and represent western Sydney in the female space in a good way."

The money comes from a five-year women's sponsorship deal, believed to be the biggest in W-League history, with commercial fit-out and construction company Intermain.

THEN, YOU GET THE POWER

Dean Heffernan has experience at Y-League level and was a very accomplished stalwart of a player in the A-League and England's lower leagues, but he'd never coached a female team before round one this season...he'd never even coached a professional side.

Now he and similarly decorated, yet inexperienced, assistant Michael Beauchamp are coaching the W-League's pre-eminent threat.

They've now dispatched two of their biggest rivals for the Championship 5-0 and 4-0, back-to-back.

Sydney FC, who copped the 5-0 roasting, also boast some of the best players in the W-League and they're a settled team. It demonstrates just how powerful that increased investment has become.

Western Sydney lead the league undefeated after six rounds, with 16 goals and only three conceded.

The only draw came against reigning premiers Melbourne Victory, but Western Sydney had almost 20% more possession, over 30% more shots and 136 more completed passes.

In other words, Casey Dumont may have had something to do with it.

But despite the money, the power can also be attributed to Heffernan's management style. This season has been a stark change from the club's fortunes under previous coach Dan Barrett, or any previous Wanderers coach all the way back to Stephen Roche, for that matter.

He puts the success down to his ability to communicate frankly and honestly with his team.

“That’s the most pleasing thing, we will tweak things during the game, and the girls will tell me this is not working or we need to change a little thing here and there," he said.
 
“We are working together as a unit. So it’s really good like that.