For the first time this season throughout the campaign, the Impetus A-League Women reporting team of Kieran Yap, Ben Gilby, and Kris Goman will be giving weekly awards to the best player, coach, and event of the round. To find out who won the first awards, read below.
Before we announce our first winners, it is worth pointing out that each writer submitted their winners separately and there was no general discussion between the three of us. The fact that we generally agreed on the winners this week is literally a coincidence…
PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Kieran Yap: Cortnee Vine for me – a great first game back. Honourable mention for Holly McNamara at Melbourne City.
Ben Gilby: I thought Cortnee Vine was fantastic for Sydney FC in their win over Newcastle Jets. Imperious performance and a goal in the first game back from a serious injury – awesome effort. Mention must also go to Gemma Craine who really impressed me in her first game back for Perth Glory after almost a year out with injury – she picked up immediately where she left off for the Western Australians.
Kris Goman: Cortnee Vine. I’m a big fan of hers and for her to come back from an ACL injury and score is massive.
COACH OF THE WEEK:
Kieran Yap: Gemma Lewis of Wellington Phoenix. She set her team up well to produce a solid performance in their first-ever A-League Women match.
Ben Gilby: It was a pretty simple decision for me this week. No one really knew what to expect from Wellington Phoenix from their first match. However, Gemma Lewis has clearly put together a team that are extremely well organized, gives everything for each other, and has plenty of pace.
Kris Goman: It’s a clean sweep again! Gemma Lewis unquestionably for me for getting her team together and earning a good point against the Wanderers.
EVENT OF THE WEEK:
Whilst the other two awards are self-explanatory, the Event of the Week could cover much ground – serious or non-serious. It could be a matchday event, a bizarre happening on or off the pitch, or a simple piece of heroism.
Kieran Yap: Perth Glory winning. It’s been a while.
Ben Gilby: In any other week, I probably would have gone for Wellington Phoenix’s debut in the competition, but Round One saw something I’ve been waiting for over 21 months to happen. On 22nd February 2020, in a world before global Covid lockdowns, Perth Glory last won a match. They succeeded finally once more on Saturday, albeit thanks to a defensive calamity and own goal, but Gemma Craine also deserves a lot of credit for causing uncertainty in the Brisbane backline in the first place. Perth won, and life was good again.
Kris Goman: Wellington Phoenix’s first match. Having a New Zealand team in the competition is so important for the development of the game, and the fact that their first game ended with them earning a point is worth recognizing.
Impetus’ coverage of the A-League Women season is bigger and better than ever. Each weekend we bring you reports of all the games, the beginning of the week sees our Impetus Achievers Awards with the return of our popular #MidweekDub on a Wednesday which sees an interview or feature on a top player or coach. Then Thursday brings a round-up of all the media events previewing the weekend games as we hear from players and coaches from around the league.
Impetus’ coverage of Australian Women’s Football is supported by The Chicken Salt Co. They are offering every Impetus reader 5% off all orders of Chicken Salt from their website. Go to https://www.chickensalt.co.uk/?mate=impetus and place your order – 5% will automatically be taken off of the cost. The coupon code is impetus.
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