21/9/25
Above: NPLW WA top scorer for 2025, Renee Leota of Perth RedStar. Photo: Rob Lizzi.
We assembled a panel of five people – Tommy Doleman, Kelechi Osunwa, Ben Gilby, Ella McShane, and Max Parris, who have been covering the NPLW WA this year – to come together and nominate players for the Impetus NPLW WA Team of the Season for 2025. Once all the nominations were made, a starting XI and a substitutes list were put together. It took a whole week of discussions back and forth, but here’s what we eventually decided upon.
Goalkeeper
Dayle Schroeder (Perth SC)
It’s been an incredible season of stats for Schroeder, who has had a phenomenal first year at Dorrien Gardens after making the move from Fremantle City. In 23 NPLW WA league and Top Four Cup ties, the shot-stopper kept nine clean sheets and only conceded 17 goals across those games. To emphasise how impressive these numbers are, the next fewest number of goals let in by a NPLW WA goalkeeper was more than double, at 35. The only goalkeeper to earn a nomination for Impetus‘ NPLW WA Player of the Month awards (in July), Schroeder and the defence in front of her were a key reason for Perth SC’s first-ever NPLW WA title.
Defenders:
Epril Nossent (Perth SC)
A long-held reputation as one of the league’s toughest defenders to beat, Epril Nossent had a powerful season as part of Perth SC’s brick wall-like defence. With her ability to combine a strong physical and aerial presence, allied with a desire to push forward along the flanks to assist her team’s attack, Nossent has been superb and has earned her second successive spot in our team of the year selection.
Kim McCartney (Perth SC)
A defender who has led the way for whatever side she has represented, Kim McCartney has delivered a season of class performances that have played a major part in her team’s NPLW WA championship win. McCartney, a nominee for the Impetus NPLW WA Player of the Month award in May, has that rare ability of being both a powerful defender and someone who has a phenomenal ability from long-range free-kicks. In Perth SC’s 23 NPLW WA league and Top Four Cup matches, the defender scored five times. Each one was a classic curling free-kick to add to her ever-bulging scrapbook.
Annabelle Leek (Fremantle City)
Despite a strong second half of the season, Fremantle City missed out on Top Four Cup football, but a succession of influential displays by Annabelle Leek was a central part of the port city side’s campaign. An elegant ball player surrounded by an air of calm and collectiveness, Annabelle Leek is the only player to have made all three of our Team of the Season selections since they began in 2023, and her selection once more cements her status as one of the competition’s standout players.
Violet Longmore (Perth SC)
It has been an extremely impressive first season after ageing out of what was then the Football West NTC squad for Violet Longmore. The youngster from Margaret River got off to a powerful start, earning a nomination for April’s Impetus NPLW WA Player of the Month award, and the year got better and better. Longmore’s battles with some of the league’s best attackers were riveting viewing each week, and she won far more than she lost. An ability to stride forward to get attacks going as well were just the icing on the cake of a strong 2025 for Longmore.
Midfielders:
Daisy McAllister (Perth SC)
A player with a strong work ethic who knows how to not only beat defenders with excellent footwork, and deliver accurate passes that dissect the opposition, Daisy McAllister has provided some exciting moments throughout the season. Weighing in with 10 goals, the midfielder has shown an ability to fire in some stunning long-range rockets, efforts that have curled into the top corner, as well as penalty box finishes.
Lacey Heys (Football West Academy)
What a season it was for the teenage side, who played some sparkling attacking football on their way to clinching third place on the ladder and returning to the Top Four Cup. One of the Academy’s talented starlets in 2025 was Lacey Heys. A player who has caught the eye of the Western Australian football fraternity for a number of years despite her tender age, Heys earned a nomination to the Impetus NPLW WA Player of the Month in April and hit a total of four goals across the season, providing a key link-up with her side’s attack.
Abbey Meakins (Balcatta Etna)
Abbey Meakins emphasised why she has been one of the league’s best players for such a long time, producing arguably one of the great individual displays in a Top Four Cup Final, which ended Perth RedStar’s reign with her four goals in Balcatta’s 5-1 win in the season finale. Whilst her Grand Final display will naturally take all the headlines, Meakins had a superb campaign. A nominee for Impetus‘ NPLW WA Player of the Month in both May and June, the Balcatta star hit a total of 17 goals in her side’s 24 league and Top Four Cup games in 2025 as she earned her second successive selection in our Team of the Season selection.
Strikers:
Jamie-Lee Gale (Balcatta Etna)
It’s been another strong campaign for this flying attacker. All year long, Gale’s darts along the flank have played an integral part in her side’s best-ever season in the NPLW era. A total of 16 goals across 24 league and Top Four Cup games, plus countless assists from the quality of balls she supplies into the area, or threads through, the former Perth Glory player was so influential in Balcatta’s year that started with a dominant Night Series campaign and a nomination for Impetus‘ NPLW WA Player of the Month for April, and ended with that relentless second-half display in the Top Four Cup Final, in which Gale was on target.
Renee Leota (Perth RedStar)
Renee Leota’s sheer class and influence remain undimmed. The former New Zealand international, who recorded an incredible 300th appearance for her club in 2025, was a standard bearer for Chris Atturo’s side. Finishing top of the scoring charts with a total of 22 across RedStar’s 23 NPLW WA league and Top Four Cup games, Leota’s final strike of the campaign put her side ahead in the Top Four Cup Final before Balcatta Etna’s second-half response. The winner of Impetus’ NPLW WA Player of the Month for May, Leota looks like she has many, many more games and goals in her as her side looks to hit back in 2026.
Jess Flannery (Perth SC)
Whilst other attackers in the league may have scored more than Flannery’s tally of 11, the Perth SC star has such a well-rounded game that she would not just be a deadly finisher, but provide assists and cover for the defence if this squad ever took to the field in battle. Flannery won the Impetus NPLW WA Player of the Month for June, and was a nominee in August. Coming back into the Azzurri side at the start of the season after missing a large chunk of 2024 through injury, Flannery’s thrilling wing play, ability to thread centimetre-perfect passes through to her attacking team-mates, and desire to drop back to assist in defence mark her out as one of the league’s most exciting players to watch.
Substitutes:
Rebecca Bennett (Balcatta Etna)
Alyssa van Heurck (Balcatta Etna)
Matilda Böhm (Perth SC)
Sofie Osborne (Fremantle City)
Sophie Meaden (Fremantle City)
Theodora Mouithys (Football West Academy)
Caitlin Doeglas (Perth RedStar).
Check out our NPLW WA Team of the Season for previous years:
2023: https://impetusfootball.org/2023/09/06/nplw-wa-team-of-the-season-2023/
2024: https://impetusfootball.org/2024/09/25/nplw-wa-team-of-the-year-2024/
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