Report by Tommy Doleman

Fremantle City and Murdoch University Melville fought out a 1-1 draw last October. Photo by Football West/FotoEnzo

The 2021 NPLWA Women’s competition kicks off on Friday night with a meeting between two of last season’s top four.

Champions Murdoch University Melville host Fremantle City on the synthetic at Wormall Civil Stadium, with both teams entering the new season having undergone coaching changes.

MUM FC technical director Mark Jones continues his role as interim coach, a position he assumed after Peter Rakic - the club's title-winning head coach - stepped down. Fremantle City, meanwhile, have promoted assistant Cisco Jorquera after Thomas Richard moved to a technical development role. 

Fremantle lost last season’s Top Four Cup Final on penalties to Northern Redbacks, but prior to that they had found their rhythm with just one defeat suffered in the seven games. The headline result of that run was a 6-1 win away at Perth in the Top Four Cup semi-final and the late-season momentum paired with a solid Night Series campaign means City are raring to go ahead of this year’s competition. 

Skipper Mikayla Lyons is optimistic the club’s positive trajectory can continue as they look to improve on a third-place finish last term.

“We’ve had a really good start and I feel we’re coming into this season fitter and stronger, which can only help in terms of building upon what we’ve already done and finding that extra 10 to 15 per cent,” she said.

“We have given some young players an opportunity to step up, to get senior experience and game time in the Night Series, and it’s something that’s really positive for the squad moving forward.

“It always stings when you lose on penalties, especially when you feel you’ve played well for 120 minutes, but it definitely gives us a bit of fuel to build upon what we did achieve last season.”

In last season’s two league meetings, Fremantle City held MUM FC to two draws with the latter of those games providing an incredible rabona goal scored by Gold Medal and Golden Boot winner Katarina Jukic.

Lyons scored the opening goal that night in the 1-1 draw and was a key performer for City in 2020 with nine goals, which saw her finish tied-second with Sarah Carroll in the goalscoring charts. The forward says Friday’s game presents a good chance for City to hit the ground running in what’s shaping up to be another even contest.

“I feel we match up quite well with MUM FC and there are some things we can take forward from last season, so we’re looking forward to Friday night,” Lyons said. 

“Playing them in the Night Series was a good early test for us too, because they have some great individual players, but they also play well together as a team.

“We’ll be looking to start the season with a win and hopefully capitalise on an opportunity to set ourselves up for the season nice and early.”

Defending champions MUM FC were defeated 2-1 by Balcatta in the Night Series Final a fortnight ago, but come off an excellent league campaign in 2020 which saw them lose only twice all season.

One of those losses came at home in Round One against Balcatta and MUM FC captain Katie Schubert said it was important for the team to start the new season with purpose on Friday.

“We didn’t start the game (Night Series Final) how we wanted, so I think that’s something we will really focus on going into the season, in terms of putting in solid performance for the full game,” she said. 

“We have showed moments of what we can accomplish, but we know we can’t take our foot off pedal because the league is going to be tougher again this year.

“It’s something we’ve spoken about as a team with losing in round one last year to Balcatta, as that was an eye-opener for us in terms of progressing and setting standards going forward.

“Fremantle are always a tough opposition for us because they fight really hard for everything and don’t give up until the very last minute – and we have to match that ourselves with a solid 90 minutes.”

Schubert also acknowledged that defending the title in 2021 will be a different test for the squad, but it’s one that they are relishing.

“Winning the league last season does add that target on us as a team, because last year we weren’t perhaps expected to do as well as we did,” she added. 

“Teams will want to lift against us and that will be a challenge, but we know it’s going to be a competitive league again regardless.

“We can’t take any game for granted, so we know we will have to push even harder to win and hopefully achieve our goals.”

Elsewhere on Friday Night, Curtin University will open their season with a home game against Perth Soccer Club.

Curtin took points off Perth in both league meetings last season with August’s 2-2 draw at the campus preceding a dramatic 2-1 win at Dorrien Gardens with two rounds remaining. 

Jess Darmago’s 93rd minute winner that day all but killed off Perth’s title aspirations and gave Morrison Deane’s side plenty of late-season encouragement as they ended their campaign with three wins in their final four matches.

Sunday’s action sees the Northern Redbacks host the Hyundai NTC Women at Celebration Park. Both teams will hope to be in the mix again when it comes to the Top Four after the Redbacks pipped NTC to fourth place in the final round of the 2020 league season.

Finally, there is a meeting between two sides who finished in the league’s bottom half last year as Subiaco meet Balcatta at Rosalie Park. The hosts will hope to turn over a new page in 2021 after a challenging inaugural season in the NPL, while Balcatta will aim to build on their recent Night Series success.