Phoenix ready to leave it all on line against jet-setting City
With Melbourne City flying to Suwon all of 12 hours after Saturday's ALW grand final, Wellington Phoenix boss Bev Priestman says her side needs to "leave everything out there" in the decider.
A grand final. It sounds pretty self-explanatory; it’s the finale, the crescendo, one last dance before a campaign comes to an end and a champion is crowned. And that’ll certainly be the case for the Wellington Phoenix in this Saturday’s A-League Women decider, the Kiwi side looking to cap off a season for the ages with a first title in their history when they travel to AAMI Park. For foes Melbourne City, however, their labours will continue once the final whistle blows, on a plane all of 12 hours later to fly to Suwon for the semifinals of the AFC Women’s Champions League. And ‘Nix boss Bev Priestman says her side has to be ready to seize that moment.
Basing themselves out of the Home of the Matildas after jetting into Melbourne on Wednesday, the Phoenix quickly got to work shedding any hangover from their extra-time semifinal win over Brisbane last Sunday – their coach declaring that every member of the travelling squad was fit and ready for selection when she fronted media on Thursday afternoon.
Getting back amongst ‘her people’ after a year-long FIFA suspension – a ban which almost certainly was the only reason a coach of her calibre became available to the club – Priestman led the Wahinix to the best season in their short history in 2025-26, making finals for the first time after recording a second-placed finish, all the while fielding simultaneously the league’s most high-scoring attack and miserly defence.
This was managed despite Sabitra ‘Samba’ Bhandari, Tessel Middag, and Alyssa Whinham all being lost to ACL injuries throughout the campaign, as well as skipper CJ Bott stepping back from her playing commitments seven games in after announcing her pregnancy. In their places, others have emerged; Makala Woods, signed as an injury-replacement player for Middag, scoring at a rate of a goal every other game, including the brace that defeated the Roar, while Mackenzie Barry, Grace Jale, 17-year-old Pia Vlok, and Brooke Nunn all named as starters in the PFA’s Team of the Season, with Victoria Esson and Marisa Van Der Meer on the bench.
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Taken together, it feels like the Phoenix have caught lightning in a bottle this season. And Priestman, who is very familiar with the soaring highs and the crushing lows that can accompany football, recognises the importance of capitalising on it.
“Yeah, big time. I’ve got no doubt what it means to [City], too, right? To do the premiership and then do this. So I won’t take away what I think they’ve got in front of them,” said Priestman. “But absolutely, we have to leave everything out there. No regrets.
“We’re in a moment where this dressing room, this group of staff, everyone will never be in the same room again. And you have to grab that, because there’s something special bubbling away there. I can see it. I can feel it on the bus. I’ve felt it all season. And when you have that, you just want to wrap that bubble up.
“I think this group of players now have to give it everything, because, well, you might never get this moment back. You might never, and I think in those moments, it’s the team that takes it, and we’ve got to take it.”
For City, the stakes of Saturday’s final are obvious. Though now having won three straight A-League Women premierships, a title has eluded this group over the past two seasons and, with several key members of their squad reaching the point where overseas moves beckon, Saturday could prove the last opportunity for them to seal their dominant era with a championship. At the same time, however, the morning after their clash with the ‘Nix will see them jump on a plane to South Korea for an AFC Women’s Champions League semifinal against Tokyo Verdy Beleza on Wednesday, with the winner of that game to then play either North Korean outfit Naegohyang Women’s FC or hosts Suwon FC in the final on Saturday.
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Not only would victory in that game secure City an Asian crown, but it would also earn them passage to the next FIFA Women’s Champions Cup and, combined with their appearance in last year’s final, go a long way towards pressing their claim to be one of Asia’s representatives at the first staging of the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup. In addition, with a minimum of USD $1.3m prize money going to the winners of the tournament, effectively all of City’s players would also stand to gain more than their entire annual A-League Women’s salaries in bonus fees with a win.
So, unlike the Phoenix, City can’t play like there’s no tomorrow because they know there’s at least one, and they’ll hope for two huge games to go. For coach Michael Matricciani, though, his side is ready and has done the work to meet that challenge.
“To get to this point, the planning has happened all the way back in August last year,” he said. “[We mapped] out our fitness plan, how we periodize, and how we continue to stay fresh, but continue to improve the fitness and the sharpness of players.
“One of the benefits of having a four-week break [ahead of finals], even though you don’t like that with the international break and having the week off, meant we were able to deload some players that needed it and freshen them up, and then other players that needed a bit more work. We were able to do a sort of mini pre-season and play a couple of trial games. Then we had the two legs against Melbourne Victory, which were really hard, tough, 90-minute matches.
“All the work that we’ve done has led us to this point. Do we need to win [the grand final] in 90? We’d like to, but if it goes to 120, we’ve more than prepared for the players’ load for that.
“Then it is going to be difficult, because we do leave, we need to be at the airport at 5 am on Sunday, and then we don’t arrive in South Korea till about two or three o’clock in the morning the next day. So it’s going to be a tough trip to get the players up.
“But adrenaline in these types of matches means absolutely everything. So once we step on the pitch, then the adrenaline takes over, and you just don’t stop till the final whistle.”