Welcome to Wonderkid Watch: A weekly piece that keeps you up to date with the players and stories emerging from A-Leagues clubs playing at NPL level in Australia.
Inside Western Sydney’s ‘whirlwind’ debut season as young gun scores 8 goals in a day!
Western Sydney Wanderers’ wild weekend highlighted their inaugural season in NPLW NSW.
There were goals galore across the senior academy team and Under-23s – Western Sydney’s first side played out a breath-taking 4-4 draw against NWS Spirit while the U23s were 11-0 victors.
Western Sydney’s women are competing in NPL this season – a “proud milestone in the club’s growing commitment to women’s football”.
Sunday’s first-grade fixture was chaotic at Wanderers Football Park, where the two teams traded three goals apiece in a wild first half before sharing the points in an eight-goal shoot-out.
Olivia Vanderlaan scored two goals in four minutes for the 13th-placed Wanderers, while Nikkita Fazzari and Siena Arrarte were also on target.
Ellie Alexander and Isabella Sultan both scored hat-tricks for the rampant Wanderers. Alexander bagged three goals in the space of 15 minutes, having incredibly scored five goals for Western Sydney’s U18s earlier in the day.
Catalina Wyrzynski added a brace, while Alyssa Mckenzie, Mia Nataly and Isabelle Wilson also scored.
In the U23s, second-placed Western Sydney pilled on 11 unanswered goals against NWS Spirit.
Geoff Abrahams is Western Sydney’s Ninja A-League head coach and technical director of the girls academy, and he reflected on what transpired over the weekend as well as the club’s “challenging” debut NPL season so far.
“The academy season has been a whirlwind,” Abrahams told aleagues.com.au. “We got things going on very short notice.
“I’ve been super proud that we’ve been able to progress girls into senior football in such a short time period of time and all our coaches deserve great credit for that.
“Our younger teams have been quite successful which has pushed us as a coaching staff to throw more challenges at them and make it more difficult. Overall we are happy with how it has gone but there are always improvements needed and we will evolve as next season comes around.
“The NPL season in first grade has been a challenging one. We’ve had to learn to suffer a bit. But what we want for our young players is exactly that, we want them to be challenged and make mistakes and see if we can improve on the back of these lessons.”
Abrahams added: “Whenever you have young kids playing against senior experienced professionals it becomes a really good test of who can raise their level to compete with that.
“There’s been a number of young girls who have excelled through this process and I’m sure will move on to A-League careers.
“We’ve been able to see players such as Frida Karaberis (14), Mary Dal Broi (15), Charlotte Bradshaw (16), Alara Turkkan (15) progress multiple age groups quickly into first grade.
“We’ve seen 11 girls gain national team recognition for various countries and this is what we want to be about. Providing a pathway for girls in Western Sydney to progress to the Ninja A-League and National teams. To be able to do this in a fee-free academy is testament to our clubs vision for female football in Western Sydney.
“On the weekend we saw some really positive performances in our senior space. The 23’s had a big win.
“Ellie Alexander scored a hat-trick in a 20-minute block off the bench. She’d, previously in the day, scored five goals in the under 18’s.
“Isabella Sultan has been a standout in the 23’s and has had opportunities in first grade this season as well and she grabbed a few goals too.
“First grade was an interesting 4-4 draw. Probably the story of our season. We have exciting players such as Nikkita Fazzari, Miriam Zumaya, Amy Barker and Anika Stajcic and create some really good moments, but are lacking the concentration and maturity sometimes to see games out.
“This is normal and I don’t mind the mistakes. To be fair the opposition on Sunday probably have a similar philosophy and they played a number of young girls too. Made for good game for the supporters.”
Elsewhere in NPLW NSW, Isabella Coco-Di Sipio scored a hat-trick for league-leading Bulls FC Academy in their 4-1 success against 10-player Sydney Olympic.
The Bulls stayed a point ahead of APIA Leichhardt thanks to Coco-Di Sipio’s treble at Northbridge Oval.
Alyssa Whinham had actually given Olympic the lead before the Bulls rallied on home soil, where Petria Phillips was also among the scorers.
Coco-Di Sipio, who has overcome broken bones in her foot twice and torn ankle ligaments in her career, has scored 14 goals this season – the fourth highest across the competition to help the Bulls lead the way in first grade as she targets a shot at the Ninja A-League.
“I’m definitely eyeing up a move into the A-League Women’s competition or hopefully to sign somewhere professionally overseas,” the 22-year-old said via NPL NSW previously.
As for Newcastle Jets, they lost 6-0 to Mt Druitt Town Rangers.
In the U23s, Bulls FC Academy eased past nine-player Sydney Olympic 7-1. Jade Guichon and Pantha Tilsley had two goals apiece, with Sophia Furia, Cecilia Valletta and Amber Halliday contributing goals.
The Jets, meanwhile, conceded twice in the final four minutes of regulation as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at Mt Druitt Town. Layla Sharpe scored for Newcastle.
Highly-rated skipper shines against Club World Cup participants
Auckland FC have been a thorn in Auckland City’s side this season and it continued over the weekend.
The Black Knights’ reserve team came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against 2025 FIFA Club World Cup participants Auckland City in Round 19 of New Zealand’s Northern League on Saturday.
In Auckland FC’s first-ever meeting with Auckland City, the newcomers upstaged the Navy Blues 1-0 in Round 8.
Over the weekend, Auckland FC ensured they remained undefeated against fifth-placed Auckland City this season thanks to captain Codey Phoenix’s brilliant 90th-minute equaliser.
Phoenix, who has been training regularly with the reigning Isuzu UTE A-League premiers, has scored twice this season.
“Codey is a very talented young player with great potential,” Auckland FC’s director of football Terry McFlynn told aleagues.com.au.
“He is an attack-minded left full-back that gets forward and gets good delivery into the box.
“He is dangerous at set pieces and has great leadership qualities which is why he is the team captain.”
Elsewhere in New Zealand, Wellington Phoenix’s women’s reserves were 2-1 winners over Waterside Karori thanks to goals via Alyssha Eglinton and Grace Bartlett.
As for the men’s reserves, they were reduced to 10 men in a 2-0 loss to Western Suburbs.
Wild wins in NSW, incl. a 3-minute hat-trick!
Central Coast Mariners prevailed 5-4 in a jaw-dropping clash with Rockdale Ilinden at U20 level in NPLM NSW.
The Mariners saw their 2-0 lead wiped out after Rockdale scored four unanswered goals before Central Coast sensationally scored three goals in the final 18 minutes to prevail.
Ari Kum, Jayden Jensen, Flynn Richards, Callum Mccaskey and Matthew Sutcliffe were the goalscorers.
Tristan Arrarte and Georgio Hassarati celebrated hat-tricks for Western Sydney Wanderers in a 7-0 rout of St George City FA.
Arrarte scored three goals in 19 minutes, while Hassarati sensationally bagged a treble in the space of three minutes.
Dallo Sandy also scored for the rampant Wanderers, who are second in the standings and after 27 rounds.
Sydney FC, meanwhile, lost 3-1 to Sutherland Sharks. Zac Fowler was the Sky Blues’ goalscorer.
At senior level in NPLM NSW, Central Coast were held to a 1-1 draw by Rockdale. The Mariners conceded in the 95th minute after Harper Ryles had given Central Coast the lead.
Max Hately scored for Western Sydney Wanderers in their 1-1 draw with 10-player St George City FA, while Sydney FC went down 4-0 Sutherland Sharks.
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In Football NSW League One, Bulls FC Academy and Newcastle Jets both suffered defeats.
The eighth-placed Bulls went down 3-1 to SD Raiders – who jumped to the top of the second tier, while the fourth-placed Jets lost 4-1 to Bankstown City.
In the U20s, the Bulls remain just one point ahead of Newcastle atop the table.
Jack Wheat, Hamza Bangash, Yusuf Aydin and Bassam Sabbagh scored for the Bulls in a 4-0 victory over SD Raiders.
The Jets were 3-1 winners against Bankstown thanks to Max Wettig, Jackson Chambers and Markus Wolscher.
Over in NPLM SA, Adelaide United lost 4-0 to Adelaide City while their reserves team also beaten by the same scoreline.
