W-League: Adelaide can become a force

The Westfield W-League is fast becoming one of the premier women’s football competitions on the planet, seemingly able to continuously bring over top level European footballers for Australia’s summer seasons.

Apart from their skill and understanding of football, W-League foreign imports raise the standard to which the game in played in Australia, and perhaps most importantly, provide young female footballers a wonderful tutelage in the art of the world game.

Enter the Lady Reds, Adelaide’s W-League outfit which, if you ask those on the inside, is on the way up in their quest for football glory and who are blessed with some wonderful European talent.

Kristy Moore, Adelaide’s experienced and highly-respected captain, has been capped 12 times by England and seven times by the Matildas.

She believes her team is one to watch out for this season, despite the fact that they are winless from their first two games.

“We knew it was going to be tough in the beginning because we didn’t have a big pre-season,” Moore said in a candid interview following her team’s loss to Canberra United on Sunday.

“But we’ve got players that are going to get better as the league goes on, with the younger ones making their debut, so there’s plenty of potential.

“Give us three or four weeks and we’ll show you what we can do."

For those who watched Adelaide play against Canberra United at Adelaide Shores on Sunday, the potential Moore speaks of is easy to spot.

The Lady Reds, for the first 20 minutes of the game were the team on top, and this was against a side that was expected to be crowned victors with ease. While things evened up during the middle stages of the game, the Reds' defence kept the scores deadlocked on zero at the break.

Adelaide has a supremely fit and versatile defender n Jemma McCormick who can go up front when needed. With Jessica Wharepouri running along the right flank, there is pace to burn to create chances.

But perhaps most exciting for Moore and Lady Reds fans is Emily Condon, who, at only 16, is the youngest to ever don the red strip and is already a W-League goalscorer.

Mix this in with Katie Holtham, Katrine Pedersen, both of whom are experienced international cap-winners,  it appears that the right mix is there from the outset.

With this in mind, one could be forgiven for asking why Adelaide has two losses after the first two rounds, but Moore says that calm heads are needed to reverse their fortunes.

“When we got back and watch the Sydney [loss in round 1], we can see that we had most of the possession," she explained.

"We were getting 15 passes together, but then we’d panic and wouldn’t take our chance.

“What we need is to play smarter football because we are a good side and we can win football matches.”

Whether Moore’s prediction that within a month Adelaide’s season will be on track is correct remains to be seen, but for those on the sideline, the Lady Reds are putting on airs and in professional sport, that’s half the battle won.