With a World Cup looming on the horizon, Illawarra footballer Caitlin Cooper has backed Australian Professional Leagues' decision to expand the A-League Women's competition.
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The ALP last week announced the nation's top female league will grow to 11 teams, each to play 18 games across 20 rounds for the 2022/23 season.
Western United will become the league's newest addition, while the Mariners are set to follow suit the following year. The next A-League Women's competition will kick off on November 18, around eight months before the FIFA Women's World Cup gets under way in Australia and New Zealand.
It's an expansion that excites Cooper, who has become a league stalwart.
The defender made her debut in 2008 with Central Coast before switching to Canberra United two years later. She then joined the Wanderers in 2013, before playing one season at Sydney FC, returning to represent Western Sydney in 2018. Cooper - who has since remained in the red and black - has now gone on to play more than 140 league games and has won four national caps for the Matildas.
"I think the decision is great for the growth of women's football, and it's something that we needed to do to keep up with other countries," Cooper said.
"It's just going to expose the younger generations to these types of leagues, which is fantastic. And hopefully there will be a few more Matildas coming through the ranks. There's massive hype on the Matildas at the moment and it's great for not only football in Australia, but women's football. I think there's only going to be positive things coming from it.
"The league has changed a lot. When it first started, everyone was playing here but now a lot of girls have gone overseas. But hopefully this season will be stronger again and we can bring in some internationals as well."
Cooper's beloved Illawarra Stingrays have previously been put forward as potential A-League Women's team. However, club president Kathy McDonogh told the Mercury in 2020 that they weren't ready.
"We'd love to at some point, but we're a long way away from that considering the Wolves put in a [A-League] bid and it fell over," McDonogh said.
"We're a little bit dysfunctional down here in Wollongong which I personally hope we can overcome in the future for things like this. For us, we're a far cry from having a W-League team ... we're looking down the barrel of being 10 years away from that."
For now, Cooper continues to ply her trade for the Stingrays in the NPL in preparation for the next A-League season. The Corrimal footballer, who made her Rays debut back in 2009, is enjoying another solid campaign in pink, with the side sitting in ninth spot.
"Anthony (Guido) is a great coach, so I can only speak highly of him. Some of the results aren't going our way, and we need to be better," Cooper said. "But I'm enjoying my time there again and hopefully we can get a few more wins."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
