A-League Women: Canberra United set for 'marathon' test in historic expanded season

For the first time in the history of the competition, teams will play a home-and-away regular season of 22 games just like other major leagues overseas.

To kick-off the season and continue the momentum of the Women's World Cup domestically, the A-League Women will also begin a week before the men's competition with major stadiums to host opening round fixtures.

Canberra United, for instance, will begin its 2022-23 campaign on October 15 against Adelaide United at 16,500-capacity Hindmarsh Stadium.

The buzz for women's soccer in Australia has never been better, but with a longer season comes some hurdles.

United coach Njegosh Popovich said while the expanded season was an exciting and overdue development, several players had never experienced seasons this long, and every team's depth would be tested.

"It's a marathon, not a sprint this year," Popovich told The Canberra Times.

"It's a very long season. Even experienced players like Michelle Heyman haven't played a season this long, so it will test a lot of teams.

"But we've been waiting a long, long time for something like this to happen.

"The way that it has to be approached is you can't be peaking first round, you have to build the players up and get them peaking later.

"We should hit our straps towards the back end of the year."

Adding to the challenge, in the off-season Canberra saw seasoned players Grace Maher, Laura Hughes, Kennedy Faulknor and Grace Jale depart the club, with veteran Ellie Brush also retiring.

United added American defender Cannon Clough to its squad this week. The 27-year-old brings some much-needed experience, having played in the US and then in Australia since 2019.

"I think there is advantages of players that come from overseas and know professional life outside of Australia," Popovich said.

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"Cannon has been there, she's a very good communicator and in a shy, young group this year, we need that talk in the change room and on the field.

"We lost really vocal players in Grace Maher and Hughesy."

The North Carolina product is aiming to have an instant impact and help Canberra reach finals after a heartbreaking finish last season that saw United miss out on top-four by goal difference.

"I hope to bring what I've learned from other teams in the competition and other parts of the world, and it will be cool to get around the younger girls," Clough said.

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