The former Youth international winger had jammed so much into her W-League career before taking a sabbatical after the 2017-18 season at Western Sydney.

"It felt like she had been around the W-league for a while before she took some time out," Wilson said. "She is only 23, which actually surprised me.

"She has pace, she has technical ability, she works hard and has a really good mentality. She has the ability to run past people and is quite a dynamic player. I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do."

Franco made her W-league debut for the Brisbane Roar at age 16 and had racked up 33 appearances by the end of 2017-18.

A regular goal-scorer for Australia at under-17 and 19 level, Franco has not been able to carry that form onto the W-League.

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Wilson hopes to help correct that statistic, starting with the season opener against Western Sydney at the Wanderers Centre of Football on Saturday.

"Sunny can score goals and create them," Wilson said. "She probably isn't as selfish as she could be. She is definitely looking to combine with other people and provide that service. But she has the ability to score goals as well."

The Jets struggled in front of goals last season, netting a league-low 12 on the way to collecting the wooden spoon. Of the 12 goals, Tara Andrews provided five.

"We were competitive in a lot of games and created a lot of chances but didn't capitalise," Wilson said. "We lost a lot of games by one goal. That is definitely an area we wanted to improve and I had that in mind when I was recruiting people."

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