Newcastle's Emily van Egmond has secured a W-League championship for the first time and East Maitland's Rhali Dobson her second after Melbourne City completed an almost perfect season by beating Sydney 1-0 in the grand final on Saturday.
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The match was played behind closed doors at AAMI Park and the win gave City and unprecedented fourth championship. No other club has won as many titles and City have achieved the feat in five seasons.
City powered to the minor premiership unbeaten. The only points they dropped all season was against Newcastle in an opening round 1-1 draw and the league heavyweights finished 11 points clear of their nearest rivals. They conceded just five goals in 14 outings.
City took the lead in the 15th minute of the title decider when Sky Blues goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe could not stop Steph Catley's left-footed strike despite diving and getting a hand to the ball. Catley and van Egmond played a clever one-two, allowing Catley, who was later named player of the grand final, to drive her shot towards the far corner.
Dobson featured nine times for Melbourne this season and was on the bench Saturday. Coach Rado Vidosic used his substitutes sparingly with only Milica Mijatovic (67th minute) and Ally Watt (85th) coming on for City.
It was Dobson's third season with City. She was on board when they won their third title in 2017-18. Van Egmond has played in the W-League since its inception in 2008 but had not played in a grand final before Saturday.
Neither has yet plotted their next move.
Dobson told the Newcastle Herald last week she had not yet committed to a Herald Women's Premier League club for 2020 and van Egmond, who has been playing in the United States between W-League seasons, said she was not sure what would happen next due to the coronavirus pandemic.
