Wanderers’ bid for W-League glory bolstered by trio of US title winners
They were key to the team that ended Matildas superstar Sam Kerr’s hopes of winning the American league title – but they are set to turn Western Sydney into a W-League force.
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Three of the key players who shot down Sam Kerr's hopes of winning the American league title are to spearhead the Wanderers' bid to become a W-League force.
After North Carolina Courage won the NWSL early on Monday (AEDT), defeating Kerr's Chicago Red Stars side 4-0, The Daily Telegraph can reveal that gun strikers Lynn Williams and Kristen Hamilton, plus Irish midfielder Denise O'Sullivan, have agreed to join Western Sydney for the W-League season starting next month.
Williams and Hamilton have scored 21 goals between them in Chicago's title win, making them the second and third top scorers in the competition behind Kerr.
Both are US internationals, while O’Sullivan – who made seven appearances for Canberra in the W-League last season – is a hugely experienced figure for the Republic of Ireland.
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Hamilton and Williams were nominated for the NWSL’s Most Valuable Player award for this season, finishing third and fifth respectively behind Kerr in the final voting.
At 27, Hamilton – who was called up by the US women’s national team for the first time in September – is also playing overseas for the first time.
Williams, whose arrival at the Wanderers will be delayed for a week as she will be in camp with the USWNT, is also venturing abroad for the first time professionally at 26.
All three of Williams, Hamilton and O’Sullivan arrive as American champions thanks to a comprehensive defeat of Chicago, in front of a sellout home crowd of 10,227 in Cary, North Carolina.
Kerr missed several chances in the game which the home side dominated.
The triple signings are indicative of the Wanderers’ ambition to be a force in the W-League, after finishing in the bottom three every season since the club was formed.
Former Wanderers defender Dean Heffernan was appointed head coach of the W-League team in April, succeeding former Sydney FC coach Dan Barrett.
Barrett’s exit followed a disappointing campaign last year that featured just one win and only 11 goals scored.
Heffernan has been backed by significant resources and is still hunting for an international guest player.
US U23 international Sam Staab has already signed, while former W-League Player of the Year Amy Harrison has come across from Sydney FC.
However Heffernan may have to secure the services of another goalkeeper, with Matilda Jada Whyman suffering a knee injury which threatens to keep her out for much of the short W-League season.
Meanwhile Kerr is expected to clarify her future shortly, most likely to sign a big-money deal with Chelsea, Lyon, Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain.
W-League bosses have already accepted she won’t be playing in the competition this season despite her marquee contract with Football Federation Australia.