A-League Women Grand Finalists Melbourne City FC and Wellington Phoenix have dominated the PFA’s A-League Women Team of the Season, following an exciting 2025/26 campaign that concludes in Melbourne this Saturday.
The squad – made up of 18 players and one coach – features four players from this season’s reigning Premiers City and six Wellington players, ahead of Saturday afternoon’s Grand Final at AAMI Park.
City defender Rebekah Stott received the most votes from her peers to earn the tile of captain of Team, while Phoenix’s Head Coach Bev Priestman was voted by the players as the best manager of the competition in her inaugural season at the helm of the New Zealand outfit.
A-League Women Golden Boot winner Holly McNamara was also voted into the starting lineup alongside City teammate Leticia McKenna, while Aideen Keane earned a place each on the bench.
Meanwhile, Wellington centre-back Mackenzie Barry, midfielders Pia Vlok and Grace Jale and attacker Brooke Nunn were named in the starting lineup and goalkeeper Victoria Esson and defender Marisa van der Meer were voted on the bench.
Perth Glory’s Teresa Morrissey was the players’ pick for goalkeeper, Brisbane Roar are represented by Aimee Medwin and Daisy Brown, Adelaide United by defender Ella Tonkin, and Central Coast Mariners by Isabel Gomez and Annalise Rasmussen, and Melbourne Victory by Claudia Bunge and Rhianna Pollicina.
Image credit: Imago and Melbourne City
The Team
The team comprises of a 4-3-3 formation, with seven substitutes on the bench. All selected players received the most votes among their peers by PFA A-League Women members at the conclusion of the regular season. The members also voted on their coach of the season.
The Captain
Melbourne City’s Rebekah Stott received the most amount of votes among her peers to be named the Captain of the PFA A-League Women Team of the Season.
Stott caps off yet another fantastic campaign by being named to her third consecutive Team of the Season and the fourth of her distinguished career, as she also takes her place in the starting back-line in the 2025-26 iteration of the team.
The City captain played a key role in helping her side secure yet another A-League Women Premiership, along with putting them in a superb position to win the Championship in this week’s Grand Final and an inaugural AFC Women’s Champions League as her side look to complete an historic treble.
This adds another peer-voted accolade to her name, as Stott also claimed the final Austraffic PFA Player of the Month of the 2025-26 campaign, being voted by her peers as the best player in March-April.
“To be voted by your peers in the PFA Team of the Season is one of the biggest honours you can receive as a player, and to be named Captain is even more meaningful,” Stott said.
“The players are the ones you compete against every week, so to earn that level of respect from them makes this recognition really special.
“I’ve been fortunate to be part of an incredible team at Melbourne City, and I wouldn’t be in this position without my teammates, coaches and staff.”
Goalkeeper
Teresa Morrissey‘s remarkable rise to stardom has been one of the stories of the season.
And her amazing performances throughout the campaign have been duly rewarded by her peers to be named the starting goalkeeper in the PFA A-League Women Team of the Season.
Morrissey went into the season as Perth Glory’s second-choice keeper and was yet to debut in the A-League Women after many years playing as a backup at Melbourne Victory, Western Sydney Wanderers and reigning champions, Central Coast Mariners.
However, she had shown enormous potential at NPL level with Macarthur Rams and Box Hill United, where Morrissey won the NPLW New South Wales Goalkeeper of the Year with the former in 2024 and helped the latter win the NPLW Victoria Championship last year.
But after receiving her debut in December, Morrissey never looked back, taking her opportunity with both hands to establish herself as one of the top goalkeepers in the league. Morrissey finished the season first for goals prevented (7.0) and second in save percentage (81.3%) and saves per 90 (4.6), according to FotMob.
Morrissey also received PFA Player of the Month honours in January after an incredible run of form following her debut.
The Defenders
Stott is joined in the heart of defence by fellow Grand Finalist and New Zealand teammate Mackenzie Barry, after helping Wellington Phoenix reach the decider for the first time in club history.
Barry helped Wellington to the league’s best defensive record with only 17 goals conceded in the regular season and stepped in brilliantly as club captain after CJ Bott announced her pregnancy in January.
The duo are joined by Brisbane Roar’s Aimee Medwin and Adelaide United’s Ella Tonkin in the starting defence.
Medwin – who joined Brisbane on the eve of the season following Western United’s hibernation – played a key role in helping Roar reach the semi-finals and was important at both ends of the ground, with three goals and three assists as well.
Meanwhile, Tonkin was one of Adelaide’s most consistent players en route to another finals berth, starring in defence all season long which also led to her winning the club’s highest honour – the Dianne Alagich Medal.
This is the second-time Tonkin has been voted in the Team of the Season, after being voted on the bench last season, while Barry and Medwin are making their maiden appearances in the squad.
The Midfielders
Wellington players make up the bulk of the starting midfield as Pia Vlok and Grace Jale make their first appearances in the Team of the Season, joining Central Coast Mariners star Isabel Gomez.
Vlok has been one of the revelations of this campaign, slotting in seamlessly to the Wellington side at just 17 years old and starring in a myriad of different roles. The youngster scored six goals and added four assists, while also earning a maiden call-up to the New Zealand national team as a result.
Her ‘Nix and national team teammate Jale also played a key role in leading Wellington to their first finals appearance, marshalling things superbly in the middle of the park as one of their most consistent performers on a week-to-week basis.
Meanwhile, Gomez makes her second straight appearance in the starting midfield in the Team of the Season. The Matildas midfielder bagged 10 goal contributions (four goals, six assists), continuing on from her breakout season last year where she played a key role en route to Central Coast winning the A-League Women Championship.
The Forwards
Golden Boot winner Holly McNamara leads the line yet again as she makes her third appearance in the PFA A-League Women Team of the Season.
The Melbourne City attacker – who was named Captain and won the Golden Boot last season – fired home a league-high 12 goals, to go with a career high five assists for the campaign as she continued to assert herself as one of the league’s best players.
McNamara is joined by Wellington’s Brooke Nunn who had 12 goal contributions, which included a league-high seven assists, with the latest of those coming in their dramatic semi-final victory over Brisbane Roar.
Nunn’s former teammate Annalise Rasmussen rounds out the front three, making the starting lineup even after leaving Central Coast for Italian giants Juventus in January. Rasmussen starred in the early part of the season, scoring 11 goals for Central Coast which was still enough for her to finish second in the Golden Boot charts.
This is the first time Nunn and Rasmussen have been voted into the Team of the Season.
The Substitutes
Four Grand Finalists make up the seven players on the bench, including Melbourne City’s Leticia McKenna and Aideen Keane, along with Wellington Phoenix duo Victoria Esson and Marisa van der Meer.
McKenna makes the peer-voted squad for the second straight year after being voted in last season, capping off another quality campaign for the Premiers which saw her also earn a maiden call-up to the Matildas squad. Meanwhile, Keane enjoyed a breakout season for City, scoring a career-high six goals for the season.
Esson kept an equal competition high seven clean sheets in her first season at the club and was fantastic all campaign long. She was helped by the superb defensive work of Van der Meer, who makes the team following an incredible return from two anterior cruciate ligament injuries in the space of six months.
The quartet are joined by Melbourne Victory duo Claudia Bunge and Rhianna Pollicina. Bunge’s superb performances in defence see her earn a first appearance in the Team of the Season, while Pollicina also stood out in her first season with Victory, scoring seven goals en route to making her fourth PFA Team of the Season.
Brisbane Roar young gun Daisy Brown also makes the bench following an incredible breakout season, where the 19-year-old attacker scored eight goals to help her side return to the finals.
The Coach
Bev Priestman‘s first year in Wellington has been capped off by being voted by the players as the Coach in the Team of the Season. The former Canada women’s national team coach led Wellington to their first-ever finals appearance and by the same token, their first Grand Final, turning her side into one of the toughest teams in the competition – ending the regular season with the league’s best defensive record (17 goals conceded).
About the PFA Team of the Season
The inaugural PFA A-League Team of the Season was announced in 2009 and has been revealed annually in the A-Leagues Finals Series. Based on peer recognition, selection in the PFA Team of the Season remains one of the highest accolades a professional footballer can receive in Australia.
At the end of each season, PFA members from the A-Leagues are asked to vote on their best XI. The composition of the team is based on the number of votes tallied for each player in each position, with the substitutes bench comprising those players who finished below those in the starting XI positions. The player with the most votes is determined the Team of the Season’s captain.
