W-League’s next generation is already showing Matildas credentials

With a quarter of the 2020-21 W-League season already completed, the big question of whether the exodus of senior Matildas and other internationals would affect the league’s quality and entertainment factor has been emphatically answered.

The first three rounds have already produced some jaw-dropping moments and goal of the season contenders, from Canberra United midfielder Grace Maher’s half-field lob to Sydney FC winger Princess Ibini’s outside-of-the-box curler, and the full-field slalom by Melbourne Victory’s Lisa De Vanna.

But what’s been most encouraging is that young, Australian players have been at the heart of many of them.

Right now, almost half of the league’s 20 individual goal-scorers are younger than 23, as are three of the…