Perth Glory captain Isobel Dalton says A-League Women must capitalise on Asian Cup, Matildas momentum in 2026

Perth Glory captain Isobel Dalton has urged the A-League Women to not waste the chance to capitalise on the looming Asian Cup after the league’s post-Women’s World Cup shine quickly wore off. The players’ union Professional Footballers Australia on Wednesday launched ‘Ready For Takeoff’, their official vision for the embattled league following extensive consultation with players and fans. The report called for more thorough engagement with fans of the women’s game, pointing to the packed stadiums which accompany Matildas games. Off the back of the Women’s World Cup in 2023, A-League Women’s average attendances surged above the 2100 mark, up from 1200 the previous season — only for them to plummet to 1559 in the 2024-25 season just gone. With the Women’s Asian Cup to kick off in Perth on March 1, Dalton said the league could not afford to let slip another golden opportunity to substantially grow the game. “Part of that will come down to having good fan engagement around the Asian Cup, but then also having a plan in place as to how that can get implemented into the A-League Women,” Dalton told The West Australian. “With the World Cup, there was a massive opportunity and it just didn’t take off. Having the Asian Cup here again is the last opportunity the A-League and Australian women’s football will actually get to make something out of our league.” Dalton has spent three stints in the A-League and while she acknowledged both the quality and quantity of games had improved, she felt there was no plan from the game’s custodians to guide the league’s off-field growth. “During the World Cup, there was so much that could have been leveraged off and I don’t think the league took the right steps to build on what the Matildas did and they could have used that as an opportunity to really grow this league even further,” she said. “You saw sold-out stadiums across the whole country and it trickled into the A-League a little bit, but there wasn’t enough fan engagement to get people to come out to games and support the local teams within their state.” Among the recommendations within the vast report is for a full-time professional league to be implemented by next season, with players currently only contracted for eight months and the league’s minimum salary well below $30,000 and the five other major women’s sporting leagues in Australia. “Even when you’re on a two-year contract, you’re still not paid for those four months,” she said. “For me, this last off-season was the hardest. I was very anxious about where the money was coming in from, what my career was going to look like, what my future looked like. “You almost have to live day-to-day hoping that everything works out. It takes a mental toll on players a lot more than what you probably see, living in the unknown for so long. “Especially as a player, if you’re coming off-contract, going into the off-season, then you’ve really got no sense of direction or idea of where that money’s going to come from.” Dalton, who won Perth’s Most Glorious Player award last season, just completed a criminology degree and has worked multiple other jobs during her time with Glory to supplement her income. But this season, something had to give. “I was working for Boom Logistics, one of our sponsors. I’ve only recently dropped it due to the mental side of it, how hard it actually was to balance it,” she said. “I decided to give it up and just stick with the football, because I know that football can’t last forever, take that pay cut and and just hope things will work out for me. “I do get stuck in two minds, because as much as I would like a lot more financial stability, you don’t want to give the game up. “For me, it’s about sticking with it and hoping things will change.”