Each week, ABC Sport will bring you a Round Wrap of the A-League Women's competition, including winners, losers, and a good thing that happened on or off the field.

Round 7 at a glance

Melbourne City maintain second spot with 1-0 win over Adelaide, Sydney FC show no mercy after thrashing Canberra United 6-0, Brisbane Roar leave it late once again with 3-2 defeat of Wellington, Melbourne Victory squeak past Western Sydney 1-0, and Newcastle Jets stay in lock-step with Perth after 1-1 draw.

Winners

Contingency plans

If there was ever any doubt that some teams were better prepared to lose key players than others, then round 7 certainly proved who had the stronger Plan B.

Through a combination of Matildas call-ups, the conclusion of loan spells, and Covid-19, ALW clubs have now been forced to reach into the depths of their squads to find ways to manage through the current moment.

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Ladder-leaders Sydney FC barely missed a step in their game against Canberra on Saturday, bringing veteran international Maria 'Cote' Rojas and Kiwi Paige Satchell into the starting line-up to replace departed striker Remy Siemsen and winger Cortnee Vine.

They were almost perfect, like-for-like substitutions, with Satchell's electric pace mirroring Vine's down the right wing, while the hold-up and link-up play of Rojas mimicked the dynamic Siemsen has developed with the players around her, particularly Princess Ibini-Isei, Mackenzie Hawkesby and Rachel Lowe.

Indeed, Siemsen could have more competition than she expected upon her return to Australia after Rojas' hat-trick that saw the Sky Blues hand United the biggest defeat in their history.

Melbourne City's Plan B was perhaps not as effective as Sydney's, but securing a 1-0 win over the much-more-competitive Adelaide United showed they have the depth to navigate this tricky period.

Having lost forward Holly McNamara and defender Winonah Heatley, head coach Rado Vidosic handed starting debuts to youngsters Darcey Malone and Naomi Thomas-Chinnama, who helped shore-up City's defence against the recently free-scoring Reds.

While Adelaide were unlucky not to score in their dominant first half, City rose to the challenge in the second, largely thanks to midfielder Rhianna Pollicina.

Stepping up to fill the creative, attacking threat posed by McNamara, Pollicina scored the game's only goal after a delightful slalom through Adelaide's bewildered defenders to secure City's fourth-consecutive win.

And while they'll be missing McNamara for a while longer after the dynamic striker made the final 23-player Matildas squad, they will soon see the return of stand-out defender Heatley, who missed out on selection.

Slotting right back in alongside impressive central defenders Emma Checker and Tori Tumeth — all of whom have conceded just four goals so far this season — Heatley's return will add further certainty to City's finals run, so long as they can continue finding the net up the other end.

Alyssa Winham

There are countless ALW players this season whose stories encapsulate what the league is now all about: Creating more opportunities for young, undiscovered local talent to break onto the scene and set themselves up for potentially bigger and better things in football.

But there are few players across the competition who epitomise this as clearly — and, most recently, as dramatically — as Wellington Phoenix attacker Alyssa Winham.

The under-17 New Zealand international had originally been told by Phoenix head coach Gemma Lewis that she hadn't made the club's inaugural ALW squad.

Instead, Lewis said, "Just focus on your youth international duties and playing for NZ-based club Canterbury United, and maybe next year you'll get a call-up".

But, as the start of the regular season approached, Winham got a phone call.

She'd been offered a scholarship contract thanks to an international loophole that allowed Wellington to offer two more spots to New Zealand players under 18 years of age.

Winham linked up with the squad just before they relocated to New South Wales, and has since told media that she's used her original non-selection as motivation to have a breakout season.

And she has done. On Sunday afternoon against Brisbane, Winham scored her debut ALW goal — Wellington's second so far this season — to cap off what has been a truly dazzling start to her professional football career.

Her reaction after scoring, wheeling around to her team-mates with a look of shock and disbelief on her face, seemed to embody the last couple months' worth of emotion and work that has led her to this point.

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That she had the word "SHOOT" written in black marker on the tape around her wrist also spoke to how this young Kiwi footballer has taken her slim opportunity with both hands: Shooting her shot, if you will.

"I was so surprised. I just couldn't believe I had scored a goal. I never expected it," Winham said afterwards.

"I really can't describe the feeling and put into words how much it meant, but I just couldn't even believe what had happened.

"Straight after the game, everyone was saying, 'Alyssa, you're going viral' and I was like, 'Surely for the goal?', but they're like, 'No, for the celebration!'

"If you watch the games, you know I'm not one to shoot when I probably should, so everyone was yelling at me in that moment: 'Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!'

"And then I shot, and it went in. that's what happens when you shoot, I guess."

Indeed.

Losers

Canberra United

There was a moment against Sydney FC on Saturday afternoon that seemed to encapsulate the first half of Canberra United's bizarre 2021-22 season.

Just after the hour mark, Sydney FC won a corner in the shadows of Jubilee Stadium.

Within seconds of Hawkesby floating the ball towards the six-yard box, three Canberra players had clattered into each other and were in a tangled heap on the ground, while the goal music was blaring out of the stadium speakers.

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It was the third of six goals United would concede this round — their worst ever result in the history of the competition.

As the above moment suggests, Canberra's problems appear to be largely of their own making.

Inconsistent squad selections and the deployment of players in unusual positions have been the defining features of United's season so far, with the game against Sydney the most blatant example of the damage it can cause.

The loss of regular starting midfielder Grace Maher and defender Emma Ilijoski to COVID-19 — as well as short-term loanee Karly Roestbakken to Matildas duty — saw head coach Vicki Linton reach deep into her bench and make wholesale positional rotations.

Speedy winger Hayley Taylor-Young was shuffled into left-back, young defender Mikayla Vidmar was handed her starting debut at centre-back, while the midfield was almost completely new with Laura Hughes and Margot Robinne handed starts after mostly coming off the bench in previous games.

The lack of chemistry and understanding between players was almost immediately evident as Sydney striker Rojas sailed through Canberra's too-high defensive line to register the game's first shot in the opening 40 seconds.

There were problems in midfield, too, which regularly dissolved under pressure and found players regularly caught out of position due to lack of communication between the make-shift trio.

It's perhaps fitting that Canberra suffered this historic result against Sydney, a team that has typified long-term planning and multi-season squad consistency.

They're also a side with a very clear style and system of play, constructed to maximise the natural abilities of the players at their disposal, while also allowing them to drop in and out of the one, shared structure.

But the same arguably cannot be said of Canberra this season.

Their first six games have been a noticeable departure from the identity and the spirit that has made the club one of Australia's most successful, the club that was the envy of all others for so long.

Now, the vision seems blurred. You are not quite sure what Canberra are or what they want to be.

Of all the lessons they can learn from Saturday's loss, that's probably the most important one.

Melbourne Victory

Jeff Hopkins probably didn't expect that his season would become an unwanted game of whack-a-mole as a result of needing to rapidly and effectively fill the gaps left by the injury and departure of various key players.

The first big whack was trying to find an appropriate replacement for the team's injured centre-back and captain, Kayla Morrison.

This past Sunday against Western Sydney, Victory appear to have settled on the duo of Claudia Bunge and Amy Jackson, who recorded the team's first clean sheet and look to be the ones to anchor their defence in future.

However, just as they've found defensive soundness, Victory are now facing problems up front.

The loss of USA striker Lynn Williams after her short-term loan has thinned out Victory's attacking weaponry, which has been further affected by winger Lia Privitelli being forced to fill in at left-back for the India-bound Courtney Nevin, while the less-experienced Alana Murphy has taken over from Kyra Cooney-Cross in the midfield.

A debut start for young striker Maja Markovski went some way to addressing their attacking shortfalls, with the tall forward scoring the game-winning penalty in the second half but, beyond that — and a player-of-the-match performance from attacking midfielder Alex Chidiac — Victory struggled to break down Western Sydney's solid defence, registering just two shots on target all game.

While they scraped the win to maintain third spot on the ladder, the next few weeks will ultimately decide the fate of a club predicted to sweep both trophies this season.

Here's a good thing

The other Aussies going to India

The Matildas aren't going to be the only women representing Australia when the 2022 Women's Asian Cup kicks off later this week.

They will be joined by some of the country's best women referees, too, including 2019 Women's World Cup officials Kate Jacewicz and Casey Reibelt, alongside experienced ALW referee Lara Lee and assistant Joanna Charaktis.

The four Aussies will be part of the largest contingent of women referees to ever oversee the continental competition, while the introduction of VAR from the quarter-finals onwards will give more women additional opportunities to officiate at the highest levels and biggest matches in the sport.