The Western Waves were WA's representative in the Women's National Soccer League (WNSL) in 2004, which was the predecessor to the W-League.

 

While the Waves were not directly related to Northern Redbacks, it's short existence had a significant impact on the team of the time with almost the entire Redbacks first team being recruited to represent the Waves. Therefore we felt it right (given the lack of information elsewhere) to note a quick history of the team from resources available on the internet, Tim Hodgson's personal recollections and Neil Bennett's Western Wave's program from 2004.

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The Women's National Soccer League had been in existence since 1996 with six teams representing Queensland, NSW x 2, Victoria, Canberra and Adelaide. The lack of a WA team in the WNSL meant that local stars such as Tal Karp and former Redbacks Lisa DeVanna and Collette McCallum would have to ply their trade interstate.

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Finally, in 2004, WA was invited to form the seventh team in the WNSL and the first expansion team since the league's inception in 1996 and thus the Western Waves were born (SBS Article - "Waves make it seven" ). However due to budgetary constraints, the team only had limited involvement in the league playing just 6 games (each team once) compared to the 11 games of all the other teams who played a home and away season.

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Redbacks were soon to be impacted massively with a large number of players being selected for the Western Waves including: Lisa DeVanna, Collette McCallum, Ciara Conway, Ashley Bennett, Tanya Oxtoby, Nicola Williams, Luciano Colangelo, Stephanie Grant and Hayley Crawford.

 

Western Waves 2004 WNSL Season Results 

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Round 1

Result - Queensland Sting 2 - 1 Western Waves (report)

Venue - Mckellar Stadium, Canberra

Squad - Ashley Bennet, Tanya Oxtoby, Nicola Williams, Luciano Colangelo, Stacey Woodfin, Sarah Cunningham, Tal Karp, Sara Gawned (Kerry McGawley 50), Ciara Conway, Kylie Chatto (Stephanie Grant 81), Hayley Crawford 
Goals -  Hayley Crawford 67

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Round 2 

Result - Northern NSW Pride 1 - 1 Western Waves (report)

Venue - Wanderers Oval, Newcastle

Squad - Ashley Bennet, Tanya Oxtoby, Nicola Williams (Lindsey Jobling 69), Luciano Colangelo, Stacey Woodfin, Sarah Cunningham, Tal Karp, Sara Gawned (Laura Turnbull 79), Ciara Conway (Stephanie Grant 41), Kylie Chatto, Hayley Crawford 
Goal : Tanya Oxtoby 3

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Round 3

Result - NSW Sapphires 3 - 0 Western Waves (report) 

Venue - Marconi Stadium, Sydney

Squad - Ashley Bennet, Nicola Williams, Stacey Woodfin, Tal Karp, Tanya Oxtoby, Kylie Chatto, Hayley Crawford (Laura Turnbull 34), Luciano Colangelo, Kerry McGawley, Sara Gawned (Lindsey Jobling 61), Stephanie Grant

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Round 5 

Result - Western Waves 1 - 0 Canberra Eclipse (report)

Venue - Members Equity Stadium, Perth

Squad - Perica, McGawley, Colangelo, Williams (Turnbull 66), Woodfin, Oxtoby, Gawned (Grant 90), Cunningham, Karp, Chatto, Conway (De Vanna 54) 
Goal - Stacey Woodfin 63

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Round 7

Result - Western Waves 2 - 2 Victoria Vision (report) 

Venue - Members Equity Stadium, Perth

Squad - Perica, McGawley, Colangelo, Williams (Grant 83), Woodfin, Oxtoby, Cunningham, Karp, Gawned (Turnbull 18), Conway, Chatto (De Vanna 34) 
Goals - Lisa De Vanna 49, 69

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Round 8

Result - Western Waves 0 - 1 Adelaide Sensation (report) 

Venue - Members Equity Stadium, Perth

Squad - Perica, Colangelo, Williams (Gawned 46), McGawley, Oxtoby, Woodfin, Cunningham, Karp, Turnbull, De Vanna, Conway (Woodhouse 78)

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The 2005 season saw the WNSL cut back to a week long tournament before the league was folded as well as the national soccer administration at the time prior to the start of the FFA and the W-league.