IT WAS two v one when Melbourne Victory Women hosted Queensland Roar Women this weekend, where a victory would secure Roar Women the Premiership and a homeground semi final.

And while I was more than a little excited at the prospect, I’m not used to supporting a Roar team that performs all season and makes it to the semis. All I could think was: Don’t Choke!

Admittedly, Roar Women appeared choke-proof after coming from 3-1 down at half time to win 5-3 in a thriller against Perth last week. They scored their fourth and fifth goals while a player down in the dying minutes of the match after captain Kate McShea was awarded her second yellow card and sting-in-the-tail charge of ‘bringing the game into disrepute’ for her subsequent outburst at the referee.

I wouldn’t know, though, as I was in Melbourne and my worst one-match-broadcast-once-per-week W-League nightmare played out when the Queensland storms power outages meant that my Foxtel IQ failed to record any football at all.

What I do know is that a top-four finish is still up for grabs with Melbourne, Sydney, and Newcastle going into Round 8 on 12, 11, and 10 points respectively, with nine-points-each Canberra and Central Coast snapping at their heels.

Which is everything we could ask for, because the last thing the newly-born W-League needs is a signed, sealed, and delivered finish.

During the week a friend asked me what the measure of a successful W-League season would be. He’s thought about it, I’ve thought about it, and as shoestring-budget Season One approaches its climax, the W-League organisers and sponsors who will determine whether or not there will be a Season Two are most certainly thinking about it.

Crowd numbers, we decided, are definitely a key measure. Whether or not the W-League is generating entertaining, more-than-a-one-horse-race football is another.

Ongoing and new sponsorship deals will prove crucial. Then there’s: the continued and — we can only hope — increased media and broadcast coverage and ratings; smart marketing; building on existing strong international Socceroos and Matildas performances; the strengthening of the A-League; interest from foreign leagues; and the ability to pay players a wage in Season Two that’s comparable with their skill and experience.

Indeed, as much as I’d like to think that it’s about the football, it’s actually about the money. No club has even come close to reaching the $150,000 salary cap imposed for the inaugural season, a partly reassuring sign that the organisers are taking a cautious financial approach to ensure the W-League’s ongoing success. But the players have lives, rents, and mortgages to finance and the W-League is in danger of losing their talent and experience to overseas clubs or simply other jobs if Season Two isn’t a little different.

There’s no easy solution, but the W-League will clearly need to successfully fulfil all of the criteria in order to give Season One a thumbs up. And the players will need to make smart decisions for a second season, even if that means cutting their teeth in paying international leagues while the W-League finds its feet.

But if we cared about financial imperatives we’d be reading balance sheets. The real question is: Did Roar Women choke?

No, they didn’t.

It wasn’t quite a come-from-behind eight-goal thriller, but the 3-1 win was hard fought, not least because Melbourne turned on its finest wet and rainy weather for the match—the wind was so strong that Barbieri couldn’t keep the ball stationary on the ground to take a goal kick and the ABC cameramen were forced to chamois the camera lenses and commentator box windows spattered by the swirling rain.

Team-player Polkinghorne had ‘Jen’ and ‘Kim’ written on the back of her boots in a tribute to team mates Jenna Tristram and Kim Carroll, both sidelined with knee injuries, both of which occurred, interestingly, at matches that the ABC broadcast.

Maybe it’s the knowledge that Tristram and Carroll would give their right legs to be out on the pitch that is keeping them grounded, but Roar Women looked hungry. And tenacious Melbourne, who slotted in a goal of their own, looked far from out of the race.

Indeed, Roar Women might be out in front right now, but Round 8’s end sees the ladder as tight as ever. There are two more rounds and then semi and grand finals and, reassuringly for the W-League, the Championship is far from in the bag.

Fiona Crawford writes about football on her website and she still can’t quite believe that the Roar Men won at home. Twice.