Teenage Kicks | Ten SWPL1 Stars for the Future

Inspired by Ameé Ruszaki’s yearly glimpse into the future with her NXGN series for Goal.com I’ve cast my eye across the SWPL1 and come up with ten names who I think could become regulars in SWNT sides for years to come.

This list isn’t exhaustive or in any kind of order just ten of the players who with continued hard work, a little bit of luck and the right support around them could go to the top of our game and beyond. A chance to say, you heard about them before anyone else did.

The only criteria is that these players have had minutes in SWPL1 this season and have been born on or after 1st January 2003 as per the same conditions Ameé places on her excellent delves into the future. So let’s get going.

London Pollard (DOB: 18/10/2004) Club: Motherwell

London Pollard has packed a lot into what has been a relatively short SWPL career to date. Making her debut as a 16-year-old for Forfar Farmington having moved from the now defunct Cove Rangers a double against Motherwell early in the 2020/21 season had already piqued interests before a goal against Celtic in December 2020 really brought her to the fore. An explosive demonstration of her potential, an intelligent run from deep would be capped off by an emphatic finish as the Angus side claimed a point at K Park.

As Forfar Farmington drifted towards their eventual withdrawal from the SWPL Pollard looked like a player losing her way and while a move to Celtic saw her move up the table, game time would be limited. A loan move to Partick Thistle at the start of the 2021/22 season would see the return to prominence of the talent that had caused so much initial excitement. Reinvigorated, and with the experience of Thistle head coach Brian Graham to learn from, Graham as a player for the Thistle men’s side is a similarly rangy striker with a languid style, goals would come against Glasgow City and Rangers as she became a key figure in Thistle’s survival push. It was a blow then to the Jags when her loan was cut short to sign permanently for Motherwell but a double against Spartans showed that progress is still gathering pace.

She can still at times seem indecisive in front of goal when afforded time and if things aren’t going her way her the head can drop but as her experience grows these traits will continue to be diminished and her raw attributes and instinctive eye for goal means she is one of SWPL1 most’s tantalising prospects. It was no surprise to see her score on her Scotland U19 debut last month against Wales and fans should be excited by the prospect of even more to come.

Emma Watson (DOB: 28/01/2006) Club: Rangers

No young player has left a lasting first impression on me quite like that of Rangers 16-year-old midfielder Emma Watson. A player who despite her diminutive stature oozes a level of class that has seen her already feature thirteen times for the SWPL1 leaders this term. The first of two Rangers youngsters to make this list her inclusion in Malky Thomson’s first team squad is no gimmick, she is the real deal with the confidence to boot, never hiding, and unafraid to demand the ball from her more experienced teammates. The fact that teammates with the international experience of Tessel Middag and Lizzie Arnot are all too happy to bring her into Rangers attacking tapestries should be a positive indicator of things to come.

Neat and tidy on the ball what really impresses is that her head is always on a swivel and almost always with a view to getting the ball moving with forward momentum. She is even good for a goal or two and when Rangers faced WSL giants Manchester United and Chelsea in pre-season she more than held her on. Still very young it will be hard to predict exactly how high she can go, particularly as the demands for success at her club side continue to grow but at the moment Watson is perhaps the most exciting prospect amongst this list.

Bayley Hutchison (DOB: 08/10/2003) Club: Aberdeen

Last season’s SWPL2 Player of the Year and top goalscorer has more than handled the step up in level after a season that started with some injury induced stutters. The 18-year-old has already amassed 17 goals in all competitions this term and she has continued to fine tune every type of finish in her arsenal. Instinctive tap in, poached it. The pass into the corner at the end of a swift counter, tucked it away. A first touch worldie, top bins everyday.

Above all though, it is her composure in each of these situations that stands out. She very rarely wastes a chance and when Aberdeen’s counter attack is operating at peak efficiency Hutchison’s precision in front of goal provides the sharpest of finishes. Already well established on the radar’s of Scotland biggest sides there should be no rush for Hutchison to move just yet as an exciting group of team-mates emerge around her but it now seems inevitable that one day that move will come for a player who is already one of the SWPL’s most potent finishers.

Eva Thomson (DOB: 26/06/2004) Club: Aberdeen

In a team full of young stars (Eilidh Shore and Francesca Ogilvie just miss this list by virtue of being born earlier than the 2003 cut off) Eva Thomson is yet another emerging talent from Scotland’s north-east that has coped comfortable with the step up from SWPL2 to SWPL1. This season the midfielder has increased her physicality and added a combativeness to her play but that shouldn’t mask what are increasingly potent attacking talents with four league goals to her name through. She often finds and reacts to space where others haven’t in and around the final third, perhaps best evidenced by her opener against Partick Thistle back in September 2021. Reacting quickest after a stop in play to find space in the box and tuck the ball neatly into the corner.

This season has been one of acclimatisation and steady progression for Thomson, in Shore she has a talented contempary wh has gone through a similar process to work alongside and the refinement of her own style will continue this season and beyond.

Tegan Bowie (DOB: 11/09/2003) Club: Celtic

The only player in this list to have had a call up to the Scotland squad having earned her maiden trip with Pedro Martinez Losa’s side late last year Bowie is an exciting attacking threat from the wing-back areas and can perhaps feel a little hard done by that she hasn’t featured more for Fran Alonso’s Celtic this term.

She certainly has some of the traits the Spaniard tends to look for; high energy with the pace to trouble opposing full backs, her introduction against Rangers in the SWPL Cup earlier in the season turned the game in Celtic’s favour as she pinned back the always threatening Rachel McLauchlan. While she can play as a straight full-back a role wide of a back three feels the best use of her skills, and like many of the players on this list as her strength and physicality grows the height of her ceiling will too particularly if she continues to demonstrate that relentless attitude that she often pushes through to the full time whistle with.

Maria McAneny (DOB: 25/06/2004) Club: Celtic (on loan at Hearts)

Scoring a Scotland Goal of the Year winning overhead kick in 2020 is certainly one way to introduce yourself to the world of Scottish football.

Fast forward fifteen months and midfielder Maria McAneny has been one of the standouts in a Hearts side with so many promising youngsters that it can sometimes be hard to keep track of who might be the one to break out from the pack. This list would have felt incomplete without at least one of this current crop.

For McAneny, her calling card is the swagger that often accompanies her play, a trait that stands out amongst more timid characters in a young squad. The 17-year-old’s desire to drop deep and try the odd Hollywood ball can be as effective as it is frustrating but she has also shown an imaginative eye for goal, scoring an audacious free-kick from the corner of the area against Partick Thistle and a rasping consolation against Hibernian just last week.

Whether she stays at Hearts next season, returns to Celtic or moves on elsewhere, that next step could be key to how far she goes.

Lisa Rodgers (DOB: 16/02/2006) Club: Hearts

There is a long and intricate conversation for another time to be had about the volume, or lack of, goalkeepers the Scottish game is currently producing during a season where SWPL1 sides Celtic and Partick Thistle have had to utilise outfield players between the posts. It is for that reason that any time a bright young thing in gloves appears on the horizon there should be excitement to be found. Celtic’s Rachael Johnstone of course deserves a mention but it is the recent progress of Hearts youngster Lisa Rodgers that I’ve gone for here.

Having made her debut at Tynecastle aged just 15 earlier this season the Scotland U17 international, who turned 16 last month, has returned to goal in recent weeks in the absence of the more established Charlotte Parker-Smith and there is a strong belief amongst the Edinburgh side’s coaching staff that Rodgers is destined for the top. Despite her young age she already has the frame one would associate with the role and in Hearts recent defeat to Hibernian she stood out for a number of fine saves despite conceding four, none of which could see the blame placed at her door.

Of course, there is a worry that things could come too fast too soon but amongst a Hearts squad growing together there should be some excitement that one of Scotland’s top tier sides is ready to place thier faith in the Scotland U17 internationalist.

Eilidh Adams (DOB: 06/04/2004) Club: Hibernian

The 2020/21 season was a breakout campaign for Eilidh Adams but in hindsight was maybe one that came too fast with the young striker often left to shoulder the sole burden at the top of the Hibernian attack, having made the step up from the disbanded development side the preceding summer. She would only score twice but it was her tireless endeavour leading the line that earmarked as a player to watch this term.

The arrival of American striker Alexa Coyle has helped ease that load and while injuries have at times limited her impact on the first team for spells this season in recent weeks she has come back to the fore, scoring in all three of this season’s Edinburgh derbies. With eight goals in all competitions as the season enters its closing stages the opportunity to sit the odd game out has no doubt helped with her end of season freshness. Her ruthlessness in front of goal is still a work in progress but she has already esetablished her on-field presence and coupled with the fact that this year has shown another incremental improvement for the soon to be 18-year-old all the signs point to things starting to come together for a player long earmarked for future international honours.

Jodi McLeary (DOB: 01/06/2005) Club: Rangers

When Jodi McLeary looks along the Rangers frontline and sees one of Scotland’s all time great goal-scorers Jane Ross lined up alongside her the 16-year-old must pinch herself in disbelief but McLeary’s appearances for the Rangers first team this season have not just been a chance to get close to one of her idols but also a result of the impish excitement the youngster has when it comes to getting the ball in and around the goal.

She may be yet to score in the league but her early season strikes in the SWPL Cup group stages and subsequent hauls for the SWNT U17 side in recent Euro qualifying show that there is plenty to work with. Of all the players on this list she is the one that, perhaps, looks most her age, but that is no bad thing and is instead an indication of how highly she is rated by her coaches at club and international level.

With a crowded and extremely talented frontline ahead of her in the pecking order for Malky Thomson’s side a loan move may be in her future but it will have to be one that is carefully curated to ensure that her development is not stunted by a stagnant spell at a struggling side, even then though you suspect that McLeary will still find a way to shine.

Jemma Hughes (DOB: 14/09/2004) Club: Motherwell

A rogue choice some might think but nothing will endear a player to Scottish football fans more than a bit of tenacity, and tenacity is something that Motherwell forward Jemma Hughes has buckets of. Having spent the 2020/21 season at SWPL2 Queen’s Park new Motherwell boss Paul Brownlie was quick to bring her into the first team fold.

Hughes is a pest for opposing defenders, often rotating with the player at the start of this list, London Pollard, in the Motherwell attack. Not afraid to get her boot in for a tackle or to go shoulder to shoulder with bigger and more experienced players she got her first goal for the Women of Steel during a 3–0 North Lanarkshire derby victory over Hamilton Academical and has since gone on to earn international recognition as part of a U19’s side coached by Pauline Hamill, a striker with who Hughes shares a lot of early similarities. She may not have the guile or physical attributes of some of the players on this list quite yet but there is a grit to her play that could still see her go far.

So there’s the list. Who would make your ten? You can catch some of the games future stars this weekend at Broadwood as the U16 & U19 National Performance League Cup Finals take place along with your usual hit of SWPL action so why not pop along to a game and get a first hand glimpse at the future of our game.

IF YOU LIKED THIS: If you enjoyed this I have set up a Ko Fi page, almost all the work I do relating to women’s football I do in my spare time and for free because I want to see it grow. I’ve thought about paywalls but I’m not sure how they stimulate new conversations about the game that still needs to grow its audience.

That said, if you want to, and you are able to, I’d love your support. The link to do so is here and it can be whatever you want.

Thanks for reading, stay safe and be back soon.