The arrival of Wellington Phoenix women can be the missing piece of the jigsaw that turns the Football Ferns into one of the world game's heavyweights, says New Zealand striker Hannah Wilkinson.
The 2021/22 A-League season has seen the formation of Wellington Phoenix women as a team, giving New Zealand its first professional women's football side.
And while the team are yet to win a match under the tutelage of coach Gemma Lewis, the on-field results pale in comparison to the significance of an outlet for New Zealand's women and girls to aim for in their journeys towards professional football.
As a veteran of a century of appearances for the Football Ferns, 29-year-old Wilkinson understands the importance of having a New Zealand-affiliated professional team.
After a career plying her trade in Sweden, Portugal and Germany, Wilkinson is now based closer to home, leading the line for Melbourne City in the A-League - where on Sunday she netted five goals in a derby win over Melbourne Victory.
And while Wilkinson does harbour ambitions of one day playing for the Phoenix, for now the Football Ferns forward asserts that more of her international teammates will look to do the same.
What's more, a core of Kiwi players at the Phoenix will only benefit the Football Ferns on the world stage.
"I think the more it develops and the more professionalised it becomes, I'm certain we'll see more New Zealand-based players join," Wilkinson tells Newshub.
"To be honest, that's exactly what we need as a national team as well. To have most of us playing together all the time. That's going to make us absolutely unstoppable.
"It's certainly something that we'd need for sure if we want to be extremely successful as the Ferns, to have a home base like that."
Wilkinson and Melbourne City will come up against the Phoenix on January 9. And despite the obvious excitement at playing against a New Zealand side, the opportunity for the young Phoenix side to face opposition like Wilkinson's Melbourne City will be another added benefit for the team's development.
But while it might be too soon to expect the Phoenix women to challenge for silverware - with most of the squad made up of New Zealand youth representatives currently younger than 20 - the building blocks are in place for the team to grow as a group of professionals.
"I'm pretty stoked, that's a game that I'm really looking forward to, for sure," Wilkinson adds.
"It's so awesome we finally have that. We've been waiting for something like that to happen for so long.
"The A-League has been going for so long, we're just so surprised there isn't a New Zealand team, and finally there is.
"That game I'm really looking forward to. The girls are putting on some really decent performances. It is quite a young squad they have in, but it's so exciting for the development of women's football.
"This is finally a pathway that young girls can break through. It's the No.1 sport in New Zealand for young girls, and so what better [way] to have a pathway into the professional level.
"We'll see some very exciting players coming through that, I think."
What's more, the Phoenix's maiden campaign in the Australian league - and it's accessibility as a product - will see future generations able to aspire to professional football in the same way that Wilkinson and the current Football Ferns side did.
And with previous generations of female footballers forced to try and ply their trade in either Europe or the US, young Kiwi women can now aim to represent their hometown club - playing in front of their home fans week in, week out.
"There's finally another way to get this talent exposed. It was pretty hard growing up, I actually had to move to Auckland and really get under the coaches noses.
"But now there's another way for players to not only get exposed, but also develop themselves, have an incredible experience playing in this league.
"It's getting even more professionalised as well. All of these games are being streamed, and actually available to watch.
"People always say 'no one watches women's football,' but the reason is no one watches it because it's never available. Now no one can make that argument.
"Yesterday's game was on two channels in Sky in New Zealand - that's just so amazing, and that's what we need to see more of.
"It's so exciting for the young girls in the Wellington Phoenix to get that kind of exposure and that kind of development."
Watch Newshub's interview with Hannah Wilkinson from 6pm Monday.
