Wall, 24, is originally from Dunedin but has spent the past five seasons with the Canterbury United Pride and has won two national league titles.
Phoenix head coach Paul Temple was quickly convinced of Wall\u2019s ability to step up to the Ninja A-League.
\u201cLara came in on trial at the start of our pre-season and really impressed the staff,\u201d Temple said.
\u201cShe is the complete package and has the versatility of being able to play on both the left and right sides of defence.\u00a0
\u201cNot only did she do well on the grass in training sessions, but a huge part of being an elite athlete is mentality, attitude, application and hunger.\u00a0
\u201cShe was fantastic around the group and her mentality is to get to work, have no excuses and maximise every day, and I love that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Lara-Wall2.jpg\")
Lara Wall has already played with a number of the Phoenix players including club captain Annalie Longo and centre back Rebecca Lake. She plans to juggle professional football with her current job as a structural engineer.
\u201cWhen I got the call to trial, it came as a bit of a shock,\u201d Wall said. \u201cI was sitting at my desk at work and thinking how I would love to be out on the football field.
\u201cI had been chatting to Bex (Lake) and Flea (Longo) a little bit. They put in a good word for me.
\u201cIt was awesome to have the whole week to really showcase myself, with strength testing, fitness testing and having a game.
\u201cI ended up staying another week with the contracted players. It was so cool to train with them, get to know them, and now I feel really comfortable coming back to Wellington and being in the team.\u201d
Wall will bring versatility and attacking flair to the Wellington backline.
\u201cMy strengths are being able to use both feet, and my speed on the wing. When I was young, my dad used to make me kick with both feet.
\u201cI usually play on the left, but I am right footed. It\u2019s good to be able to cut in or drive down the line, but I don\u2019t mind playing either side.
\u201cI ended up playing wingback for Cashmere Tech this season, which meant I was able to get forward more and score. Flea and I set each other up for a few goals!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Lara-Wall3.jpg?w=1200\")
\u201cI work for a company called Holmes and I\u2019m fortunate to be able to transfer to their Wellington office.
\u201cI\u2019ve worked on the Christchurch Cathedral and Dunedin hospital, and it is very different to playing football.
\u201cWhen I chose to go to university, then stay in Christchurch, I did think that might be my life.
\u201cBut they\u2019re happy to work around football and around me. It means I get to continue my structural engineering career, while still pursuing my football dreams.
\u201cI\u2019m really excited to be here for two years, because it means I\u2019ll get to do lots of learning, especially in my first season as a professional.\u201d
Lara Wall is the 19th player confirmed in the Phoenix women\u2019s squad and will wear the no. 21 shirt during the 2024-25 Ninja A-League.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":322987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[329,330,343,355],"tags":[],"competition":[],"acf":{"match_card_embed_league":null,"match_card_embed_club":null,"match_card_embed_match":false,"match_card_embed_disable":false,"auto_publish_updates":true,"reference_article":null,"article_featured_video":"","article_featured_video_tagline":"","article_byline":"","article_media_type":"news","article_video":"","gallery":"","shared_ffa_source":"keepup","shared_hide_in_app":false,"article_player":"","article_team":"","article_competition":"","article_match":"","credit":"","related_articles":"","push_to_social":false,"priority":1,"sport":false,"language":"en","private_content":false,"access_level":"","article_id":"","app_featured_image":null,"article_content_group":"news"},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/news\/trial-pays-off-for-pride-fullback\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Trial pays off for Pride fullback","url":"http:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/news\/trial-pays-off-for-pride-fullback\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/news\/trial-pays-off-for-pride-fullback\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Lara-Wall-Signing-Yellow-Web-1920x1080-1.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Lara-Wall-Signing-Yellow-Web-1920x1080-1.png"},"articleSection":"Breaking News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"brenton"}],"creator":["brenton"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wellington Phoenix","logo":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/04\/cropped-Wellington_Phoenix_FC_logo-2.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2024-10-02T03:00:00Z","datePublished":"2024-10-02T03:00:00Z","dateModified":"2024-10-02T03:00:00Z"},"rendered":"