The race for the first Fantasy prize is beginning to take shape, but with only 19 points separating the top seven, there is still plenty of room for a new name to emerge.
Two match weeks into the inaugural BWSL Fantasy season, the leaderboard has already done what fantasy football does best: make a confident plan look very different one weekend later.
After opening the campaign on top, Kangtortion FC has been knocked off the summit. In its place is Squeaky Brum Time, managed by Oliver Skanberg-Tippen, who has climbed to first with 223 Leg 1 points.
This is not a runaway.
Kangtortion FC sits just 12 points behind on 211, while STANWAY or ANOTHER is only one point further back on 210. Then comes Shaw thing on 209, Just a Fays on 205, with Mariona Grande and Keeping it Sharpe level on 204.
Seven teams. Nineteen points.
With Leg 1 still having three match weeks to run, that is hardly enough breathing room to start celebrating.
A new leader, but the same familiar threat
There is something fitting about the name Squeaky Brum Time sitting at the top.
It is almost exactly what the Leg 1 race feels like right now.
Squeaky Brum Time has made the biggest move at the very top, gaining a place after Matchweek 2. Meanwhile, Kangtortion FC and STANWAY or ANOTHER have both slipped a position despite remaining within striking distance.
Dropping down the leaderboard does not necessarily mean a manager got it wrong. Sometimes it simply means someone else got more things right.
That is particularly true this early in the game. The Barclays WSL's first leg is only five match weeks long, and the opening two rounds have already produced some huge swings in player value and output. The official Fantasy analysis heading into match week 2 warned managers against overreacting to one weekend while also identifying form players, differentials and fixture opportunities.
Now we are starting to see which managers actually acted on that information.
Shaw is still the player everyone wants
There is one obvious thread running through the early Fantasy season: Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw.
The Manchester City forward was the most popular captain among the opening match week's top 10, with five of those managers handing her the armband. She returned 28 points for them after scoring twice against Birmingham City.
Heading into match week 2, Shaw was still selected by 61% of Fantasy teams, making her the safest premium attacking option on the board. The Fantasy Scout also pointed to her remarkable record against Aston Villa, including four goals in City's 6-1 win last December.
Then she did what Bunny Shaw does.
The Manchester City striker's 26-point match week 2 score was comfortably the biggest haul in the Team of the Week. She accounted for more than a fifth of Alberto Franco's 116 points by herself.
That is the problem (or opportunity) for everyone chasing the top.
Owning Shaw does not necessarily make you different. Not owning her when she explodes can make you fall behind very quickly.
But this race is not being won by forwards alone
This is perhaps the most interesting part of the leaderboard.
Look at the Team of the Week from match week 2 and the spread of points is striking.
Shaw led the way with 26, but Ellie Carpenter scored 16, while McLaughlin added 10 and Blundell nine. Tamminen contributed 11 from goal, and James also reached double figures with 10.
That is a useful reminder of what makes BWSL Fantasy different from simply picking the players most likely to score.
Carpenter, for example, is not just a defender waiting for a clean sheet. She can contribute in possession and in attack too. In match week 1, she scored seven points after assisting Lauren James against Aston Villa. Kerstin Casparij provided another example of the value of defenders, with an assist and clean-sheet points against Birmingham.
The opening-week leaders noticed.
STANWAY or ANOTHER collected 39 points from three defenders, while the third-placed Project went even further, using a 5-3-2 and getting 52 of its 118 points from the backline.
That defensive-heavy approach may not be as glamorous as loading up on forwards, but it is proving to be a very real route to the top.
The differentials are where the fun starts
If everyone owns Shaw, the big question becomes: where are the points the rest of the game hasn't found yet?
That is where the differentials come in.
Ahead of match week 2, the Fantasy Scout highlighted five players owned by fewer than three per cent of managers, including Delphine Cascarino, who had already delivered seven points in the opening round, and Anna Tamminen, who was owned by only two per cent.
Tamminen is particularly interesting when looking at the current picture.
The Newcastle goalkeeper appears in the Team of the Week with 11 points. That is the sort of return that can quietly make a huge difference at the top of a Leg.
If a player owned by 60 per cent of managers scores 10 points, the field moves together.
If a two-per-cent player scores 11, the managers who took the gamble start moving away from everyone else.
That is the thin line between playing it safe and actually winning a Fantasy prize.
There is no single blueprint at the top
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the first two match weeks is that the leading managers are not all building their teams in exactly the same way.
Kangtortion FC's opening-week score was heavily driven by four players: Grace Fisk, Vivien Endemann, Kirsty Hanson and Signe Gaupset, who together produced 66 of the team's 127 points. That was more than half of its entire score.
Fisk was especially valuable. The Liverpool defender scored 21 points in match week 1 despite being owned by only nine per cent of managers, making her one of the clearest examples of a differential paying off immediately. Seven of the opening top 10 had her.
That is what makes the current leaderboard so interesting.
A manager can have the same premium forward as everyone else and still build an advantage somewhere else.
One might spend heavily on defenders. Another might lean into Liverpool. Another might take a punt on a low-owned goalkeeper. Another might trust a midfielder who accumulates points through attacking and defensive actions rather than goals alone.
There is no perfect formula yet which is precisely why the race remains so close.
Matchweek 2 changed the mood
There is also something very human about this stage of the Fantasy season.
After match week 1, managers have a pretty good idea of which of their players they love and which ones they suddenly cannot believe they picked.
Then comes match week 2.
Some of those early doubts disappear. Others get louder.
The temptation is to panic: to make five transfers, chase every player who scored and abandon the original plan. The BWSL's Fantasy coverage repeatedly stressed the importance of looking at form, fixtures and minutes rather than simply chasing the previous week's points.
That could be particularly important now.
The real skill is not necessarily predicting who scores 20 points next weekend. It is finding the players who are likely to keep contributing while everyone else is trying to catch up.
So, who has the edge?
Right now, Squeaky Brum Time.
But it would be brave to call them favourites.
A 12-point gap to second is small enough to disappear with one captaincy decision. Three points separate second and third. One point separates third and fourth. Even seventh is only 19 points off the lead.
The table is less a procession than a pack.
And behind the pack, the next wave will be watching for an opening.
For now, Squeaky Brum Time has the bragging rights.
Kangtortion FC is still right there.
STANWAY or ANOTHER is refusing to go away.
And Shaw thing, Just a Fays, Mariona Grande and Keeping it Sharpe are close enough to make the top of the table feel decidedly uncomfortable.
Two match weeks down but the first Fantasy prize is still anyone's for the taking.
