Sky Sports columnist Laura Hunter analyses the big talking points from the sixth round of Women's Super League matches, bringing you closer to the key stories at the heart of the women's game. Plenty of Manchester City's squad featured prominently in the women's Ballon d'Or final rankings last week. Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw rightly came third.
Yui Hasegawa finished 11th, while Alex Greenwood and Kerstin Casparij were both named in the top 30. All such placings were a fair reflection of their current status. But there was one glowing omission.
Lauren Hemp, arguably the most in-form winger in the game right now, was curiously nowhere to be seen. And prompted a deeper dive into why she might have been overlooked. Clearly Bunny Shaw is the undisputed champion of Man City's team, their top scorer and main driver of big results.
Incidentally, the Jamaica international is currently on her best run of consecutive scoring starts in the league (8) and has found the net in 13 of 19 games in 2026. However, one might argue those numbers have been made more possible by the ingenuity of Hemp. City's output is inextricably linked to the effectiveness of Hemp's connection with Shaw.
She is her striker's main power source. Since the start of last season, Hemp has laid on six goals for Shaw, the most of any duo. Overall the pair have combined for a total of 20 goals, while Hemp assisting Shaw is the deadliest combination the division has ever seen.
This season Hemp has found Shaw with 12 crosses and they have linked for 14 chances. Those levels are unprecedented. "I've always said it's easy to play with Hempo," Shaw told Sky Sports at the weekend after beating London City Lionesses.
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