Caitlin Gould says Crows players remain unsure when star onballer Erin Phillips will make long-awaited AFLW return
Adelaide will make the trip to Geelong this weekend to face last year’s AFLW preliminary finalists. But whether Erin Phillips will take the field at GMHBA Stadium still remains anyone’s guess.
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AFLW star Erin Phillips is ramping up her return for the Crows, but fellow Adelaide players are still unsure when she will take the field again.
Phillips last week publicly stated she hoped to play in the team’s Round 2 match against St Kilda, won by Adelaide in a thriller, but was ruled out by the club’s medical staff.
Whether the Crows co-captain makes the trip to Geelong this weekend again remains to be seen with Caitlin Gould – who made her debut against the Saints – saying she was inching towards her comeback.
“They (the Crows injured players) are getting closer,” she said.
“Rhi (Rhiannon Metcalfe) has come back in a few drills as has Erin, which is great.
“I’m not too sure (when Phillips will return), we all hope she can but it depends on physios and stuff like that.”
Gould’s first game at AFLW level was an absolute thriller.
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After staring down a 0-2 start to the season with five minutes left, the Crows kicked two goals in a minute and then booted one on the siren to claim their first win of the season.
The 20-year-old Gould, who was presented her guernsey by Phillips before the game, got the late comeback rolling with a pack mark in the goalsquare to then tie the score.
“When I went up for the grab it took me a couple of seconds to realise that I had the ball,” she said.
Gould said Adelaide was able to get its way back into the match by increasing its pressure and tackling against the Saints.
“Doc (coach Matthew Clarke) talked about our tackle efficiency and pressing the game more,” she said.
The Crows’ opponents this week may be winless so far in the 2020 AFLW season, but Gould said the Cats couldn’t be taken lightly.
“They were in the prelim last year,” she said.
At the tribunal, Eloise Jones accepted a reprimand for engaging in rough conduct against St Kilda’s Tilly Lucas-Rodd during the third quarter of the clash at Richmond Oval.