Forget their sharp skills and supreme fitness, Crows co-captain Erin Phillips says this team success comes down to culture

Ahead of Sunday’s grand final against Carlton, Crows co-captain Erin Phillips reveals the real key to Adelaide’s success so far this AFLW season.

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As football commentators start pondering whether the 2019 Crows are the best team to have played AFLW in its short history, co-captain Erin Phillips has revealed it’s the off-field culture of the team that makes it so relentless.

While the Crows are widely acknowledged as a supremely fit and skilled unit, Phillips said it was the rare-to-find bond between the players that was really showing in its on-field performances.

“It starts with our culture, the girls, their personalities, the people that they are; they are very, very special,” she said.

“There’s a genuine care for each other and if you get that right in any team, that’s a huge part of it.

“These are all girls with different backgrounds, different jobs, but just the one love of coming to training and trying to win games together.”

Crows co-captain Erin Phillips in action during her team’s 11-goal preliminary final win over Geelong to advance to Sunday’s grand final against Carlton at Adelaide Oval. PHOTO: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Going into Sunday’s grand final against Carlton at Adelaide Oval, Phillips singled out her former Adelaide Lightning basketball teammate, now Crows stand-in ruck, Jess Foley as an example of the incredible commitment the players had for each other.

“You’ve got Jess Foley who played in a prelim and then went to a 14-hour (doctors) shift straight after,” she said.

“That’s insane, but it’s the genuine love for this team that gets her to be able to get up from those 14-hour shifts to come to trainings.”

And while the footy commentators start debating whether or not this is the best football team the AFLW has seen, Phillips said the talk meant nothing if they don’t beat Carlton in the grand final.

“I think we’re playing fantastic footy, but there is one to go,” she said.

“That would be the perfect way to top off the season, and if you lose, it doesn’t mean anything really, so that’s what we’ll be trying to do, to get that win and finish off the season that’s been one of the best for our team.”

In last Sunday’s 11-goal preliminary final win over Geelong, 12 of the 21 Crows players were part of the club’s inaugural 2017 premiership win. And with few apparent injury concerns, it looks like those 12 will again line up against the Blues.

Phillips said that experience would aid Adelaide’s quest for its second premiership in three years.

Crows co-captain Erin Phillips talks to the media at West Lakes ahead of Sunday’s AFLW grand final against Carlton at Adelaide Oval. PHOTO: Tricia Watkinson

“It helps once you’ve been there to know what the week’s about,” she said.

“I always say that championship games are the hardest to play in, but having that experience and having tasted the success before, definitely is an advantage.

“That doesn’t take away the massive effort it takes to achieve and to win a championship.

“The core group’s been able to stay together and the growth in performance we’ve been able to achieve these three seasons is really exciting.”

The Crows go into Sunday’s grand final on a seven-game winning streak and their past two wins have been by 10- and 11-goal margins, but Phillips said in no way had the team coasted into the finals.

Crows mid-forward Erin Phillips marks in front of Geelong’s Jordan Ivey during Adelaide’s 66-point win in the AFLW preliminary final to march into the grand final, to be played at Adelaide Oval on March 31. PHOTO: Mark Brake/Getty Images

“Although the last couple of games have been by a big margin, I feel like we’ve really had to work for it,” she said, herself on the end of many tough tackles against Geelong.

“I don’t think any of the girls have come off the field the last two weeks thinking that was easy at all.”

“One of the proudest things I am about this team is the maturity in how they’ve been able to handle every single game.

“We could have quite easily in games that we’ve been up by quite a lot at half time, taken the foot off the pedal.

“But we’re a relentless team and we play every single game as hard as we can and I expect no different (on Sunday).”

On the selection front, however, the Crows are breathing a sigh a relief after Irish rookie Ailish Considine — who has kicked three goals in two weeks — was offered a reprimand for rough contact against Geelong’s Danielle Orr and is free to play on Sunday.