Meet the three Crows who went from spectators to key Grand Final players
Najwa Allen, Teah Charlton and Rachelle Martin didn’t know it back in 2019. But as they sat in the stands at AFLW Grand Final, their futures on the big stage were only just beginning.
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March 31, 2019: AFLW Grand Final day. By day’s end, Adelaide will have beaten Carlton by a thumping 45 points to claim the club’s second AFLW premiership trophy.
And despite the result, Blues’ coach Daniel Harford will describe the match as “one of the most significant moments in Australian football history” thanks to the 53,034 people who packed into Adelaide Oval to watch the game.
The crowd set a new record for the highest attendance at an Australian women’s football match. It remains unbeaten.
Among the spectators were Najwa Allen, Teah Charlton and Rachelle Martin.
The budding footballers didn’t know each other very well back then, instead they were simply occasional opponents each playing for different teams in the SANFLW. On that day, each was watching the game from a different spot around the famous Oval.
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Sitting near the shadow of the stadium’s historic scoreboard was Allen, a newly arrived footballer from Canberra, recently signed with Norwood.
“What I remember most of that day was the speed of the game and the way that Adelaide moved the ball,” Allen said.
“I suppose for me, there was something in the back of my mind that I wanted to be a part of it.”
Achieve it she could: Allen was drafted at the end of 2019 and has played 15 games for the Crows, an integral part of Adelaide’s defensive wall that can be hard for opposition to break.
“If you’d asked me back then whether I would one day play in a grand final with that team, I would have said: ‘No way’,” Allen said.
“I got goosebumps running out last weekend (against Melbourne in the prelim).”
In 2019, Charlton, was sitting high in the Wanganeen stand on the stadium’s eastern side.
“I couldn’t believe there were that many people here wanting to watch AFLW,” she says.
“I thought at the time: ‘If I could ever make it this stage one day, I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like’.
“Back then, playing AFLW was just a dream in the back of my mind, but I was blown away by the level of footy that was played on that day and the atmosphere around the ground, it was amazing.”
Charlton, a zippy South Adelaide forward, was the Crows’ first selection at the 2020 AFLW draft.
The 18-year-old debuted in Round 1 this season and has played every game since, kicking three goals in her 10 games, averaging nine touches and 3.3 tackles.
“I didn’t have any expectations coming into this season, I just wanted to better myself as a footballer, but playing that Round 1 and going on from there has been an unbelievable experience and I’m so grateful to be playing to be playing in Saturday’s Grand Final.
“It doesn’t feel real.”
Martin was on the western side of the oval, fittingly with her West Adelaide teammates, watching her sister Hannah.
“I was probably the one cheering the loudest,” she said.
“I got really teary when Hannah kicked her goal that day, and to see all of Adelaide get around the Crows, it was really amazing.”
While the Crows’ team is filled with past grand finalists, there are five players who will be chasing their first AFLW premiership medal.
Midfielder Ebony Marinoff might be chasing her third premiership, but she says it’s the players who are chasing their first who have brought a special buzz to the footy club during Grand Final week.
“The young ones are really embracing (grand final week) and us who have been here before are enjoying it because they’re bringing the excitement,” Marinoff said.
“Their excitement is infectious, but (our first-year players) have done so well, a lot of them have played a lot of games and competed all year and it’s pretty daunting for them but they know what they have to do for us to get the job done.”
Stand-in captain Angela Foley said she hoped that anyone watching Saturday’s Grand Final would be inspired to kick a footy, or join a local league.
“Your teammates become part of your family and we all want to achieve great things together and it’s a big part of why we’re in the Grand Final this year, because we play for one another and we’ve got a great culture that people want to be a part of,” she said.
“I hope that’s what (Allen, Martin and Charlton) were thinking when they were sitting in the crowd in that 2019 grand final: ‘I want a piece of that’. And it egged them on to train hard and get to that and here they’ll be this weekend.”
‘I WANT TO MAKE HER PROUD’: CROW’S TEARS FOR RANDALL
I’ve been playing footy with Chelsea Randall for five seasons now, we speak over the phone often.
So when my phone lit up early on Wednesday morning with a message from her, I didn’t think much of it.
She asked if I wanted to take our dogs for a walk through Shepherd’s Hill Recreation Park.
Of course, I said yes and met her there not long afterwards.
Chels told me that we should walk to the top of the park’s hill because there’s a bench there with a really nice view over Adelaide. Still, I didn’t think much of it.
Once we got to the top she turned to me and said: “Mate, it’s been a big five years together for us at the Crows … I want you to take over the reins on the weekend”.
And I started crying.
It’s been a big week at our club: not only is it grand final week and we’re channelling all the excitement that goes along with that, but it’s also been a heartbreaking week finding out that Chelsea – our co-captain with Erin Phillips since the first AFLW season in 2017 and stand-alone captain in 2021 – won’t be there to run out with us on Saturday in our third premiership appearance.
She took a serious head knock in our preliminary final win and was automatically ruled out of the grand final under the AFL’s new concussion protocols.
Those protocols are there to protect us athletes and we support them, even though it means we will be running onto Adelaide Oval on Saturday without our courageous captain.
When Chels asked me to take over as captain for our grand final against Brisbane, I’m not sure why I cried, but I do know it will be a huge honour to lead this team out and represent our club.
I’m one of nine Crows who will be taking on the Lions hoping to win our third premiership medal in five seasons.
Winning premiership No. 3 would be huge and it’s maybe something that only a select few will ever achieve. It’s going to be a big game and win or lose, it will mean a lot, and will be something that we’ll look back on and cherish forever.
Chelsea explained why she wanted me to be the one to represent her on the weekend. She said if the chips are down on Saturday, that she has faith that I will lead by either my actions or my words.
Captain is a title that must be given to one person in the team. Chelsea is still our captain and I am just wearing her badge for the day. I hope that I can make her proud.
Chelsea continues to inspire us with the amount of care she shows for our group.
She will be there with us on the weekend, it’s just we won’t be kicking and catching the footy with her, that’s all that changes.
Chelsea always plays with her heart on her sleeve.
On Saturday, I’m going to play with Chelsea’s heart on mine.
REVEALED: WHO WILL CAPTAIN CROWS IN AFLW DECIDER
Matt Turner
Crows’ two-time premiership-winning defender Angela Foley will captain Adelaide in its third grand final appearance, replacing Chelsea Randall who’s been sidelined with concussion.
Foley said it was a huge honour to take on Randall’s captain’s duties for the team she’s been with since the inaugural AFLW season in 2017.
“I love this club, I’m humbled, I’m proud to be part of such an amazing group of girls,” she said.
“I’m honoured that I’ll go down on the team sheet as captain, but to win another premiership is probably something that I am more focused on.
“Captain is a title that has to be given to one person in the team.
“Chelsea is still captain and I am just wearing her badge for the day and I hope I can make her proud.”
Randall was ruled out of Saturday’s decider against Brisbane after suffering concussion in the opening minutes of last weekend’s preliminary final win over Melbourne, under the AFL’s new concussion protocols introduced this year.
Under the league’s rules, any player – male or female – who suffers concussion must sit out of playing for a mandatory 12 days.
Foley is a 32-year-old defender and will play her 40th AFLW game in Saturday’s grand final – the third Crow to reach the 40-game milestone behind Ebony Marinoff and Stevie-Lee Thompson – and has already won two premierships in 2017 and 2019.
She has been in the team’s leadership group since the club’s inaugural season five years ago.
Foley said despite Randall being sidelined for the team’s third grand final appearance in five seasons, that her courage and inspiration would continue from the sidelines.
“Chelsea continues to inspire us with the amount of care she shows for our group, the foundations we have laid as a collective sets us up for challenges like this,” she said.
“What I told her when she asked me to take over as captain was that she always plays with her heart on her sleeve, and this weekend, I will play with her heart on my sleeve.”
Midfielder Marinoff said Foley was an excellent choice of captain, particularly given she’d been in the team’s leadership group since 2017.
“(Chelsea) Randall will be our captain on the day, we’re not going to take that away from her, but Ange Foley and her pre-up talks are pretty good,” Marinoff said.
Foley said Randall was an integral part of the Crows’ success and the building of their successful culture.
“It’s a weird feeling, that while I’m happy to be captain, I’m also sad because Chelsea doesn’t get to play with us,” she said.
The Crows take on the Lions on Saturday from 1.30pm at Adelaide Oval with tickets available from Ticketek.
Children under 18 can enter for free.
All attendees, even children, must redeem a ticket to get into the ground.
RANDALL BREAKS SILENCE ON GF HEARTBREAK
– Matt Turner
Crows captain Chelsea Randall is gutted to not be playing in Saturday’s AFLW grand final but says the team does not need her to win and she will be cheering proudly on the sidelines.
Randall will miss the decider against Brisbane at Adelaide Oval after being ruled out due to the league’s 12-day concussion protocols.
The three-time All-Australian collided heavily with Melbourne’s Eliza McNamara in first quarter of the preliminary final at Adelaide Oval on Saturday and did not return to the field.
Randall told Adelaide’s website this week was all about the club chasing its third women’s premiership, not her absence.
“As much as I am gutted, devastated, sad that I won’t be taking the field with my teammates in the grand final this weekend, the last six months, the last 10 games, it hasn’t been about me, it hasn’t been about one sole individual, it’s been about this group and just how special they are and the journey we’ve all been on together,” said Randall, a two-time Crows premiership skipper, alongside Erin Phillips.
“They don’t need me – they have proven that to themselves on the weekend that they can get the job done without me.
“I’ll be standing immensely proud on the sidelines alongside our fans and our supporters cheering on our girls to get across the line.
“It’s not about me this week, it’s a bloody exciting time for our football club.”
Randall missed the entire 2020 campaign after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament during pre-season.
Recalling Saturday’s incident, she remembered taking the football and hoping to absorb contact before continuing forward.
“But unfortunately we both collided in a nasty way,” she said.
“I just remember being on the floor with my mouth pretty bloody because I’d hit my jaw.
“I remember the trainers being around me and jogged off, and the rest was history.”
Melbourne beat Adelaide by 28 points when the sides last met, in Round 5.
Randall said she reinforced to her teammates they were ready for the challenge.
“Not that I have kids, but I can imagine what it would be like watching your young son or daughter drive away as they’re an 18-year-old, going off into the world and you’ve done everything you’ve possibly can to help them and support them,” she said.
“I guess I feel like a proud parent.”
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Originally published as Meet the three Crows who went from spectators to key Grand Final players
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