Geelong Cats confirm Olivia Purcell will miss rest of AFLW season after rupturing ACL in her knee

Geelong has suffered a huge blow to its AFLW campaign, with reigning best and fairest Olivia Purcell set to face a long stint on the sidelines.

Olivia Purcell. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Geelong’s worst fears have been realised, with scans confirming Olivia Purcell has ruptured the ACL in her right knee.

Purcell suffered the injury during the second quarter of Friday night’s 47-point loss to Richmond at GMHBA Stadium.

Geelong’s Head of AFLW program, Brett Johnson, said it was a devastating blow for the 2020 best-and-fairest winner.

“We are so disappointed, this isn’t the news we hoped to hear, Johnson said.

“We will wrap our arms around Liv and continue to support her.

“We know she will tackle this challenge with strength and determination.”

The Cats AFLW medical team will now work to determine Purcell’s surgery and rehabilitation plan in the coming days.

Geelong coach Paul Hood would not be drawn on the status of his star ball-winner post-game, but said the club was hoping for a positive outcome.

Olivia Purcell’s season is over. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

“I didn’t (see it), unfortunately the ball moved on pretty quickly and I just saw that Liv was down. We didn’t know who it was for a while and then saw it was Liv,” he said.

“We hope that everything works out really well for her. It didn’t fill us with much joy, Liv is a terrific young person who works really hard at her footy and is so determined to continue to improve.

“We hope that she gets the best news she can when she gets checked out during the week.”

The injury is a bitter blow for Geelong, who again was showed up on Friday night.

But despite the heavy loss, Hood said he was not concerned about a potential gulf opening up between the Cats and the rest of the competition.

“I am not concerned about that because we can’t control it,” he said.

“What we are concerned about is our team, our squad, improving as much as they can and working as hard as they can all together at improving our footy club.

“So the rest of the competition will do what they do but we can’t influence that. We just have to focus on ourselves and improve our development every time we get out to play.”

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Originally published as Geelong Cats confirm Olivia Purcell will miss rest of AFLW season after rupturing ACL in her knee