Adelaide Crows superstar Erin Phillips is to miss another week due to thigh injury

ADELAIDE’S AFLW defence has been dealt another blow as league best and fairest Erin Phillips has been urged by the club’s medical staff to rest for another week.

Erin Phillips during the Women's 2017 AFLW Grand Final on the Gold Coast. Picture: Adam Head

ADELAIDE’S AFLW defence has been dealt another blow as league best and fairest Erin Phillips has been urged by the club’s medical staff to rest for another week.

The doctors have advised Olympian basketballer Phillips, the club’s best player, that the strain in her right quad could do with another week’s rest despite her feeling fit and ready to go for a crucial match against Melbourne on the road this Saturday.

Coach Bec Goddard is likely to side with the doctors rather than risk Phillips injuring herself further despite the importance of her midfield dominance and leadership that helped the club to the inaugural national women’s league championship last year.

Phillips, the daughter of Port Adelaide Magpies great Greg, would be an important inclusion as the club faces the Demons, who won their first match and are shaping as one of the league favourites alongside Carlton.

With the season only running for seven weeks ahead of the grand final, there is a real chance that one of the Victorian-based clubs will go through the season undefeated and the runner-up being able to afford just one loss.

It puts the Crows in a precarious position after they lost their season-opener against Brisbane in a grand final rematch before more than 11,000 fans at Norwood Oval on Saturday night.

But Crows coach Bec Goddard has been firm in not taking any short-term risks with her players and will play the long game with the likes of senior players such as Phillips and fellow All Australian Courtney Cramey.

Erin Phillips with her teammates after being ruled out of Round 1. Picture: Sarah Reed

“She’s always on light duties, she’s an older body, and like Courtney Cramey as well, we’ve got to manage those bodies really responsibly,” Goddard said. “Every girl is unique on our squad, but we would treat her the same as any of our other girls.

“When you’ve got signs of soreness, you’ve got to be really careful about what you do, and that’s the precaution we took with Erin on the weekend.”

The likely loss of Phillips will continue to put strain on the midfield, in which co-captain Chelsea Randall played a fine game but was at the same time missed in the backline.

On the upside for the Crows, two of their debutants turned heads in Ruth Wallace, who is quickly turning into a crowd favourite for her tricks in the forward line, and top draft pick Jess Allan, who is complementing Rhiannon Metcalfe as a second ruck.

Allan, 18, will give Metcalfe the freedom to develop a second role for the club.

“She (Ruth) showed some glimpses, didn’t she?” Goddard said of Wallace. “I can’t wait to see a four-quarter effort from Ruthie.

“Pretty exciting when you saw her and Eloise Jones played really well up forward as well.

“Rhi and Jess were pretty consistent but I think we’d like to see, again, a four-quarter performance and beating their opponent.”

Originally published as Adelaide Crows superstar Erin Phillips is to miss another week due to thigh injury