Crows impressing on and off the training track as Erin Phillips prepares to return to training with main group

The Advertiser joined the Adelaide Crows’ AFLW squad for training on Thursday night, as it prepares for round one. Here are the key take-outs from the session.

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The AFLW’S reigning premiers are ramping up training as the clock rapidly ticks towards the first bounce of season 2020.

There are four weeks until the Crows’ opening game, which will see them travel to Queensland to take on Brisbane on February 8.

Coach Matthew “Doc” Clarke put his squad through a tough training session on Thursday night, with a focus on offence, where The Advertiser sat oval-side.

Here are some key take-outs from the session:

Crows AFLW head coach Matthew Clarke during pre-season training at the club’s West Lakes headquarters.

As co-captain Chelsea Randall rehabs her torn ACL, she’s taken up an assistant coaching role at the club. Pictures: Tom Huntley

Randall’s new role

Crows co-captain Chelsea Randall’s season came to an abrupt end back in November when she tore her ACL during a training drill.

But she continues her leadership with the group from the sidelines, slotting into an assistant coaching role alongside midfield coach Andrew McLeod.

“The club decided they could still use me … I just feel so fortunate I’m able to be involved in the team and have that role to play,” she said.

Randall, who is currently studying her Level III coaching course and is a part of the AFL’s women’s coaching academy, helped run warm-up as well as skill drills throughout the evening and when her knee (which was reconstructed less than a month ago) needed rest and elevation, she was still yelling support from her chair on the sidelines.

Knee rehabs

Fellow ACL rehabber Erin Phillips did weights training in the gym away from the main group for most of the evening before coming out onto the oval and going through an intense one-on-one cardio boxing workout.

Phillips, who tore her ACL during the Crows grand final win last year, looked fit and fearless, but was also relaxed and jovial.

She told The Advertiser that she would return to training with the main group – not at 100 per cent just yet, but certainly to include game drills – for the first time next week.

Meanwhile, forward Chloe Scheer – who also tore her ACL during March’s grand final – is similarly progressing in her rehab and was put through some tough running drills (in Thursday’s summer heat) as well as kicking exercises.

Scheer, too, could return this year.

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Chloe Scheer is continuing a good comeback from a knee reconstruction. Picture: Tom Huntley

Supreme fitness wins

A standout feature of the Crows’ grand final winning team was how supremely fit the squad was, which enabled them to put in big final-quarter efforts and blow opposition teams away.

That theme continues this year.

Midfielders Anne Hatchard, Ebony Marinoff and Ailish Considine have all returned from their Christmas break in good shape after putting in solid off-seasons.

Randall said those players were really driving the elite standards of the entire group.

New team member Najwa Allen, who was drafted in October, has been impressing with her quick running, as has Stevie-Lee Thompson, who was given the moniker “Speedy-Lee” last year.

Late last year, the squad were put through their yo-yo tests and from those tests, 14 had personal bests, with the top five: Hatchard, Marinoff, Considine, Ange Foley and Dayna Cox.

Deni Varnhagen completed a separate test and she posted a comparable time to Hatchard.

Last year’s leading AFLW goal-kicker Stevie-Lee Thompson is again impressing on the training track in pre-season. Picture: AAP/Keryn Stevens

New players slotting in nicely

Eight new players have joined the Crows squad since October (including veteran Courtney Gum and first draft pick Montana McKinnon) and Randall said they had slotted in well.

“They’ve been sensational, that’s the culture we’ve set from the get-go … that there is a close, tight-knit, inclusive culture,” she said.

A theme that’s running constantly throughout this group is to differentiate itself for the 2019 premiership winning team.

The messaging is clear: the 2019 premiership team belongs to that team.

The 2020 side is different and must strike for its own success.

“There hasn’t been much chatter about 2020 back-to-back whatsoever,” Randall said.

On Thursday, new talls Caitlin Gould and Chelsea Biddle were each given a turn of ruck training with Doc, but it’s new draftee Maddison Newman who has a great deal of excitement swirling around her and wouldn’t be surprised if she’s in line for a round one debut against the Lions.

There has been very little talk about going back-to-back for the reigning AFLW premiers, says co-captain Chelsea Randall. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

Trial game

The team’s first test of pre-season will come next Saturday, February 18 when Greater Western Sydney arrives in Adelaide for a trial game at Richmond Oval.

This is an important move for the Crows because Richmond Oval will host three of their four home games in 2020, a venue that is yet to host a match of AFLW.

The Crows will confirm the time of the match early next week, but the game will be open to the public.

Originally published as Crows impressing on and off the training track as Erin Phillips prepares to return to training with main group