AFLW: Everything you need to know in the lead up to this weekend’s preliminary finals

After 685 days out of the game, Chloe Scheer was back in the Crows side in Round 3. On Saturday, she makes an inspiring return to Adelaide Oval.

Injured Melbourne star Daisy Pearce’s teammates did the job in her absence, but will she be ready to face the Crows? Picture: Getty Images

Adelaide’s crafty forward Chloe Scheer is one determined comeback kid.

Having battled two knee reconstructions in two years, and a further three operations to repair meniscus in both knees – all before she turned 21 – she knows that it’s her love of playing football that has fuelled her determination to play again.

Scheer tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in the second quarter of the Crows triumphant 2019 Grand Final and missed the entire 2020 season while she battled setbacks and the mental and physical challenges of rehab.

But in Round 3 this year, after 685 days out of the game, she returned to the Crows’ line-up and will once again run out on to Adelaide Oval on Saturday as Adelaide battles Melbourne in the AFLW preliminary final.

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Chloe Scheer and Danielle Ponter will be vital for the Crows in Saturday’s preliminary final. Picture: Tom Huntley

“It was amazing to return and be around the girls again and to know that all the hard work I’d put in to get back had paid off and now we’re in a prelim and I get to play and there’s nothing better than that,” she said.

“Playing again has just felt really good … once I’m out on the field then all the injury stuff just goes. I’m just so excited to be back.”

Scheer is an important piece of the Crows puzzle: a high-marking, clever goal-kicker who also runs through the team’s star-studded midfield. She will be crucial as the Crows take on the Demons for the right to play in the club’s third AFLW grand final in five seasons.

Scheer is philosophical about the injury that felled her on Grand Final day.

“I think everything happens for a reason and I personally think it was so I could get myself in better shape,” she says.

“Now, I’m a lot stronger and fitter than I ever have been before.

“It’s been a grind getting through bike sessions and then going onto on field running and getting conditioning … but the sessions have been tailored to my body and it’s one of the reasons I’m now so strong.”

Scheer has slotted back into the Crows forward line seamlessly, kicking four goals from her seven games and averaging a career-high 12 touches and three inside-50s per match.

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Chloe Scheer tore her ACL in the 2019 grand final. Picture: David Mariuz

And, as such, the 21-year-old was this week named in the AFL Players Association’s 40-person squad for their best “22under22” in the AFLW, alongside fellow Crows forward Danielle Ponter.

Ponter described the elite way in which Scheer had approached her knee rehab as “inspiring”.

“What she’s had to do to get back to where she is now and to be able to play with confidence, you wouldn’t think she was out for 600-odd days,” Ponter said.

“I applaud her for what she’s gone through and I’m really happy I get to run out on the Adelaide Oval and play with her again like I did in the 2019 Grand Final. She is a game-changer and I feel sorry for whoever has to play on her because she is electric.”

Head coach Matthew Clarke said Scheer’s return had been a delight for the his side because of her exceptional footy IQ.

“She’s a beautiful user of the ball,” he said. “When she has ball in hand it’s good times for the Crows.”

Irish star reveals pleasure and pain of escaping lockdown

They might be separated by more than 17,000km, and a tricky time difference, but that hasn’t stopped the parents of Collingwood’s Irish rookie Aishling Sheridan showing unwavering support for their daughter’s burgeoning AFLW career.

As the Magpies did battle with North Melbourne in their qualifying final last weekend, on the other side of the world, Gerry and Monica Sheridan were awake at 1.30am, glued to the live vstream of the match from their home in Cavan.

A video of the pair went viral after Collingwood’s thrilling come-from-behind, six-point win over the Kangaroos, of them joyfully celebrating the win by their cross-coder Gaelic football daughter and her teammates from their Irish loungeroom.

The Magpies will play Brisbane at the Gabba in Saturday’s preliminary final for the right to play in the 2021 AFLW grand final.

Sheridan, who says she grew up with a Gaelic football under her arm thanks to her sport-loving family, has cemented her spot in the Magpies forward line in her second season in the AFLW, kicking eight goals from 10 games, and averaging 9.6 disposals.

The Gaelic footballer in action for the Magpies in the AFLW. Picture: MICHAEL KLEIN

Irish rookie Sheridan is having a breakout season for Collingwood. Picture: TONY GOUGH

She says it’s been tough for the Irish players watching COVID wreak its havoc across their country, with the country having been stuck in lockdown since Christmas Eve.

“My boyfriend, Alan, is back home, he’s out of work, my family, they were out of work for a while, my sisters are teachers, they’re trying to do online teaching and then my friends, people close to me have got COVID and some people back home have died because of it,” she says.

“I totally have that sense of guilt because you’re out here and you’re not seeing things first-hand as people are back home, they are still in lockdown and sport is hoping for a return soon, but nothing is really open and you can’t really visit people, so talking to my family, it is very difficult and they’re telling me to stay out here for as long as I can, but you do miss everyone and my boyfriend, I haven’t seen him since December.

“It’s so hard to relate to, because people are seeing (on social media), me in a group of people and I’m not wearing a face mask … it’s unusual for them to even see me eating in a cafe.”

That was a heart racer 😩 Happy here this morning - proud as punch😂💪🏼 @AishlingSherdo@gerry_sher#GoPies#AFLWPiesNorthpic.twitter.com/tZV0Baw2JZ

— Geraldine Sheridan (@Ger_Sheridan) April 3, 2021

So Sheridan’s AFLW season has provided her family with excitement every weekend, breaking the monotony of lockdown, even if it means trying to stay away for the 1.30am match times.

“To think about how happy sport makes them and to see me play, it helps to put a smile of their faces in such difficult times,” she says.

But it’s not just the Sheridan family who are loving the AFLW season. The 24-year-old says the lack of live football in Ireland has fuelled an upsurge in support for the women’s footy in Australia, with two games broadcast in Ireland every weekend.

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Sheridan runs with the ball under defensive pressure from North Melbourne’s Tahlia Randall during the Magpies’ qualifying final win. Picture: GETTY IMAGES

“There’s a mass following of AFLW now back home … I’ve had a lot of messages from people in Ireland reaching out having watched the games.

“I was tagged into a lovely picture (on social media) the other day of a woman, I believe she’s in her 90s, who has taken to supporting Collingwood and it was of her cheering after our (qualifying final) win, she’d probably never heard of the sport until this year.”

In Saturday’s preliminary final, Sheridan will come up against Brisbane’s speedy Irish player Orla O’Dwyer, who has been in exceptional form for the Lions, averaging 13.6 touches a game.

This season, there were 14 Irish recruits at AFLW clubs, with Sheridan playing alongside Mayo product Sarah Rowe in Magpies colours.

Sheridan says the Irish AFLW players are tight-knit, with many of them spending their Christmas together in hotel quarantine in Perth.

“The one thing with Irish, no matter where you are away from home, you try to connect with them,” she says.

“If we see each other on the oval if we’re playing against each other, we’ll give each other a smile and then it’s game on and we’ll talk about it when the game’s over.

“We definitely all check in with one another and you hate to see one of your own get injured.”

Fellow Irish rookie, Brisbane’s Orla O'Dwyer has also been a standout this AFLW season. The two Irish players will face off in Saturday’s preliminary final. Picture: GETTY IMAGES

It was particularly devastating then, when GWS recruit – and 11-time All-Ireland footballer – Brid Stack fractured her neck in a practice game in January.

“Brid is a legend, her achievements are outstanding it’s everyone’s dream, to have the achievements she has … (her injury) was a big shock,” Sheridan says.

“She’s someone we look up to and it’s great to see her start to come out the other side.”

The Magpies flew out for Brisbane after the captain’s run at their training headquarters on Friday morning and, as they left for the airport, were given a guard of honour by the club’s men’s players.

Sheridan says what she’s loved most about Collingwood has been how united they’ve been on field.

Will she or won’t she? Daisy’s race against time

Melbourne’s inspiring captain Daisy Pearce will be given until the last minute to prove her fitness ahead of the Demons’ AFLW preliminary final clash with the Crows at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

Pearce, who injured the medial collateral ligament in her right knee a fortnight ago, missed her side’s qualifying final win over Fremantle last weekend, but is continuing her diligent rehab and is doing all she can to make a stunning comeback against Adelaide.

Injured Melbourne star Daisy Pearce’s teammates did the job in her absence, but will she be ready to face the Crows? Picture: Getty Images

The 32-year-old started running on her sore knee over the weekend and returned to limited training and running drills on the track on Tuesday.

According to the club, Pearce is doing everything she can to put herself in the best position for a possible return, and is reportedly staying positive and keeping open-minded in her rehab.

While the Demons have prepared themselves to face the Crows without their 30-game skipper, they know a returning Pearce would be an added bonus to the team that has won its past five straight games.

Melbourne take on the Crows from 2.10pm on Saturday at Adelaide Oval, with the winner progressing to the AFLW grand final and will face the winner of Brisbane and Collingwood in the decider.

Originally published as AFLW: Everything you need to know in the lead up to this weekend’s preliminary finals