Parker’s chance to complete ACL return flag, Manly sets sights on spoiling an East Coast hat-trick

Bryany Parker has the chance to complete a stellar return season from an ACL injury, but the youth of Manly will be out to spoil the party as East Coast chases a hat-trick of AFL Sydney flags.

Ashleigh Carter and Bryany Parker will go to battle for the AFL Sydney Women's Premier Division flag. Picture: Ikko Ehode Arimoto

Bryany Parker knows all about winning flags in the AFL Sydney Premier Women’s division.

She’s been a focal point of the East Coast Eagles making it back-to-back flags with an eye to completing the hat-trick against Manly on Saturday.

This year has been a relatively straightforward one for Parker after her 2022 heroics came at an incredible cost.

The best on ground in that year’s decider went off in the third term with an ACL injury, ruling her out for the majority of last season.

“At the back end of the third quarter I did my knee and knew it was gone,” she said.

“A lot of the girls I don’t think realised until after the game. It was obviously heartbreaking because I planned to head to Melbourne at the end of that season.

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“In hindsight, last year I got the opportunity to coach the midfield and I know get to bring that onto the field this year.

“It’s changed myself as a player so overall I’ve been able to put a positive spin on it. It was a long time and longer than we planned. But you just have to knuckle down and do it.”

The Eagles will come into Saturday’s contest as slight favourites after taking out the minor premiership, but having lost to Manly in the grand final qualifier a fortnight ago.

“Luckily we’ve got a clever coach at the helm so we’ll make a few tactical changes and how we approach the game,” Parker said.

“Hopefully that will do the trick because the talent is there at the end of the day.”

Ashleigh Carter was part of the Manly side that claimed the club’s one and only Premier Women’s title in 2020.

As one of just three remaining players from that group, she hopes the young core of the Wolves can come to the fore.

“That was a big one in the Covid season. It was the first one for the club and we’re stoked to be able to have another crack,” she said.

Bryany Parker has made a strong return from an ACL injury for the East Coast Eagles. Picture: Ikko Ehode Arimoto

“It’s with a largely new and younger side. Most of them were playing juniors when we won that premiership so we’ve really rebuilt it from the ground up.

“We have over 100 girls registered this year which is a new maximum for us.

“To see the girls in pre-season and even last year, a lot were playing division one or juniors, to see them improve so much and become core members of a Premier Division side is huge.”

Manly has got the better of East Coast twice this season, and Carter believes their team cohesion can help get the job done again.

“We all just knew the role we had to play on the day,” she said.

“We each knew exactly what we had to do and we’ve got a great team culture, everyone got around each other and we had great team cohesion.”

Originally published as Parker’s chance to complete ACL return flag, Manly sets sights on spoiling an East Coast hat-trick