3 minute read

Adelaide have beaten Carlton by 45 points in the AFLW grand final, with star player Erin Phillips suffering a serious knee injury.

Erin Phillips didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So she did both.

Before a record AFLW crowd, Adelaide co-captain Phillips wrecked a knee but won a premiership and another medal for best-afield in a grand final.

Phillips was the dominant force in Adelaide's 10.3 (63) to 2.6 (18) victory against Carlton on Sunday.

Proving why she's the competition's premier player, Phillips kicked two goals and collected 18 disposals to set up the Crows' second flag in three AFLW seasons.

Then, changing tack to chase an opponent in the third quarter, Phillips tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

The injury stunned the bumper 53,034-strong crowd at Adelaide Oval - the largest attendance in AFLW history, and thought to be the biggest crowd at any stand-alone women's sporting event in Australia.

Despite being carried off on a motorised stretcher, Phillips won the medal for the grand final's best player - as she did in Adelaide's 2017 premiership.

"It's an ACL, something I have done before in my other leg," Phillips said.

"This was supposed to be the good leg.

"It's pretty emotional.

"It's an absolute dream come true ... to play in front of this crowd, it means so much."

Phillips' teammate Chloe Scheer also suffered a suspected torn ACL in a knee, and both will require knee reconstructions.

Adelaide's coach Matthew Clarke felt devastated for Phillips when her knee crumbled.

"It's a bit of a hollow feeling ... it was a good day and a bad day," Crows coach Matthew Clarke said.

Even defeated Carlton coach Daniel Harford was moved to pay tribute to Phillips in particular.

"She's an icon of Australian Rules football, full stop," Harford said.

"So for that to happen, I was really sad.

"She's an amazing player. I'm still not sure there's not two or three of her out there at one time, she sees to be everywhere a lot."

Phillips was given three standing ovations from the crowd, which eclipsed the previous AFLW best of 41,975 fans set last season in the first Australian Rules game at Perth's new stadium.

The first ovation came when Phillips was stretchered off. The second when, on crutches, she walked around the boundary line.

And the third came when she accepted the medal as the grand final's best player.