Hoops

Erin Phillips to play footy for the Crows

Yeah, it does kinda stink.
Women's sport has been around for ages. Netball, Basketball, Soccer, you name it. And it has always struggled for money and exposure.

Now the AFL is just using its muscle to push all those other sports even further into the background.

Greenwood has improved as the season has gone on. Still not at AFL level though

Not sure being named on the bench or starting on the bench means too any more really..

Jesus I've barely seen him in either game and thought that had to be BS so looked up the official match reports on the SANFL site and true enough he was given the Crows best on ground against Centrals and their 2nd best on ground against South.

In my very weak defence he was named on the bench last week against South though.

F: Beech, Dear, Menzel
HF: Knight, Lowden, Milera
C: Seedsman, Grigg, Wigg
HB: van Berlo, Hampton, Henderson
B: Doedee, Otten, Kelly

R: O’Brien, Ellis-Yolmen, Gore
INT: Ramsey, Carey, Keath, Hunter, Greenwood

Confirmation bias. I hadn't seen much of him against Centrals, saw he was named on the bench against South again didn't see much of him against South so assumed he was going backwards.

Obviously not good luck to him although I want to see Sturt get up this Sunday to play the Eagles in the GF.

Would be terrible to see an AFL reserves team win an SANFL premiership.

"Greenwood, now 24, put in a best-on-ground display in Adelaide’s elimination final victory against Central District two weeks ago, and backed up last week by being named second best in a win over South Adelaide.
In his past two games he has averaged 19 disposals (14 contested), four clearances, 11 tackles and two goals in a half forward-midfield role, helping pilot the Crows into Sunday’s preliminary final against Sturt."

I don't think Greenwood is, he's coming off the bench for the Crows reserves now. After an initial flurry I don't think he's done much all season but we'll see if he does anything in the Prelim Final against Sturt this Sunday.

Off topic I know but H Greenwood is doing very well in the 2's.

Funny arguments here. There are many sports where there's a risk of concussion. I got knocked out cold playing European Handball once, and have had concussion from basketball too.

Also - it's not about people wanting their daughters to play the sport. It's about people making their own decision to play the sport. Plenty of boys do it, and plenty of girls do it too.

It's no doubt a challenge for the WNBL (and netball), though it's lucky for other sports it'll only be a 2 month league for the time being..

I just hope that she has on "Out" clause for when the Power enter a team.
Father- daughter rule can come in play.

And in Adelaide - for the full season.

Yes, exactly.

@koberulz, "provably wrong now" what the hell are you talking about?
Women are already playing AFL rules football in Melbourne district clubs....

But it's fine when men do it, of course, because they're adults and responsible for their own decisions.

it is a concussion sport people - it is the sporting equivalent of the cigarette industry and people want their daughters to take it up. Funny breed us humans.

Don't forget they're only playing this league for 2 months.

Why would I do that when it's provably wrong now?

@Koberulz, in approx 18 months remember my post....

@ Luuuc - she will be great as she is a different level of athlete to most others that will play in the league. That is if her body holds up.

Australian Bo Jackson?

It certainly won't end well for 87.5% of them

There is a obvious reason why women don't play AFL/rugby ....this will not end well.

apologies - factually incorrect

Odd comment. She started all 6 games for the Opals in Rio.

I was happy enough just to see Ebony Antonio (ex West Coast Waves & Bendigo Spirit player) in action on the footy field, and she did pretty well too, but Erin is going to be even better.

Getting back to Erin, maybe if she worked on her basketball she would get more minutes or maybe a start for the Opals.

Sure she is at least fit, but her game has many shortcomings.

There is a obvious reason why women don't play AFL/rugby ....this will not end well.

"Sorry Luuuc, I was 004, responding to the anon above you who was ranting about blocking maneuvers and Eddie McGuire."

It is actually a well reasoned interpretation of real events. You must be naive if you see it otherwise.

AFL is run like a business...Cricket is as well, and so would other sports if they actually had money and some sort of decent sized market. Probably can't criticise them for doing what businesses do - attempt to find and push a competitive edge. The public funding aspect might be hard to swallow though.

I agree with Luuuc in particular the WNBL wasting a 20 year head start.

I'm pretty sure BA are working on a TV deal. News of an announcement is imminent.

Marquee signings get $25k. The rest get $5k and unlike their male counterparts they dont get private health insurance. Gimmick at best

Sorry Luuuc, I was 004, responding to the anon above you who was ranting about blocking maneuvers and Eddie McGuire.

it is just flavour of the month

200k split between 25 odd players ain't much.

Netballers are getting between 15 and 50 I believe.

already seen a lot of junior women go from basketball to footy.

A lot of cash lol - slave labour in a male dominated concussion sport - just what I'd want for my daughter.

It is like being a cheer leader while risking brain damage.

Netball have announced they have doubled the minimum wage, Without saying it this is to stop players jumping ship to AFL.

WNBL will need to do something in the near future as AFL will have some attraction if the money and exposure is right. I can predicat a post about a list of ex basketball/WNBL players now playing AFL on this site in the foreseeable future.

This can only be a good thing for female athletes in Australia.

Will it work long term who knows.

I'm pretty sure BA are working on a TV deal. News of an announcement is imminent.

My point is - so what if the AFL is "nasty" and doesn't really care about women's sport? Right now they are giving women's sport a *lot* of promotion and some cash.
What do people expect female athletes to do in response? Say no thanks we'll sit this one out?

The AFL doesn't really care about men's sport either. It cares about monopolising the sports market as best it can. The result of that right now is an average salary for AFL players of $250k and rising.

Different sports suddenly competing for female athletes is not a bad thing for females. Yes it's probably bad for the WNBL, which is sad for me as a fan of the league, but that's also entirely the WNBL's own fault for having a 20+ year head start on the competition and wasting it.

This is great for Erin, an amazing opportunity to step in and be a star in a sport she loves. Hopefully we'll see her in Opals uniform though, she is the type of player who is prepared to do the little things that make teams win.

That's kind of what this place is about ;-)

^ You've just said a lot of things but didn't actually make a point.

I too question how honourable the AFL's motives are, but right now this new thing has some excitement and momentum behind it so I don't blame people for giving it a crack. For Erin in particular the timing really couldn't be better.

Let's be clear - the AFL are a nasty organisation. The women's league is purely a blocking manoeuvre looking to hold down our great sport. They do not value women in sport. Much like their AFL X announcement. They see other sports as competitors - just like when Eddie got on the board of Athletics Australia and conned them into relocating to Albert Park so Collingwood could steal Olympic Park.

fyi - Erin couldn't easily make that (200k) by herself in Europe in a season.

No taxes and a long euro season plus the conversion to $AUD could see her getting within that ball park although if you're not a key player on UMMC Ekaterinburg or playing in China as an import the money made in Europe isn't ridiculous.

There is a $200k salary cap per AFL women's team.

Erin could make that easily by herself in Europe but obviously wants to tick this off the bucket list.

It wouldn't surprise that she is aiming to play some part in the next Olympics at 35 and if the body holds up?

Good luck to her.

I don't think Erin is playing for the money, she's definitely playing for personal reasons and good on her.

She would be the marque style player they need in their squad.

The women's league is starting off small and in 5 years time is likely to be quite an important cog in the AFL marketing machine.

She dominated in junior footy playing with the boys until they made her stop and she showed enough even in the couple of Slowdown games she played (Crows legends vs Port legends) a few years ago that she'll be a good player.

Put it this way Lleyton Hewitt used to tell anyone that would listen that he would've been a footy player if not for tennis and she looked 2-3 times better than him in those Slowdowns.

She replaced Hugh Greenwood in the squad...

She says that her dream is to play footy at the MCG, and apparently it fits between the WNBA season. I think it's great. It shows how skilled she is to be able to switch between codes

I think Erin's situation is fairly unique.
I don't know what the AFL is paying the women for their 2 months but I'm pretty confident that she could play basketball in Europe and earn quite a bit more.
I'd say this is more about passion for her than money.

Shows how lucrative this is going to be for women athletes when a wnba player can choose to change sports .
Good for her,

Pretty cool IMO. I think she'll do well, too.