West Coast Eagles defender Ashton Hill will be unavailable for the remainder of the season after sustaining a knee injury on Sunday.
Scans undertaken yesterday confirmed that that Hill ruptured her ACL while trying to avoid an opponent during the second quarter of the club’s clash with Collingwood at Victoria Park.
Head of female football Adam Selwood the club was devastated to learn of Hill’s diagnosis.
“Hilly went down in quarter two, which we assessed during the game,” he said.
“We got her back to Perth and she underwent scans on Monday night, which confirmed an ACL tear.
“It’s absolutely devastating for Ashton and the club. We know how hard she has worked to get to this point to become a really well-prepared and consistent performer at AFLW level.
“The football club will do whatever it takes to get Ashton recovered and back out on the field. We’ll be there every step of the way.”
Selwood also confirmed that Hill’s defensive colleague Brianna Green would be unavailable indefinitely as she worked her way back from general soreness.
He said West Coast would give Green the appropriate time to get her body 100 per cent before she re-entered the AFLW arena.
“Greeny is just working through getting back into training and the demands of training and the intensity that comes with that,” Selwood said.
“We’re going to take a really cautious approach with Greeny and monitor her body.
“At this stage she will be unavailable indefinitely until she can play a consistent four quarters of football.
“We see her as a long term player for this football club and we want to see her to do everything possible to get the structure of her body right and build from there.”
On a more positive note, versatile forward Melissa Caulfield is making good progress from the knee injury she sustained during last year’s WAFLW campaign.
Selwood said the experienced AFLW campaigner was one-to-two weeks away from being available for selection
“Mel injured her knee late in the WAFLW season and has been really diligent with her rehabilitation and recovery progress,” he said.
“She’s been in full training now for about three weeks and we’d like to see her train for a couple weeks more before she pulls on the blue and gold.”
West Coast Eagles AFLW Injury list:
Ashton Hill (knee) – season
Alicia Janz (knee) – season
Brianna Green (general soreness) – indefinite
Melissa Caulfield (knee) – 1-2 weeks
