West Coast Eagles Courtney Rowley may require a second knee reconstruction after AFLW win over Collingwood

West Coast fear midfielder Courtney Rowley will require a second knee reconstruction after she landed awkwardly and was in clear distress during her team’s historic 45-point win over Collingwood.

The Eagles were celebrating winning five games in a season for the first time and also creating a new record winning margin, but thoughts quickly turned to Rowley after her injury in a marking contest during the second quarter.

The 22-year-old missed all of last season after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament in the final game of 2023. Eagles coach Daisy Pearce admitted the club feared the worst.

“It’s always a fear when someone goes down,” she said.

“She got knocked in a marking contest, landed awkwardly and it was her knee. That fear is always there, especially in a comp where they happen a bit.

“We hope we get away with one. But if not, knowing our rehab team and what Courtney’s like, she’ll come back better so we’ll just have to support her through that.

“It looked pretty serious. She obviously couldn’t play out the rest of the game. You could tell by her response that it seems a significant one. She’s a tough competitor.”

The win lifted West Coast to sixth place on the ladder and they jumped above Adelaide after the Crows suffered a shock loss to Richmond. The Eagles will play against Adelaide in a season defining contest on Saturday.

West Coast are on track to play finals and are constantly setting new benchmarks but Pearce said the biggest growth within her team is that they no longer feel the need to celebrate overcoming the challenges of their history.

She said nobody would fall into the trap of thinking about finals yet.

“I thought to myself today I’m really glad no one is talking about the history any more,” she said.

“All the records aren’t the focus any more because there’s an expectation of our team now of consistency and how we’re going to turn up.

“While it’s nice to mow down a few records and milestones, and hopefully there’s a few ahead of us, it’s not a shock or surprise to anyone There’s a healthy expectation that we expect ourselves to turn up and compete with anyone.

“There’s a real appetite to just want to improve and keep focusing on the little things. Finals is not in our control to talk about. It’s an undeniable carrot and it hangs over everyone in this comp. Every team wants to play at the end of the season. We’re one of them.”