“It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it,” said Bec Goddard in commentary for Channel Seven.
The incident, as they so often do, looked innocuous.
Loading
Isabel Huntington, the Bulldogs’ number one draft pick from 2017, led up to a marking contest, the ball sailing over her fingertips as she bundled to the turf clutching her knee.
There was no need for a medical assessment; the wry shake of the head said it all.
“It’s the knee for Huntington,” Jason Bennett said.
“Please, no,” the commentator pleaded.
On the sidelines, as much as in the box, all thoughts of the scoreboard were suspended.
Bulldogs and Demons fans alike fell silent as it became apparent that the 2020 Rising Star could be lost to the competition for yet another year.
As premiership coach Goddard went on to add, however, the impact of ACL injuries in AFLW are felt far wider than football.
“It’s her life, it’s her study, it’s her work,” said the Hawks’ soon-to-be AFLW coach.
“It impacts everything, aside from the fact she’s going to be out of the game for a lengthy period of time if [an ACL injury] has happened.