Greater Western Sydney player Brid Stack has opened up on her emotional and disheartening reaction to hearing Adelaide star Ebony Marinoff's three-match ban was cleared by the AFL Appeals Board.
Stack was left with a broken neck following an on-field incident involving Marinoff, where the Crows jet was found guilty of forceful front-on contact during a pre-season clash between GWS and Adelaide.
The Irish recruit will now spend at least six weeks in a neck brace following the damage of the collision.
Ebony Marinoff has been found guilty of engaging in forceful front-on contact at the AFL Tribunal tonight and has been suspended for three matches. Below is the incident in question, more to come #weflyasone #crowsaflw pic.twitter.com/3FDLg1kXmQ
— Adelaide Crows AFLW (@CrowsAFLW) January 19, 2021
Marinoff was cleared of any suspension on Thursday night and played in the Crows' 56-18 victory over the Eagles on Saturday.
In an article for theย Irish Examiner, Stack lifted the lid on the distressing moments that followed the news that Marinoff had been cleared of any suspension.
"My heart just sank. I broke down in tears," she said.
โWithin minutes, my teammate Cora Staunton, Alicia (Eva), the team captain, and our head coach Alan McConnell, were in the apartment, trying to console me.
โI was beside myself with anger. Disillusionment. I felt so totally disheartened by the outcome.
โMy emotions almost felt trapped in this vortex of disbelief because I suddenly felt like a scapegoat.
โThe emotional trauma of dealing with such a serious injury was exacerbated when the blame for what had happened suddenly seemed to be sitting at my door.โ
Stack sustained a fracture to her C7 vertebrae in her first game of AFLW, revealing the extent of pain that followed the collision.
โI actually thought I might have broken my arm. I never experienced pain like it,โ she wrote.
โThe first scan was very scary because the doctors initially feared that more damage may have been done.
โBut thankfully as the night went on and the results came back, that chronic worry and fear gradually eased ... at the moment, the nerve damage in my right arm is more of a concern than my neck. Trying to get my arm firing again is my biggest priority.โ
Stack slammed the tribunal's findings and the Crows' use of evidence in defending Marinoff.
โThe trial by social media over here has still left a really bitter taste in my mouth,โ she said.
โThe Crows had every right to appeal the original three-match ban but some of the evidence in their argument was laughable โ they tried to suggest that I got injured in the first quarter.
โTo me, it was too easy to blame a โrookieโ. It may be a different game, but I have played football all my life.โ
