The decision to leave star midfielder Mia King out of Saturday’s AFLW grand final was one of the toughest conversations coach Darren Crocker has had in football.
King, 24, has been sidelined for the past six weeks recovering from a PCL injury she sustained against Richmond in round 9.
She had been given the green light to play, but Crocker and his match committee opted against making a change.
“It’s always tough … there’s some conversations you have to have that are really difficult ones,” Crocker said.
“Leaving players out when they are really keen to play in this game, that’s probably one of the hardest conversations I have ever had to have in football to tell you the truth.”
The Roos take on Brisbane in the third grand final between the two sides in as many years.
The Lions won the first encounter in 2023 before the Roos answered back in style last season.
North Melbourne is a runaway favourite for the premiership having won 26 consecutive matches.
But Crocker said propelling King into “a hot grand final” after such a long lay-off was too big of a risk.
“It was really difficult, we’re all feeling for Mia,” he said.
“This is meant to be an enjoyable week, grand final week, but for any coach and match committee that needs to make that decision, it makes us very tough.
“Probably three, 2½ weeks ago you couldn’t have picked her, but to her credit she has really accelerated her rehab.
“… It was a difficult decision to leave her out, we just felt it was too big a risk to take. She hasn’t played a game of footy in 50 days.
“To bring her into a hot grand final would be a big ask and would also have meant we needed to throw the team about a bit.”
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