Adelaide AFLW Senior Coach Matthew Clarke has lauded Co-Captain Ebony Marinoff’s influence at the Club and across the competition over the past 10 seasons.
Marinoff will become the first AFLW player, alongside Brisbane’s Ally Anderson to hit the 100-game milestone this Sunday, with the pair never missing a match for their respective teams.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Clarke said it had been a privilege to witness firsthand the incredible effort Marinoff had put in.
“(Ebony’s milestone) is an exceptional achievement,” Clarke said.
“We’ve spoken about her competitiveness but probably the other feature that stands out is her work ethic. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone work harder in terms of trying to improve herself every year.
“Every element of her game, she’s chipping away at and all of the sudden you’ll see that skill transferred on the field and you go ‘ah yeah, she’s done the work’.
“She’ll be seen as one of the greatest players of the AFLW era and from its inception, her impact has been huge.”
Marinoff’s career so far is a decorated one.
The 27-year-old has won three premierships, an AFLW Best and Fairest, three Club Champion awards, seven All-Australian selections, a Showdown Medal and an AFLCA AFLW Champion of the Year award. She is also Co-Captain of the Crows, having held that title since 2024 alongside Sarah Allan.
But it’s her willingness to continue learning that impresses Clarke the most.
“In time, they’ll just look at the stats sheet and the stat sheet is unbelievable,” Clarke said.
“She’s a seven-time All-Australian already, she’s won the League medal, she’s won our Best and Fairest three times, she’s the all-time leading stats winner in terms of possessions, she leads the tackle count by some ridiculous number.
“(But) she’ll acknowledge that she’s grown a heap over the journey as well, she’s a much more polished player than she was when she started.
“It’s just that unbelievable competitive drive that she has, which has probably been the standout feature. You see it on game day, but you also see it on the training track.”
The Crows will be looking to secure a third-straight win when they face Sydney at Unley Oval on Sunday, and further cement themselves into the top four.
The match will also be the Club’s 100th AFLW game and Clarke encouraged supporters to get to the game to help celebrate the two milestones.
“It should be a really good occasion, obviously it’s 100 games for Ebony and 100th for the team and we are looking forward to having hopefully a really good crowd get along to Unley,” Clarke said.
“It’s a great venue and we’ve had great success there, so we’d like to hopefully continue that on the weekend.”Adelaide takes on Sydney at Unley Oval this Sunday at 2.35pm.
Be there and bring a friend for free, using the codeword AFLW20252FOR1 when you buy tickets here.
