When Adelaide defender Zoe Prowse dons the Club’s Pride Round guernsey, she feels like she’s taking part in something bigger than just a game of football.
The AFLW is halfway through its annual Pride Round celebrations, and the Crows claimed a 17-point win against West Coast in week one.
Although the victory was memorable, it was not the highlight of the day for Prowse.
The 22-year-old said representing the LGBTQ+ community and making everyone feel welcome at the footy were the most important parts of the round.
“It’s a pretty cool feeling seeing the guernsey and putting it on each and every year, it represents something much bigger than just the game of football and being able to be a part of that every year,” Prowse said.
“It’s a pretty incredible round to be a part of, we’re pretty lucky as a sport that we are able to produce such a big occasion to celebrate pride and make everybody feel welcome.
“It (pride) is something very special to me and something I love a lot about football.
“Being part of this group makes me feel so welcome and able to be whoever I want to be.”
Pride Round continues this weekend, with Adelaide travelling to Arden Street to face the reigning Premier North Melbourne, who have not lost a match since the 2023 Grand Final.
Prowse said players were keen to face the daunting challenge and confident they had what it took to take it up to the undefeated Kangaroos.
“Obviously they are a pretty incredible team and are looking pretty unstoppable at the moment, but I think we’ve got the team to do it,” Prowse said.
“Every game that we’ve played them has been pretty close, we were within a goal last year, so it’s going to be a good fight.
“It would be pretty cool to be able to knock them off, they are 21 now without a loss which is pretty close to the record, but the main focus for us is sticking to our processes and backing our system to get it done.
“Being the team to knock them off definitely does give you that extra bit of motivation though.”
Prowse will form a key cog in a Crows’ defensive unit that will be tasked with matching up against North Melbourne’s star-studded forward line.
She said curtailing the influence of North’s forward half firepower would be pivotal to Adelaide’s chances of an upset win.
“They’ve got great firepower up forward, but we’ve got the talent down back to match them, I feel pretty confident in that,” Prowse said.
“When we’ve played them previously it (our defense) has been something we’ve been able to match them on.
“We’ve got plenty of players who will be able to match up well on their forwards, and we’re looking forward to the fight.”
Adelaide takes on North Melbourne at Arden Street Oval on Saturday afternoon, with the first bounce at 2.35pm ACDT.
Fans can watch the game on Fox Footy/KAYO and 7Mate in Adelaide.
