Teen Wolf
Norm Smith Medallist
- Jul 5, 2011
- 8,123
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- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
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- Afghanistan women's cricket team
Nobody has posted on this particular board within the last week.
I'm still a fair way off finishing the words for my next MVP list (the list itself was completed 5 months ago).
And nowadays every second conversation regarding any given sport must be reduced to a fight over a certain four-letter acronym.
Hence this thread is very necessary.
Daisy Pearce
1x AFLW premiership player (1x captain)
3x AFLW All-Australian (1x captain)
3x club B&F
4x AFLPA Best Captain
10x VWFL/VFLW premiership player (7x captain)
7x VWFL Best and Fairest
Erin Phillips
3x AFLW premiership player (2x captain)
2x AFLW Best and Fairest
2x AFLW Grand Final BOG
3x AFLW All-Australian (1x captain)
2x club B&F
2x AFLPA MVP
1x Olympic basketball silver medallist
Statistical high points
Pearce:
37 disposals and 1 goal vs Allies, 2017 SOO
17 disposals and 5 goals vs Fremantle, 2022 R9
Phillips:
26 kicks and 2 goals vs Brisbane, 2017 GF
21 disposals and 4 goals vs Brisbane, 2021 R4
Similarities/differences
Though I’m comparing them, it isn’t actually a like-for-like comparison on the field. Pearce was more reliant on ground coverage a la Emily Bates, whereas Erin Phillips is more about winning the in-close contest like Jasmine Garner. But the fact is both players could handle either facet of the game supremely well.
So the biggest difference between the two is their kicking. Pearce was a precise but not powerful kick. Phillips gets far more distance but can be prone to an occasional blind hack or even a string of match-losing sprayed set shots. Likewise with their non-preferred, Pearce more reliable, Phillips more miraculous.
Both players excellent marks overhead for their respective size and height, very clean with their hands (gathering and passing) and exceptionally high football IQ and leadership qualities. Plenty tough and courageous too.
Physical
Phillips prepares her body first and foremost to outmuscle her opponents. I believe her bulkiness has contributed to a long list of injuries, and she has made some rather risky decisions (such as playing relatively meaningless games woefully underdone) that either have, or could have, backfired badly. That said, she will turn 38 next month and is gearing up to go around again, despite a career’s worth of running on hard wood. And I’m expecting she’ll have a much better season than the previous one, which she had no real chance to get up for properly.
Pearce on the other hand was a very astute preparer who learned key lessons from a prolonged football career that enabled sustained high performance with minimal injuries. Even while pregnant with twins, she followed a meticulous training schedule that would allow her to return to the field as a 31-year-old in the best realistically possible condition.
Worth the hype?
Phillips was lucky to win the 2019 GF BOG (should’ve gone to Hatchard). I wouldn’t say she was lucky to win the league B&F in 2017, but Daisy only picking up seven votes was crazy.
Pearce missed out on AA selection in 2020, despite clearly being one of the best defenders that year. She had a few standout matches in 2022 when selected as a forward, but also four very quiet ones which might’ve been held against another player.
Daisy was recently ranked 7th in the WWOS/Age/SMH “50 most influential women in Australian sport” thing, and Erin ludicrously didn’t earn a mention. Fwiw Caro ranked 9th (because the world needs more journos patting other journos on the back) and Jesinta Franklin came in at 42nd.
Erin has had Barack Obama check her out, but Natalie Portman has worn Daisy’s jumper.
Integrity
Phillips averages 1.9 frees for and 0.8 frees against. This is a better ratio than what even Emma Kearney has (2.0 & 1.0) and I’d guess it’s the best in the league, though I don’t know how to efficiently confirm that. Erin has managed this by being a fairly shameless head-thrower, though she is now definitely not as bad as she used to be.
Pearce’s free kick average was 0.9 for and 0.8 against, while usually copping ‘special’ attention from opposition teams. Her only indiscretions in my view are mildly threatening to not play AFLW unless it was with Melbourne, and giving a rather tacky misrepresentation of her club’s outside-the-cap payment arrangements.
Overall both have been gracious in victory and defeat, unselfish and never dirty or undisciplined players.
H2H
Head-to-head they are deadlocked 2-2, and they were mostly two ships passing in the night.
For their first encounter, Melbourne beat a fast-finishing Adelaide in Darwin. Daisy picked up 3 votes for the match, Erin got the 2. Phillips didn’t play in the Allies’ 97-point loss to Victoria later that year, nor in Adelaide’s 32-point loss to Melbourne in 2018.
Pearce then missed Melbourne’s 60-point loss to Adelaide in 2019 due to pregnancy. Their teams didn’t meet in 2020. Melbourne beat Adelaide by 28 in the 2021 H&A, neither player starred. Pearce then missed the 2021 prelim, which Adelaide won by 18.
Phillips had 17 disposals and 3 goals (and 3 votes) in Adelaide’s 14-point R4 win of 2022. The ball hardly found its way into the Melbourne forward line, though Pearce still managed 2 goals.
In their final meeting, the 2022 grand final, Phillips had 17 touches and 1 goal in the Crows’ 13-point win. Pearce had 16 touches and was moved to the backline mid-match.
Melbourne and Port Adelaide didn’t play each other in S7.
Pre-AFLW
Following a VWFL grand final BOG at age 16, Daisy didn’t just take over from the likes of Debbie Lee and Shannon McFerran as Victoria’s best, she justified her status as the no.1 women’s footballer in the country with numerous BOG performances in the unprecedented high-profile exhibition matches from 2013.
As a junior, Erin was recognised by John Cahill to be as good a footballer as anybody he’d ever seen at her age. There isn’t a question that she’d be a better player today if she played football for the remainder of her teens and throughout her 20s. The question is just how much better.
Verdict
I like to look at it from the perspective of which 18-year-old version I’d rather draft. Erin is the rarer breed, which makes me lean towards her. But ultimately, I have to factor in the inevitable mountain of injuries.
Daisy played just two AFLW seasons before deciding to have kids, which is not an injury though it obviously cut her career short. The unmatched combination of natural talent, honed craft and plain old consistency is what made her the most dominant player during that time.
I'm still a fair way off finishing the words for my next MVP list (the list itself was completed 5 months ago).
And nowadays every second conversation regarding any given sport must be reduced to a fight over a certain four-letter acronym.
Hence this thread is very necessary.
Daisy Pearce
1x AFLW premiership player (1x captain)
3x AFLW All-Australian (1x captain)
3x club B&F
4x AFLPA Best Captain
10x VWFL/VFLW premiership player (7x captain)
7x VWFL Best and Fairest
Erin Phillips
3x AFLW premiership player (2x captain)
2x AFLW Best and Fairest
2x AFLW Grand Final BOG
3x AFLW All-Australian (1x captain)
2x club B&F
2x AFLPA MVP
1x Olympic basketball silver medallist
Statistical high points
Pearce:
37 disposals and 1 goal vs Allies, 2017 SOO
17 disposals and 5 goals vs Fremantle, 2022 R9
Phillips:
26 kicks and 2 goals vs Brisbane, 2017 GF
21 disposals and 4 goals vs Brisbane, 2021 R4
Similarities/differences
Though I’m comparing them, it isn’t actually a like-for-like comparison on the field. Pearce was more reliant on ground coverage a la Emily Bates, whereas Erin Phillips is more about winning the in-close contest like Jasmine Garner. But the fact is both players could handle either facet of the game supremely well.
So the biggest difference between the two is their kicking. Pearce was a precise but not powerful kick. Phillips gets far more distance but can be prone to an occasional blind hack or even a string of match-losing sprayed set shots. Likewise with their non-preferred, Pearce more reliable, Phillips more miraculous.
Both players excellent marks overhead for their respective size and height, very clean with their hands (gathering and passing) and exceptionally high football IQ and leadership qualities. Plenty tough and courageous too.
Physical
Phillips prepares her body first and foremost to outmuscle her opponents. I believe her bulkiness has contributed to a long list of injuries, and she has made some rather risky decisions (such as playing relatively meaningless games woefully underdone) that either have, or could have, backfired badly. That said, she will turn 38 next month and is gearing up to go around again, despite a career’s worth of running on hard wood. And I’m expecting she’ll have a much better season than the previous one, which she had no real chance to get up for properly.
Pearce on the other hand was a very astute preparer who learned key lessons from a prolonged football career that enabled sustained high performance with minimal injuries. Even while pregnant with twins, she followed a meticulous training schedule that would allow her to return to the field as a 31-year-old in the best realistically possible condition.
Worth the hype?
Phillips was lucky to win the 2019 GF BOG (should’ve gone to Hatchard). I wouldn’t say she was lucky to win the league B&F in 2017, but Daisy only picking up seven votes was crazy.
Pearce missed out on AA selection in 2020, despite clearly being one of the best defenders that year. She had a few standout matches in 2022 when selected as a forward, but also four very quiet ones which might’ve been held against another player.
Daisy was recently ranked 7th in the WWOS/Age/SMH “50 most influential women in Australian sport” thing, and Erin ludicrously didn’t earn a mention. Fwiw Caro ranked 9th (because the world needs more journos patting other journos on the back) and Jesinta Franklin came in at 42nd.
Erin has had Barack Obama check her out, but Natalie Portman has worn Daisy’s jumper.
Integrity
Phillips averages 1.9 frees for and 0.8 frees against. This is a better ratio than what even Emma Kearney has (2.0 & 1.0) and I’d guess it’s the best in the league, though I don’t know how to efficiently confirm that. Erin has managed this by being a fairly shameless head-thrower, though she is now definitely not as bad as she used to be.
Pearce’s free kick average was 0.9 for and 0.8 against, while usually copping ‘special’ attention from opposition teams. Her only indiscretions in my view are mildly threatening to not play AFLW unless it was with Melbourne, and giving a rather tacky misrepresentation of her club’s outside-the-cap payment arrangements.
Overall both have been gracious in victory and defeat, unselfish and never dirty or undisciplined players.
H2H
Head-to-head they are deadlocked 2-2, and they were mostly two ships passing in the night.
For their first encounter, Melbourne beat a fast-finishing Adelaide in Darwin. Daisy picked up 3 votes for the match, Erin got the 2. Phillips didn’t play in the Allies’ 97-point loss to Victoria later that year, nor in Adelaide’s 32-point loss to Melbourne in 2018.
Pearce then missed Melbourne’s 60-point loss to Adelaide in 2019 due to pregnancy. Their teams didn’t meet in 2020. Melbourne beat Adelaide by 28 in the 2021 H&A, neither player starred. Pearce then missed the 2021 prelim, which Adelaide won by 18.
Phillips had 17 disposals and 3 goals (and 3 votes) in Adelaide’s 14-point R4 win of 2022. The ball hardly found its way into the Melbourne forward line, though Pearce still managed 2 goals.
In their final meeting, the 2022 grand final, Phillips had 17 touches and 1 goal in the Crows’ 13-point win. Pearce had 16 touches and was moved to the backline mid-match.
Melbourne and Port Adelaide didn’t play each other in S7.
Pre-AFLW
Following a VWFL grand final BOG at age 16, Daisy didn’t just take over from the likes of Debbie Lee and Shannon McFerran as Victoria’s best, she justified her status as the no.1 women’s footballer in the country with numerous BOG performances in the unprecedented high-profile exhibition matches from 2013.
As a junior, Erin was recognised by John Cahill to be as good a footballer as anybody he’d ever seen at her age. There isn’t a question that she’d be a better player today if she played football for the remainder of her teens and throughout her 20s. The question is just how much better.
Verdict
I like to look at it from the perspective of which 18-year-old version I’d rather draft. Erin is the rarer breed, which makes me lean towards her. But ultimately, I have to factor in the inevitable mountain of injuries.
Daisy played just two AFLW seasons before deciding to have kids, which is not an injury though it obviously cut her career short. The unmatched combination of natural talent, honed craft and plain old consistency is what made her the most dominant player during that time.
