Cannon Clough didn’t realize the severity of her injury when she first hit the ground. After leaping to defend a high ball, the Central Coast Mariners defender felt a kick through her leg. As she landed, her foot veered in one direction while her body went another. She heard a pop.
“I was like ‘oh, that was weird,’” Clough tells Guardian Australia. “I hadn’t been in the game for long at all, but the staff were like ‘you look really white’ and then I went into shock.” Initially, there seemed to be no major issues. However, a scan revealed an ACL and a meniscus tear, abruptly ending her season. “It smacked me in the face,” Clough recalls. “I was so hopeful and naive to think it was just an MCL sprain. Nothing has hit me that hard.”
Clough is one of seven A-League Women players who have suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear during the 2025-26 season. In the past two weeks alone, four players—Clough, Sabitra Bhandari, Grace Kuilamu, and Isabella Coco-Di-Sipio—have sustained the injury. This alarming trend highlights a significant issue within the league.
Global Trends and Lack of Research
There is currently no publicly available data tracking ACL injuries in the A-Leagues, nor any dedicated internal research exploring the circumstances of their occurrence. This lack of information mirrors a global trend: despite women athletes being two to six times more likely than men to tear their ACLs, only 6% of all sports science research focuses on women’s bodies.
However, organizations like the Michelle Kang-founded Kynisca and Fifpro, the global players’ union, are working to change that. Fifpro launched Project ACL, a multi-year initiative investigating ACL injuries in England’s Women’s Super League in 2024, focusing on environmental factors such as access to facilities, staff, equipment, recovery, game schedules, and travel.
“The day-to-day conditions that players experience is sometimes ignored because attention on this topic often pivots to: ‘this is an ACL injury, therefore it’s medical’,” Dr. Alex Culvin, director of women’s football at Fifpro, says. “What is overlooked, though, is the lack of holistic research done on conditions; the real quality control issue that we have in women’s football.”
Environmental and Structural Challenges
For Clough and her Mariners teammate, Taren King, who returned from her own ACL injury last season, the condensed schedule of ALW matches during the holidays combined with the summer temperatures, increased travel, and lack of appropriate off-field support could explain the recent surge in injuries. Additionally, the league’s part-time structure means players aren’t afforded the same rest time as fully-professional footballers, with training and recovery squeezed in around other work commitments.
For an injury that can take more than 12 months to heal, a 32-week contract often leaves players fending for themselves. “The darkest days are when you feel you’re on your own,” King says. “You don’t really have anyone to lean on, getting out of bed to go and do your rehab is tough because there’s no one there making sure you do it.”
“I don’t feel like I’ve recovered from the games around Christmas time, and it’s now the middle of January. It’s tough, and I don’t think you can point to any one thing, but all of them combined feels like it increases risk.”
Calls for Full-Time Investment
It’s why King and Clough, alongside the entire playing cohort, are calling for the league to become full-time as of next season. With more investment comes more research that can help prevent major injuries and sustain the careers of Australia’s best women footballers.
“If we’re full-time, hopefully it means the staff will be full-time too, which means they’re not spread too thin and you can actually get the care you need,” Clough says. “You don’t have to self-motivate or find ways to set it up yourself; it’s a structure that’s already set up for you, so you just show up to work and do your thing.”
The move represents a significant step towards improving player welfare and ensuring the longevity of the league. “It’s just making sure the engine, the athletes—the things that need to keep working—actually keep working. Otherwise, the whole league suffers.”
As the A-League Women continues to grow, the calls for better investment and research into player health and safety are becoming increasingly urgent. The league’s future may well depend on its ability to adapt and prioritize the well-being of its players.
