Matildas star Mary Fowler shows off the devastating seriousness of her knee injury for the first time

Mary Fowler has revealed the seriousness of her knee injury for the first time after she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) when playing for Manchester City in the FA Cup.

Fowler, 23, posed for an Instagram photo with Matildas teammate Courtney Nevin on Tuesday, sporting a large brace on her damaged knee.

The typical recovery time from an ACL rupture can be as short as nine months – but Matildas captain Sam Kerr suffered the same injury in January of 2024 when on a training camp with Chelsea in Morocco and still hasn’t returned to the pitch for a competitive game.

Fowler is now racing the clock to feature in next year’s Asian Cup on home soil.

It comes as respected physiotherapist Brien Seeney, who discusses various sporting injuries on his NRL Physio Instagram and X accounts, raised questions about another ailment Fowler was carrying before her disastrous setback.

‘Horrible to see an ACL rupture now confirmed for Mary Fowler – interesting to read that she had a significant playing & travel load leading up to the injury as well as dealing with a right hamstring issue,’ he wrote on X.

Fowler posed for an Instagram photo with Matildas teammate Courtney Nevin on Tuesday, sporting a large brace on her knee (pictured)

The typical recovery time from an ACL rupture is nine months (Fowler is pictured, after sustaining the injury against Manchester United in the FA Cup)

That was backed up by photos of Fowler training with the Matildas in Sydney ahead of their first friendly against South Korea on April 4, where she was seen with her right hamstring taped up.

The muscle was also strapped when she blew out her ACL.

Dr Peter Larkins – who competed for Australia at the Olympics before becoming a specialist sports doctor – also voiced his concerns over the hamstring.

‘No surprise Man City have confirmed devastating right knee ACL rupture for Mary Fowler – but the question should be asked – what role did her right hamstring concern play in contributing? 

‘Clearly was playing with this – always a lesson to learn in hindsight,’ he wrote on X.

Fowler had a very busy schedule in the lead-up to the fateful FA Cup clash against Manchester United, with the Citizens playing on March 9, 15, 19, 23, 27 and 30, then the Matildas on April 4 and 7, before she suffered the injury on April 13.

Seeney wasn’t the only expert to draw attention to that huge workload when discussing the injury.

Performance coach Paulo Muwonge, who has worked with players from England’s Women’s Super League, connected the number of ACL injuries in the women’s game to the amount of fixtures the stars have to play.

Leading medicine experts have raised questions about the injured right hamstring Fowler was carrying when she ruptured a ligament in her right knee (Fowler is pictured in Sydney two weeks before rupturing her ACL)

Fowler (pictured with her boyfriend, NRL superstar Nathan Cleary) and her Matildas teammates endured a heavy workload and travel schedule in the lead-up to the injury

‘70% of the ACL injuries in the women’s game can be avoided by appropriate loading,’ he wrote on Instagram.

‘From experience I can tell that the women are not in good hands when it comes to S&C [strength and conditioning] training and load management.

‘It’s all about loading as minimal as possible because we don’t want to ‘fatigue’ players but it’s actually causing more harm.

‘They need to train properly to become more resilient.’

On April 20, Fowler’s City teammates made a heart-warming gesture of support for her during their 1-1 draw with Everton, with Kerstin Casparij celebrating her goal by holding up a City shirt with the Aussie’s name on the back.

Fowler’s team-mate Laura Coombs published an image of Casparij holding the Matildas star’s shirt up, writing: ‘Sad we couldn’t get the win but we love you Mazzy [Fowler].’

The Australian forward re-shared the post onto her Instagram story, writing: ‘Love yous too.’