AFLW, Adelaide Crows mourning sudden death of premiership player Heather Anderson

The AFLW and Canberra football community was mourning the sudden death of the Adelaide Crows premiership player and Belconnen Magpies junior on Monday, aged 28.

Born-and-raised in Canberra, Anderson was the second ACT player picked in the inaugural AFLW draft when the Adelaide Crows took her at No.10 - and she was the first from the Northern Territory, having moved there for her job as an army medic.

She played eight AFLW games for the Crows, including their 2017 premiership win over the Brisbane Lions, before a shoulder injury ended her playing career.

Anderson wore her trademark pink headgear so her vision-impaired mother could see her on the field.

The Crows will wear black armbands in their AFLW preliminary final against the Brisbane Lions on the Gold Coast on Friday night.

Anderson played with five members of the current Adelaide squad, who were all deeply saddened by her death.

She was especially close to Chelsea Randall and Stevie-Lee Thompson.

AFL head of women's football Nicole Livingstone was deeply saddened by Anderson's death and extended her condolences to her family.

"Words cannot express the deep sadness amongst the AFL and AFLW community at this time. Our sincerest condolences are to the Anderson family," Livingstone said.

"On behalf of the AFL, I would like to express my deepest compassion to Heather's family, friends and colleagues."

Belconnen president Scott Reid remembered Anderson coming to the club as a teenager before going on to play at the highest level.

He said it was a very sad day for the Magpies club.

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"She was a dearly loved person at the Belconnen Magpies and it was great to see her journey - she went on to play AFLW, play in a premiership side with Adelaide," Reid said.

"She was able to chase her dream and her passion, and be a medic in the army.

"It's just very sad. She was someone we were extremely proud of with her achievements and being able to go on and be a trailblazer for women's footy in Canberra, being able to be one of the first to be drafted to AFLW. She was truly remarkable."

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