Former Adelaide Crows rookie Tim Klaosen returns to basketball to play for Sturt

FORMER Crows rookie Tim Klaosen has returned to state league basketball after being left bitter and blindsided by his AFL axing.

FORMER Crows rookie Tim Klaosen has returned to state league basketball after being left bitter and blindsided by his AFL axing.

Klaosen stunned his mates in November 2012 when he gave up a promising state league basketball career with Sturt Sabres to join Adelaide’s alternative talent list despite barely playing Aussie Rules for nine years.

But nine months later he was stunned when what he expected to be a two-year commitment was cut short midway through the 2013 season.

Klaosen, 24, is now back with the Pasadena-based Sabres looking to reignite his basketball career and still coming to terms with how abruptly his footy journey ended.

“If I knew it was going to end up the way it did there was no way I would have left basketball because I felt I was on the verge of something in it,” says Klaosen, who was once an Adelaide 36ers development player.

“I was honestly feeling like I was starting to be an important player so it was one of the biggest shocks when I was told I wouldn’t be back this year.

“When I signed they said ‘we know no one’s going to go from nothing to AFL in one year so we always give you guys two years’.

“Then the classic quote when they cut me was ‘we always reserve the right to change our minds’.”

Before joining the Crows, Klaosen had not played football since under-14s.

But his athletic ability impressed Adelaide recruiter Hamish Ogilvie and list manager David Noble during testing in October 2012, which led the club to take a punt on him.

Recruiting hoops converts was nothing new for the Crows, who have had other highly rated former basketballers Kurt Tippett, Ricky Henderson, Josh Jenkins and Ben Dowdell on their list.

As a lifelong Crows fan, Klaosen had to pinch himself when he began training with Patrick Dangerfield and living with Shaun McKernan, Dowdell and Brodie Martin.

“My first basketball number at Sturt was 52 after (champion Adelaide ruckman) Shaun Rehn.

“I didn’t want to leave basketball but I didn’t want to look back and think ‘I could’ve played with the team I grew up loving’.”

Klaosen says his first month in football — split between training with the Crows and playing for Glenelg’s reserves — was “terrible” but he gradually improved.

So much so that the half-back flanker says Glenelg told him he was on the brink of a league call-up halfway through the season.

But stress fractures in his shins then a quad injury sidelined him for several weeks, increasing pressure on his spot on Adelaide’s list.

He played just one more match — in Glenelg’s reserves against North Adelaide in round 21 — before the Crows told him he would not be needed in 2014.

“I didn’t see it coming, which was probably the worst thing, and there was a very small amount of feedback.

“I constantly told them I felt they were making a bad choice, that they should keep an open mind but they’d made their mind up and there wasn’t a whole lot I could do.”

Rather than stick around until the end of the season, Klaosen booked a six-month holiday to Europe.

He also decided to return to basketball instead of having another crack at footy.

“If I was ever going to play AFL, I felt I needed a full-time system so as soon as the Crows decided they weren’t going to give me the full-time system it was a pretty easy decision.”

Klaosen, who joined Sturt in under-10s and was part of the club’s title-winning Central ABL squad in 2010, returned to the Sabres last month.

The 197cm guard/forward is now training under Sturt’s new coach, Adelaide 36ers great Brett Maher, but is unsure if he has a future beyond the state league.

“I’ve got to figure out what’s realistic and if the NBL is not, I’ve got to get a real world job.”

Until then Klaosen says he is enjoying being back “home” at the Sabres, whom he watched play and train several times last season.

“I haven’t really spoken about it (getting delisted) to (Sturt) teammates ... and I don’t think they know how bitter I am.”

Noble says Klaosen had a one-year rookie contract and his spot on the list was a year-by-year proposition with an extension dependent on development and performance.

“Parting ways with any players is always difficult and this decision was no different given how hard Tim had worked,” Noble says.

“The call was made after extensive talks between Tim, his manager and several members of our football department.

“Following this discussing, Tim expressed a desire to revert back to basketball and pursue a playing position overseas.”