Scott Thompson’s appearance in the Crows’ AFL team should count towards any premiership success Adelaide has this season

AUSTRALIAN football’s debate on who deserves a premiership medal gets another run with Scott Thompson, writes Michelangelo Rucci.

FINAL RUN. Veteran Crows midfielder Scott Thompson ended a 293-day absence from the AFL on Friday night. If he does not return to the Crows line-up again this season, his contribution to Adelaide’s campaign should not be under-estimated. Picture: Sarah Reed.

ADELAIDE could play in this year’s AFL grand final – the one game missing from Scott Thompson’s 308-match resume.

The Crows may win this season’s AFL flag - the prize 34-year-old Thompson has chased since he cracked the big league with Melbourne in 2001.

But, after Thompson’s return to the AFL in Friday night’s home win against league premiers Western Bulldogs, is it very difficult to imagine the veteran midfielder being on the MCG for the big game on the last Saturday in September.

Yet, if Adelaide did claim the flag, to end the 19-year drought, the argument on every player on the winning club’s squad getting a premiership medal would get a more emotional – and sentimental – edge to the debate.

Thompson may play just one AFL game this season – that Friday night workout at Adelaide Oval. Some of the finest judges who have been calling for Thompson’s return to the Crows midfield were not so assertive in reviewing his 10-touch game in the wet.

The prospect of Thompson facing his former club Melbourne – and being the midfield minder for team-mate Rory Sloane as he once again faces a heavy tag from the Demons – at Darwin on Saturday night seems slim.

It was all that Adelaide coach Don Pyke did not say on Friday night that points to Thompson returning to the SANFL. Tellingly, Pyke did not offer that Thompson still looked suited to the AFL after a 293-day absence.

Crows fan favourite Scott Thompson is all smiles after Adelaide’s win against Western Bulldogs on Friday night - his first appearance for the season. Picture Sarah Reed

“It was always going to be a challenge, his first game back,” Pyke said. “I’ll need to look at that with more detail.”

There is much to admire in how Thompson has worked this season while pushed to the background by an Adelaide team needing to generate new midfielders. He has fulfilled his duties in the SANFL. He has set standards for would-be AFL players at West Lakes.

He has started his pathway to being a coach when the boots have to be packed away.

He has played a significant role off the field in ensuring Pyke has a squad that is leading the race to September’s top-eight AFL finals. This is the face to the “culture” theme that is so often put up as defining AFL clubs.

There is just as much to admire in Thompson’s contribution at West Lakes this season as there is in those seasons when he played every game and won the Malcolm Blight Medal as the Crows club champion.

So far, Thompson is not defined by just one AFL game. There also is the pre-season in which his manic approach to setting up a fitness foundation remains a valuable marker to all his Crows team-mates. There is training session after practice work-out at Football Park where every Adelaide player can tap into an invaluable resource to fast-track the so-called “organic growth” at West Lakes.

This is the “squad” theme that emphasises as many as 40 players win an AFL premiership, not just the 22 on grand final day. And this theme underlines why any Crows success this season should carry a medal for Thompson, even if he is not part of the winning 22 on the MCG on September 22.

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