Adelaide’s Hugh Greenwood could potentially be the Crows’ most valuable player
ADELAIDE’S Hugh Greenwood has been a shining light for the Crows ever since he burst onto the AFL stage on the May 20, 2017 debuting against the Lions winning 15 possessions and kicking three goals.
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HUGH Greenwood is a breath of fresh air.
Much of the week’s narrative has been about Greenwood’s best-on-ground 17 disposal (14 contested) four-goal performance against the rapidly improving Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.
And while he was brilliant, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
He’s been a ray of light ever since he burst onto the AFL stage on May 20, 2017 debuting against the Lions winning 15 possessions and kicking three goals.
Since then he’s quietly gone about his business delivering week-in, week-out, while higher-profile teammates take the media spotlight.
No doubt Greenwood has loved flying under the radar, but those days are well and truly over.
Any player who stands 190cm can win the ground ball and tackle fiercely at the contest, but also take contested marks inside 50 and kicks goals, is a rare breed of AFL footballer.
If you look around the competition, big bodied midfielders dominate the contest.
Names like Patrick Cripps, Josh Kennedy and Ollie Wines spring to mind. And while Greenwood isn’t as prolific in his ball-winning ability at the coal face, he’s clearly better at contested marking the ball inside forward 50 and hitting the scoreboard.
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Adelaide’s midfield possesses genuine star factor with the recently re-signed All-Australian duo Rory Sloane and Matt Crouch taking centre stage.
But it’s quite possible by the time his contract is up for renewal at the end of 2019 Greenwood could be held in similar regard at West Lakes
Three weeks ago I called for the Crows to make drastic changes to their forward line by going smaller inside 50. Since then Adelaide’s forwards have fired, winning games against Geelong and Brisbane and applying more forward pressure on the opposition with a smaller setup.
With skipper Taylor Walker set to return from suspension this weekend, coach Don Pyke again faces an attacking dilemma; stick with his current smaller forward line or once again go tall and back high-marking power over ground pressure.
The beauty for Pyke is while Greenwood stands a similar height as Tom Lynch, Mitch McGovern and rookie Darcy Fogarty at a 190cm, but he offers so much more.
He’s a better one-on-one contested mark and he’s also a classy stoppage ball-winning midfielder who applies immense pressure when the ball is on the ground.
At only 26 years of age, Greenwood’s set to offer his coach a multi-role luxury few players can offer for many years to come.
Unlike some former basketballers who have turned to Aussie Rules, Greenwood grew up playing the game at a young age in Hobart.
But he chose to walk away from football accepting an AIS basketball scholarship in Canberra followed by joining the University of New Mexico in America.
From there he then returned home to Australia to join the Perth Wildcats in the NBL.
Crows recruiter Hamish Ogilvie must take credit for Greenwood’s rapid rise from prospect to the real deal. If it wasn’t for Ogilvy believing in his talents and staying in regular touch with
Greenwood while he was still playing basketball, he wouldn’t be a Crow.
Greenwood’s a natural footballer who knows where to run and reads the play well, he’s also brilliant in traffic and rarely fumbles.
While other players who’ve taken up AFL late have had to learn the game and how to kick the Sherrin, Greenwood has bucked the trend. He’s only had to improve his fitness and conditioning to cover the larger playing surface and to deal with the physical contact demands of the game.
The proof is in his statistics, averaging 15.8 disposals a game (9.8 contested) in his debut year, in 2018 he’s gone to a new level averaging two more possessions a game to 17.7 - 12.5 of which are contested.
And while there’s room to improve his uncontested possession rate of five per game, the signs are promising as he gains confidence and experience.
We’re now seeing the emergence of a genuine star of the competition, and in a game that is clearly a business the Crows have acquired him for the bargain basement price of a category B rookie.
Who knows, with Greenwood’s unparalleled ability to hit the scoreboard like a tall forward and the ball winning ability of a midfielder, he could potentially be Adelaide’s most valuable player who’s equally as damaging forward of centre as he is in it in the years to come.
Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.
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