Insider: New Adelaide forward Eddie Betts the ‘sparkplug’ the Crows lacked

CROWS coach Brenton Sanderson calls Eddie Betts a “class player”, while fellow forward Josh Jenkins dubs him a “sparkplug”.

JOSH Jenkins describes Eddie Betts as Adelaide’s new “sparkplug’’.

“He’s probably the sort of player we’ve lacked - the missing link,’’ the Crows key forward said of his dynamic new sidekick.

“I’ve always known he’s a good player but watching him up close he’s even better than I could have imagined.

“He’s explosive, he’s smart, he puts pressure on the opposition with his tackling, he kicks goal and he dishes them out too.

“He’s a tremendous pick-up for us and we’re looking forward to him playing a lot of good football for us.’’

Adelaide’s $2 million investment - $500,000 a season over four years - in former Blue Betts has copped its fair share of criticism.

But the clever small forward only has to produce what he did at Carlton from 2009 to 2013 to make the Crows’ big-money free agent move pay off.

Betts, who at age 27 should be in the prime of his career, enters his first season at Adelaide having been the AFL’s five-year score assist king.

In stats which will excite Crows fans, since 2009 Betts has had 27 more score assists than any other player in the competition.

His 195 is well ahead of a high-calibre field which includes ace midfielders Jordan Lewis (168), Dane Swan (164), Joel Selwood (162) and Steve Johnson (161).

While those guns are distributors of the ball, Betts has proved to be a two-way player, kicking even more goals in that period (205) than he’s dished out.

The man in the baggy shorts sits fourth in the league for total scoreboard impact (2192 points), flanked by key forward stars Lance Franklin (2749), Jack Riewoldt (2487), Travis Cloke (2227) and Nick Riewoldt (2166).

He is the No. 1 ranked non-key forward.

Adelaide desperately needs an injection of Fast Eddie.

In 2012, coach Brenton Sanderson took over a club which was ranked dead-last in percentage of

scores once inside 50 (44.4 per cent).

In his first season in charge, Sanderson took the side to second in scoring percentage once insider its attacking arc.

But that slumped dramatically to ninth last year after key forward Kurt Tippett joined Sydney and No. 1 attacking target Taylor Walker blew out his knee in a round five loss to Betts’ Carlton.

Adelaide certainly didn’t get any help from its mosquito fleet.

Its leading goalkicking small forward was Jason Porplyzia with 13, highlighting the need to get Eddie.

“He is a really class player and one who is really going to stand out,’’ Sanderson said of his new acquisition.

Betts gave Adelaide fans a taste of things to come with a five-goal haul in the opening NAB Challenge clash against Port Adelaide.

In his two pre-season hit-outs in the Crows tri-colours, he had five score assists, resulting in four goals.

As captain Nathan van Berlo said of Betts at the club’s pre-season launch - “watch this space’’!