Crows SANFL captain maintains the club is still on the ‘Wright’ track as Adelaide prepares to face Norwood in semi-final
Fatherhood, footy and fun: It’s been a big year for Crows new SANFL captain, Matthew Wright, as he reveals he’s pumped to be playing finals footy alongside his young Adelaide charges.
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Last Sunday morning Crows SANFL captain Matthew Wright woke up feeling a bit sore and sorry for himself. After all, his side had gone down to arch rivals Port Adelaide by 30-points in the qualifying final the night before.
But then he heard the laughter of his five-month-old son, Theodore, and he remembered that not all was doom and gloom: Sunday was his first Father’s Day.
In that moment, Wright learned first-hand that there’s nothing quite like a baby’s smile to help soften the blow of a loss on the footy field.
It’s been a big 12 months for the 29-year-old. Not only has he become a father for the first time, but he’s retired from AFL football (having played 159 games for Adelaide and Carlton), and accepted the role of Crows SANFL captain and their part-time development coach.
He’s loved returning to the SANFL, the league that gave him his start via North Adelaide before he was drafted by the Crows as a rookie in 2009.
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“Coming back I knew it was a real strong competition,” he says. “It’s been really good and I’ll try and run around for as long as I can or until I get tapped on the shoulder and told: ‘You’re getting too old and too slow mate, maybe it’s time to hang them up’.
“I’ll try and run around with the young whippersnappers for as long as I can.”
And run around with them he does.
In last Sunday’s qualifying final, Wright was among Adelaide’s best, picking up 20 disposals, taking nine marks and recording six inside-50s.
Wright says despite the loss to the Magpies, the Crows will take good confidence going into Sunday afternoon’s first semi-final against Norwood.
“Against Port at three-quarter time, we were three points down and right in the game, but unfortunately we didn’t start the last quarter too well and then it gets to a point in the game where you’re trying to win and it opens you up the other way a little bit and the margin probably blows out,” he says.
“The final margin was probably not quite as reflective of what the game was, but in the end Port were just too good.
“But it was a good game of footy and gives us good confidence going forward.”
The Crows could still have 15 AFL-listed players in the line-up to face the Redlegs after confirming a squad of 23 following training on Saturday morning.
After having 12 listed players for the qualifying final against Port Adelaide, rookies Paul Hunter, Kieran Strachan and Jordon Butts are expected to come back into the side after recovering from injuries.
Top up players Mitch Johnson and Corey Davey were cut from the extended squad on Friday and the remaining 23 players negotiated training on Saturday. If Hunter, Strachan and Butts return to action, two more development players will be left out.
Wright is confident that if Adelaide can come into the game against Norwood with the same mindset they showed in the first three quarters against Port, they’ll be competitive.
“(But) as we know, footy is a four-quarter game … it’s finals’ footy, you’re playing against quality sides and if you don’t bring it, and you lapse for even 10 minutes of footy, it cost us on (Saturday night),” he says.
“I think we’ll go into the Norwood game really confident knowing that if we play the way we want to play … (they) won’t be able to go with us.”
With Wright’s development coach hat on, he says he’s loving being surrounded by the young guns on Adelaide’s list and watching on as they develop their skills.
“And just their youthful energy, you can’t manipulate or manufacture that sort of stuff, they rock up to training and their love for footy is just contagious,” he says.
And that energy has been upped a notch with finals.
“It doesn’t matter what level of footy you’re playing, whether it’s juniors, junior colts or senior colts or SANFL or AFL, footy finals is what you play for and why you do all that pre-season in 38-40C heat,” Wright says.
“You do all that stuff so you can give yourself the opportunity to play finals footy and I’m hungry for success.
“Probably the biggest (piece of advice I give the young players) is that it’s such a privilege to be playing SANFL finals footy, not only for their development, but it’s as close as playing AFL footy for a lot of them who haven’t played the game at that level yet.
“That’s the biggest thing I tell them: Embrace it, enjoy it and have fun while also doing some hard work.”
First semi-final: Adelaide v Norwood, Sunday, September 8, 12.15pm, Adelaide Oval