Adelaide leader Tom Lynch says Mr Fixit Mitch McGovern is indispensable at West Lakes
ADELAIDE leader Tom Lynch says Mitch McGovern is an indispensable Mr Fixit at the Crows as the dissection of a lost season escalates, with the club’s former mind training partner Collective Mind set to ‘clear the air’ on the preseason camp.
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ADELAIDE leader Tom Lynch says Mitch McGovern is an indispensable Mr Fixit at West Lakes as the dissection of a lost season escalates.
Injuries to key backs Daniel Talia, Tom Doedee and Kyle Hartigan meant McGovern was switched from attack to defence for the duration of Saturday night’s 104-point Carlton mauling.
McGovern’s value as a premium swingman wasn’t lost on Lynch when asked how important it was to retain the unsettled Crow.
“Absolutely, is a quality player and you saw Saturday night he can play both ends of the ground,” said Lynch backing McGovern.
“I haven’t spoken to him about what he is doing but is a contracted player at our club for two more years. Until otherwise that is where it stands.”
Adelaide’s quest for South Australian under-18 spearhead Jack Lukosius would mean packaging its notional No. 7 pick and McGovern for suitors headlined by Carlton.
A deal falling over appears the only way McGovern serves the remaining two years of his Adelaide deal.
McGovern, 24, on Sunday cut a solitary figure leaving Adelaide airport in Crows colours arguably for the last time.
It’s uncertain whether McGovern will attend Adelaide’s club’s club champion dinner on Friday. Jake Lever skipped last year’s Malcolm Blight medal following an acrimonious departure.
McGovern is a thoughtful, quietly spoken soul who honed his clutch marking in Warburton on Ngaanyatjarra lands, 1500km northeast of Perth. It would surprise to see McGovern exit the Crows and respected mentor Pyke on poor terms.
Earlier this month Pyke was confident McGovern would remain a Crow but last Friday conceded his fellow Sandgroper was restless. McGovern ignored a reported multimillion-dollar offer from Fremantle to re-sign with Adelaide last August.
Lynch refused to be drawn on questions about high-performance and psychological training company Collective Mind, which will hold a press conference in Melbourne on Monday to “clear the air” about their involvement with the controversial Crows training camp.
Company directors Amon Woulfe and Derek said in a statement they would like to address a number of issues around their engagement with Adelaide Football Club and speculation about the camp.
The Crows dumped Collective Mind from its program in June following player and supporter backlash over the controversial pre-season camp coach Don Pyke conceded was a “fail”.
“We have well and truly moved on from them,” Lynch said.
Lynch was upbeat about Adelaide’s season-ending, 12th win laced with seven Josh Jenkins goals. However, the Crows linkman predicted emptiness would sink in once September started without Pyke’s 2017 grand final unit.
“We wanted to finish off the year strongly and were able to do that so that was pleasing,” said Lynch, who captained Adelaide at Etihad Stadium with Taylor Walker and Rory Sloane unavailable.
“We want to be a footy club that plays finals. It is sort of a weird, hollow feeling.
“There will be eight teams playing footy over the next little period and we will be watching. That is reality, hard to swallow and we have to work hard to get back to where we want to be.”
Forward Elliott Himmelberg’s impressive debut provided a pointer for better days ahead noted Lynch.
“That first goal he kicked was pretty special. He was super and brought a lot of excitement to the group,” he said.
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