AFL 2021: Ruckman Reilly O’Brien re-signs with Adelaide Crows
The Crows have continued their re-signing spree ahead of the season, locking in best and fairest Reilly O’Brien on a rich new contract.
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Adelaide has rewarded Reilly O’Brien for his significant improvement over the past two seasons, re-signing him for four years.
O’Brien, who was out of contract at the end of the campaign, joined the Crows as a rookie in 2014 and played just two games in his first four years before establishing himself as the No.1 ruckman in 2019.
He then capped his rise by winning the club’s best and fairest in September, just 37 matches into his career.
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O’Brien, 25, is the fifth Adelaide player to re-sign since the start of the year and the third this week.
On Tuesday, Andrew McPherson and Josh Worrell agreed to extensions until the end of 2023, while Rory Laird (until 2026) put pen to paper last week and Brodie Smith (2024) and Harry Schoenberg (2023) in January.
Emerging forward Shane McAdam is also expected to re-sign before Round 1.
Adelaide list manager Justin Reid said the club valued O’Brien enormously.
“He demonstrates all the values we want our players to display, is professional with the way he approaches his football and his influence on game day is significant,” Reid said.
“He is a great example of a young player who has been prepared to do the hard work to get his opportunity and once that came he has not looked back.
“We could not be happier to have him remain at the club for the next four years.”
O’Brien said he re-signed long-term because he was excited by the club’s direction.
“This allows me to invest in the group and really focus on others as well,” O’Brien said.
“I’m really comfortable in Adelaide.
“I want to be part of something special and help build that from the ground up.
“This is a great opportunity to do that.”
LIVEWIRE CROW NEXT TO RE-SIGN
The Crows are set to continue their run of re-signings by handing emerging forward Shane McAdam an extension in coming days.
McAdam, who is out of contract at the end of the season, is expected to agree to a two-year deal by early next week.
Adelaide has already re-signed five players in 2021.
On Tuesday, the Crows gave new two-year contracts to youngsters Andrew McPherson and Josh Worrell, while last week Rory Laird agreed to stay until the end of 2026.
Brodie Smith (2024) and Harry Schoenberg (2023) put pen to paper in January.
McAdam, 25, finished seventh in the Crows’ best and fairest last year after kicking 12 goals – the second-most at the club – from 13 games.
Arriving at Adelaide from Sturt as a mature-aged pre-draft access selection in 2018, as part of Mitch McGovern’s trade to Carlton, McAdam had to wait until Round 4 last season against Brisbane to make his AFL debut.
The high flyer has looked very fit this pre-season and seems primed to become a more integral part of the Crows’ attack.
McAdam hails from Halls Creek, a remote town in the East Kimberley Region of WA.
In August, he told The Advertiser that home was constantly on his mind but he was intent on chasing his AFL goals.
“The boys here and the footy club have really helped me, they’re always there to put their arms around me,” said McAdam, who played in the WAFL and Adelaide Footy League before joining Sturt.
Another @Adelaide_FC game, another Shane McAdam hanger 🚀#AFLCrowsGiantspic.twitter.com/lmfXoaeh0J
— AFL (@AFL) September 8, 2020
“I do miss home but I’m chasing my dream and home will always be there.
“I lived with Brodie Smith in my first year and he was good for me.
“He’s a leader of the club and he showed me what it takes to be an AFL player.”
Adelaide still has a host of key players who are out of contract at the end of the campaign.
Among them are best-and-fairest winners Matt Crouch and Reilly O’Brien, former captain Taylor Walker, leadership group member Tom Doedee, veterans Daniel Talia and Tom Lynch, and 2017 pick No. 12 Darcy Fogarty.
HOW COUNTRY KID LANDED AT THE CROWS
– Simeon Thomas-Wilson
In his home district in the NSW Riverina new Adelaide recruit Nick Murray was known for his persistence.
But even with 2000 hectares still to strip there was no chance Murray would be finishing this job.
He was out on the tractor at Yerong Creek late last year when he got the call from Adelaide’s national recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie that the Crows wanted him at West Lakes to be a train-on player ahead of the 2021 season.
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Jason Hamblin the president of the club where Murray played in 2020, the amazingly named Ganmain Grong Grong Matong Lions in the Riverina Football League, was one of the first calls.
“He was out on the tractor doing harvest when he got the Crows calling him,” he said.
“Nick rang me and said “I don’t think I can continue with the stripping”.
“They still had 2000ha to go with and he said sorry boys I’m out of here and off to train with the Crows.”
On Sunday, moments after the Crows were convincingly beaten by Port Adelaide for the second week in a row Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks got Murray up in front of the rest of the playing group and gave him a contract to sign to be a rookie for the 2021 season.
Nicks said he had “never seen anything like it” when describing the key defender’s rise from country footy to battling with Charlie Dixon in the space of five months.
Murray himself was still pinching himself, with his less than conventional route to the big-time.
“I definitely thought I would have to get back to Melbourne and do a lot of work and try and showcase myself in the VFL,” he said.
“But I got a call from Hamish (Ogilvie) just before the (2020) draft and he said that they would have me as a train on.”
Interestingly Murray signing a contract with the Crows should have come a lot earlier than Sunday.
The now 20-year-old had his bags packed when the 2019 Draft rolled around, with a strong indication that he would be picked up by the Crows with a late pick.
But an unexpected sliding of one player forced the Crows to rethink their plans and Murray - a former GWS Academy player - had to plot another way to get to the AFL.
COVID-19 meant this was through the Riverina Football League in which he booted 12 goals from seven games.
“It’s amazing what persistent does,” Hamblin said.
“His attack on the footy was kamikaze like.
“We played him as a forward because that’s where we need to fill but he played as a defender for GWS when he played for their reserves side so we always knew he would play more there.”
As well as being the president, Hamblin has known Murray - and his older brother and ex-Collingwood player Sam - since they were young.
Former Carlton player Harrison Macreadie is a first cousin while father Peter used to play for Hawthorn.
“He’s a good country boy,” Hamblin said.
“He was a little larrikin when he was younger, never getting into too much trouble but he always had a footy on him.
“He was also a bloody good cricketer.
“When he played footy he just attacked everything, we were playing in an elimination final last year and he broke his collarbone.
“It was the final moments of the game and he just went through two defenders and after the game he kept saying he would be right for the game the next week and I could see how bad his collarbone was.”
Despite this it was the fact Murray was able to play in 2020 that seriously helped his chances.
“We were one of the only places that played footy last year and he and Sam came out and played for nothing,” Hamblin said.
“That’s the sort of family they are, Sam could have demanded $1000 a game or so being a former AFL-listed player but they knew it was their best chance of getting onto a list by playing for us.
“It is pretty amazing what he has done.”
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