Crows midfielder Brad Crouch says he hopes to agree to a contract extension at Adelaide within two weeks after bumper season
Finally some good news at West Lakes with star midfielder Brad Crouch saying he hopes to have a contract offer from the Crows within two weeks and he has no plans to return to Victoria.
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Star Adelaide midfielder Brad Crouch says he expects a new contract offer from the club in the next two weeks and has given the strongest indication yet that he will sign a long-term deal.
The 25-year-old who is favourite to win his first Malcolm Blight Medal as the Crows’ best-and-fairest this season is not out of contract until next year but wants to move on a long-term extension now.
Crouch, who has overcome years of debilitating foot and groin injuries, played every game this season and averaged 30 disposals alongside brother Matt and Rory Sloane in the midfield.
Last month The Advertiser revealed rival clubs including St Kilda had started circling the Victorian in the hope of luring him away from West Lakes, but Crouch told FIVEaa on Thursday night that he wanted to stay at Adelaide and hoped to have a new deal in front of him within a fortnight.
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“I’m in negotiations but I haven’t received an offer yet, but I’m hoping to get something in the next couple of weeks,” Crouch said.
“I’m hoping that soon we can get something done.
“The (Don Pyke) decision doesn’t change where I want to be and at the moment I’m hoping to play at the Adelaide Footy Club for as long as I can.”
Crouch was at the club to hear from Pyke on Thursday and said he was shocked by his decision to resign with two years left to run on his contract.
“It did come as a bit of a shock not just to me but the entire playing group, it’s obviously something he’s been thinking about and it definitely came as a shock to us.
“There were no tears, he was pretty emotional and you could see he looked pretty tired and had been thinking a lot about the decision, but he spoke honestly about how he felt and the best way forward for us as a footy club and that was for him not to carry on.
“What he’s done shows just how unselfish he is and how much he believes in us boys and the footy club, he wants us to go in the right direction and he’s not going to be a part of that but you know from his heart that he wants the best for us as a footy team.”
Crouch said he couldn’t pinpoint one moment where things fell apart but it was a series of setbacks that made Pyke question his future at the club.
“We kept getting kicked while we were down and towards the end of the season there were a few instances where you could see the strain on just about everyone at the footy club and how much it was hurting,” he said.
“There was no point in time where you could say it’s turned upside down for us, it was just one thing after the other.
“To be honest the game style has hardly been spoken about at all, in the back part of the year the frustration was clearly we were getting beaten around the ball heavily, and we just didn’t play with any sort of fight and hunger that we should be.”