Crows midfielder Hugh Greenwood says brush with shark won’t stop him from surfing

Crows midfielder Hugh Greenwood says he won’t give up surfing despite a close encounter with a 6ft shark at Southport on Tuesday.

Adelaide midfielder Hugh Greenwood at Crows training. Picture: Sarah Reed.

Crows midfielder Hugh Greenwood says he won’t give up surfing despite a close encounter with a shark at Southport on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old was in the water with his girlfriend Kirsten, dad Sticks and friends just after 1.30pm when he noticed a fin in the water and realised it was a shark.

“I see dolphins just about every time we go out there but this was still floating there and usually dolphins go up and down. Then the wave came up and you could see its whole body,” Greenwood said.

“You never want to be the person who yells out ‘shark’ if it’s a dolphin but we all froze and thought ‘yep, this is a shark’.”

Greenwood thinks it was a 6ft bronze whaler that came about two metres from them when they turned around and paddled straight back into shore.

After warning a nearby school group and messaging ‘Shark Alert SA’, they saw a plane fly over and sound the alarm.

It was the first time Greenwood had seen a shark while surfing but it won’t stop him from getting back in the water.

“Dad grew up with marine wildlife and I watch Shark Week (on TV) every year so there are no worries there.”

The Crows are on a four-day break and will return to training on Thursday ahead of Round 1 next weekend.

Greenwood said he trained on his own on Tuesday before hitting the surf. He has been battling an abdominal strain during pre-season and missed Adelaide’s two JLT Series games but impressed in a SANFL trial on the weekend.

[e-mail]