Out-of-contract Crows ruckman Sam Jacobs to weigh up his future as rival clubs come knocking
Out-of-contract Crows ruckman Sam Jacobs reveals he has had offers from other AFL clubs as he weighs up his future, with the Crows understood to have offered him a one-year deal.
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Crows ruckman Sam Jacobs’ future is in limbo, with the popular veteran revealing he has had offers from rival AFL clubs.
The 201-game big man, who had his player review with Adelaide’s coaches on Wednesday, is understood to have been offered an incentive-based, one-year deal to stay at the Crows, who are pinning their ruck future on his understudy Reilly O’Brien.
But it is believed the out-of-contract Jacobs, 31, has had at least two, longer-term offers from rivals, which he is seriously considering.
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He said he was unlikely to play in Adelaide’s SANFL finals campaign, which begins on Saturday, while he weighed up his future.
“I’d parked my future until the end of the season because, hand on heart, my main priority towards the end of the year was to finish off in the AFL team and play some good AFL footy,’’ Jacobs told The Advertiser.
“I did that and now that we haven’t made the finals and I've got more time on my hands, it’s time to work out what’s next.
“I’ve got a few options on the table but my priority is family happiness, that’s the number one thing, then it’s the opportunity to play AFL.
“I'm a pretty simple man, so it’s certainly not money driven.’’
Jacobs carried the Adelaide ruck division for eight consecutive seasons from 2011-18 before undergoing knee surgery after round two this year, being replaced by O’Brien and failing to win his AFL spot back until round 21.
He played the final three games in the AFL, chalking up his 200th match against Collingwood in round 22, and was preferred to O’Brien in the last home-and-away game against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat on Sunday, where he performed well in the 34-point loss.
Jacobs — from the Yorke Peninsula town of Ardrossan — wants to stay at the Crows, where he has played since being traded from Carlton at the end of 2010.
But he believes he has “two-to-three years of good footy left in me’’ and that he might not get offered that opportunity at Adelaide.
Jacobs has been linked to Greater Western Sydney and St Kilda, who are in the hunt for ruckmen.
“I’m very settled in Adelaide but I’ve got a lot to consider,’’ the triple All-Australian nominee said.
“There’s some options there but I’m not across all of them yet because my manager (Tom Petroro) has had a lot on his plate with other (out-of-contract) clients like Stephen Coniglio (GWS), Todd Goldstein (North Melbourne) and the Jones boys (Sydney’s Zak and Melbourne’s Nathan).
“But I’ll catch up with him shortly and work through it all.
“I want to keep playing for as long as I can because I’m still loving football as much as I did when I was 15.
“My time out of the game through injury this year has just rekindled my joy for it all.’’
After playing eight SANFL matches this season, Jacobs has qualified for the Crows’ SANFL finals campaign, which begins with a qualifying final against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
But his uncertain future means he is unlikely to make himself available to play.