Taylor Walker says he wants Eddie Betts to remain a Crow despite Gold Coast circling
Adelaide co-captain Taylor Walker says he is confident that veteran Crows forward Eddie Betts will remain at West Lakes, despite Gold Coast’s interest in the fan favourite.
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Adelaide co-captain Taylor Walker says he is confident that Crows fan favourite Eddie Betts will remain at West Lakes, despite Gold Coast joining the race to lure the veteran forward from South Australia.
The Advertiser exclusively revealed on Monday the Suns are set to offer Betts a multi-year playing/mentor role similar to Luke Hodge at Brisbane and Jordan Lewis at Melbourne.
Carlton have also made contact with Betts’s management company W Sports and Media, as did up to five other clubs when he was dropped by Adelaide three weeks ago.
Betts, 32, is contracted to the Crows for next year and his preference is to see it through.
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On Triple M radio on Tuesday, Walker said he would talk to Betts about the links, but was hopeful the fan favourite would stay at West Lakes.
“He still has a year on his contract, it’s up to Eddie and our club,” he said.
“I would imagine that he is at our club next year... personally I would love to keep him as long as we can so I would be very surprised if he went.
“I’ll ask him if he is OK... but I’m not going to say ‘has someone offered you a contract’, I think it’s very rude to ask that question to a person.”
The interest in Betts — who also sits on 599 goals — means Saturday’s game against Collingwood could be the last time he plays at Adelaide Oval as a Crow.
Walker said the performance against West Coast in Perth, in which a plucky Crows outfit went down by 10 points, gave Adelaide confidence it could beat the Pies.
Crows legend and Board Member Mark Ricciuto said if the Crows beat the Pies then they would deserve to play finals.
“If you don’t beat Collingwood you don’t deserve to play finals,” he said.
“If you win you do... if you don’t then you have to take a long look in the mirror and go again next year.”
Crows co-captain Rory Sloane could be in with a chance of taking on the Pies despite suffering an eye injury in the beginning of the third quarter against the Eagles - ending his day in Perth.
Crows board member and Triple M host Mark Ricciuto said he had been told that Sloane had pulled up OK.
“And he is free to train and hopefully play this weekend? That’s my mail,” Ricciuto said.