Veteran defender Andy Otten holds North Melbourne gun forward Ben Brown to no goal to enhance his claims to stay on Crows list
VETERAN Crows defender Andy Otten made a strong case for a contract extension after keeping North Melbourne key forward and Coleman Medal aspirant Ben Brown goalless at Adelaide Oval as Tom Doedee suffered a season-ending injury.
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CROWS veteran Andy Otten wants to continue his AFL career next year — and made a case for a new contract at the Adelaide Football Club by holding Coleman Medal-contending forward Ben Brown to four touches and one behind at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
“I’m keen to go on next year, but I’ve been told it’s a bit of a numbers game — I’ll have to wait to find out,” Otten said after the Crows survived a late charge from North Melbourne to win by nine points.
And Otten’s case for his eighth AFL game of the season — and 106th overall — in Adelaide’s season-closer against Carlton at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night is not only enhanced his grand performance yesterday. There also is the injury crisis that deepened with the Adelaide defence with Rising Star-nominated back man Tom Doedee suffering a suspected broken collarbone.
Doedee came off worst in a crunching collision with North Melbourne midfielder Jed Anderson late in the third term when Adelaide was commanding a 37-point lead that was reduced to three with less than five minutes to play.
Crows coach Don Pyke last night left Otten’s future at West Lakes open ended — and Otten had many qualities, including leadership, to make his case for a new contract.
“We are assessing the list at the moment; we have a number of guys who are off contract and we need to assess what it looks like through the next six weeks or so,” Pyke said. “We know Andy’s quality. And you saw tonight his capabilities.
“I’m super proud of what he did (against Brown).”
Pyke had called up Otten, 29, at 6pm Friday when inexperienced key defender Alex Keath was ruled out with a hamstring concern.
“He was the professional; he said, ‘Yep, not a problem. I’ll do what I can for the team’ and I thought his job tonight was outstanding,” Pyke said. “He certainly did not do himself any harm tonight.”
Adelaide advanced to 11-10 but remained in 12th spot as the Kangaroos fell out of finals contention. Pyke insists the Crows need “minor tweaking” rather than major change to the football program to return to being an AFL pacesetter.
And Pyke is comfortable with the club review remaining internally under the direction of chairman Rob Chapman.
“We have a reasonably clear picture,” Pyke said of Adelaide’s lessons from a “frustrating and disappointing” season after being a grand finalist last season.
“I pretty comfortable where we are internally. The openness of our players, our coaches and looking at our program … I’m confident the people internally can assess (accurately where the club is). I have belief and trust in those people to get it done.”
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au
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