With two years left on his Crows contract, superstar Eddie Betts isn’t interested in talking about getting old, only better
CROWS fan favourite Eddie Betts opens up about the chaos of family life, his love of “mob nights” and being the oldest player on the Adelaide list.
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DON’T talk to Eddie Betts about getting old; he’s not interested.
But as the eldest player on the Crows list and with the club’s recent recruiting of small forwards — most notably the 172cm Tyson Stengle from Richmond — he knows there are players after his spot.
There’s no way he’s talking succession planning though.
“I don’t like to talk about myself getting old, because I’ve still got two more years to go on my contract,” the 31-year-old said.
“We’re getting these young forwards; but I’ve always said to them: ‘You guys, I want you to come in and play, (but) I want to play with you, I don’t want you to take my spot. If you want to take my spot, you’re going to have to work your arse off to take it, because I’m not giving it up. I may be old, but I’m not giving up my spot, so you’re either playing in the SANFL or your playing alongside me’.
“And that’s my mindset, that helps me to push harder.
“So at training, when we recruit young, small forwards, I like to work harder and train harder.”
Betts has happily put a line through the disappointing season 2018 and with eyes on next year, there’s a renewed sense of enthusiasm about him.
By his own admission, 2018 was tough: “This season’s been a hectic, crazy season, especially with the birth of the twins (Alice and Maggie in April) … it’s been tough, but we’re just happy that we’ve had a nice break now and we’re moving on and looking forward to 2019.”
It’s been a productive off-season for Betts who has spent time overseas in Europe with his family and has launched his first children’s book, My Kind, in which interest has been so high the book’s website crashed.
He’s also been doing some off-season boxing training alongside draft hopeful Izak Rankine, whom he hopes the Crows can pick up at the draft in two weeks.
Betts’ pre-season training starts on November 19 and he’s looking forward to seeing what the Crows can achieve next year.
“I think next year, as depressing as it might sound, I’ll be playing with kids who were born in 2000,” he said.
“I’m the oldest on the list, but I feel 21 … I’m excited, the body’s fresh and I just can’t wait to get started.”
He is also excited that young indigenous players have been added to the Crows list during trade period in Stengle and Sturt’s Shane McAdam; they are two more names he will add to the invite list for his “mob nights”; a regular barbecue held at the Betts house for the Crows indigenous players past and present.
“All the boys know what they have to bring, some bring lollies, some bring salad, some bring drinks and our past players are always invited too.
“Those boys help us out more than we help them … I’ve got friends and family back in Port Lincoln, (wife) Anna’s family is back in Victoria in Wangaratta, and we have no family here, which is hard, and they look after us and they babysit.
“Anna and I recently went out for dinner and Ben Davis and his partner Ruby came and babysit for us.”
With four kids under the age of six at home, Betts jokes that pre-season will be a welcome relief from the chaos on the home front.
“Whenever I leave the club and all the boys are going home, I’m like: ‘All right boys, I’m going to work, this has been fun for me, but now I’ve got to go home to go to work with my four crazy kids’.”
For what will be his 15th AFL season — and one that should see him hit the 300 AFL game milestone (his tally sits at 295) — Betts said the first priority for the Crows would be to stay healthy.
He pointed to the injuries that had plagued Adelaide’s key players this year — among them Rory Sloane and Taylor Walker, not to mention the two hamstring injuries he suffered himself — as the reason for the side’s disappointing season: “You look at the year before (2017), we had that synergy where we all stayed on the park, playing some fantastic footy, we were the topscoring side in the competition.
“And then this year, we’ve showed patches of great footy, but we just weren’t on the park with all those injuries.
“(In 2019) we just need to stay healthy and get everyone on the park and get that synergy back.
“I can’t wait. If we’re all healthy, we’ll be pretty dangerous I reckon.”
GREATEST HITS OF THE ’80s
The last remaining Crows born in the 1980s
1. Eddie Betts, 31 — DOB: 26/11/86
2. Richard Douglas, 31 — DOB: 6/02/87
3. Sam Jacobs, 30 — DOB: 10/04/88
4. David Mackay, 30 — DOB: 25/07/88
5. Josh Jenkins, 29 — DOB: 8/02/89
6. Bryce Gibbs, 29 — DOB: 15/03/89
7. Andy Otten, 29 — DOB: 15/05/89