Dumped Crow Tyson Stengle has officially signed with Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL

Only days after parting ways with the Crows, Tyson Stengle has found a new club. And he’s set on improving his life off the field as he eyes an AFL return.

Tyson Stengle’s future at the Crows has been decided. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Dumped Crow Tyson Stengle has signed to play for his original SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens this season in a move designed to help him as much off the field as on it.

The Eagles, who won last year’s premiership, have set up a “culturally safe’’ program to help the 22-year-old small forward get back on his feet after a year of turmoil.

Stengle has been offered a 12-month traineeship as Woodville-West Torrens educational support officer, a position that will see him work in the football and administration departments and with the club’s junior squads and local schools.

He will also receive mentorship from Eagles board member Devinia Binell, who is understood to be the first indigenous board member at a SANFL club, and indigenous business leaders to help set himself up outside of football.

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Tyson Stengle has signed with SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens. Picture: Tom Huntley

Eagles football director David Couzner, who runs a recruitment agency, and chief executive Luke Powell have overseen a program in conjunction with two of Stengle’s key mentors, former Adelaide teammate and current Carlton small forward Eddie Betts and his wife Anna, to set up a strong support network around him.

“We are trying to build a productive daily structure for Tyson, involving football, work and daily life, creating a path of responsibilities for him,’’ Couzner said.

“He still hopes to play AFL again but our prime focus is on setting himself up for life after footy.’’

Stengle was this week cut by the Crows with two years left on his contract after three on-field indiscretions in eight months last year.

He has been training with the Eagles after being stood down by Adelaide, which has reached a financial settlement with him, in December.

Stengle has already played two trial games with Woodville-West Torrens – a reserves match against North Adelaide and a league game against Glenelg.

It is uncertain whether he will play in the trial against the Crows at Thebarton Oval on Saturday.

Stengle hopes to play in the AFL again. Picture: Sarah Reed

Stengle, who played 14 AFL games in two years with Adelaide after managing only two in two years at Richmond, had contemplated switching to the VFL before opting to stay in SA.

He still has AFL ambitions and is eyeing a return to the big league via the mid-season draft in May.

Stengle’s signing is significant for the Eagles as he will fill the small forward vacancy left by last year’s joint Ken Farmer Medallist James Rowe, who was drafted by the Crows and will make his AFL debut against Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon.

Powell said of more importance was the Eagles’ desire to “look after one of our own’’.

“We pride ourselves on being a family club and Tyson is one of our ex-juniors so we need to wrap our arms around him regardless of the mistakes he’s made,’’ he said.

“He has ambitions of getting back in the AFL and we’d love nothing more than for him to do that but our main focus is on helping to set him on the right path for the next phase of his life.’’

Startling revelation in Stengle departure at Crows

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Adelaide head of football Adam Kelly says the Crows proposed for Tyson Stengle to remain on the club’s list for this year and next season — but spend 2021 in the SANFL — only for the stood-down forward to pass on the offer.

Three months after standing him down, Adelaide has officially cut ties with small forward Tyson Stengle.

As revealed by The Advertiser last week and confirmed in a club statement on Wednesday, the Crows and the 22-year-old’s camp have agreed to part ways on the back of his third off-field indiscretion of 2020 – being pictured next to what appeared to be an illicit substance in mid-December.

The club and Stengle’s camp have agreed on a confidential settlement for the small-forward, who was re-signed on a two-year deal in August.

But Kelly said this came after Stengle turned down an offer to remain on the Crows list for the next two years, but with a big caveat.

“What we were intending to do and what we wanted as the outcome was for Tyson to remain on our list and we put forward a proposal that he would remain on our list for the balance of his contract — being season 2021 and 2022,” he said.

“But we deemed it appropriate that he did that outside of the football program in 2021 and he play SANFL.

Tyson Stengle training at his junior club Woodville-West Torrens in February. Picture: Tom Huntley

“And Tyson as is his right, he wasn’t accepting of that and because the two parties were unable to reach an agreement on that we have decided to part ways.”

This proposal would have resulted in Stengle training and playing for a SANFL club while being a Crows-listed player in 2021.

Stengle has been training with junior club Woodville-West Torrens, and Kelly said while he can’t speak for the former Crow he suspected the small-forward would be targeting a return to the AFL in the mid-season draft.

“I can’t talk on Tyson’s behalf but in conversations he felt like that wouldn’t best support him and his career and he wanted to be able to come back into the program much sooner than we were able to,” he said.

“From our club’s perspective we wanted him, we needed to build up some confidence in Tyson’s ability to return as an AFL footballer.

“Tyson definitely has some prospects because if he plays some really strong footy there is the mid-season draft in June... he definitely has the talent for that.”

Stengle played 14 games for the Crows, including 12 last season, after joining the club via a trade for pick 68 at the end of 2018.

Originally published as Dumped Crow Tyson Stengle has officially signed with Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL