Balwyn premiership star Rod Crowe set to make a return to the Eastern Football League club

FOUR-time Balwyn premiership player Rod Crowe is set to make an unexpected return to the Tigers almost two years after playing his last game.

Rod Crowe on the burst for Balwyn. Picture: Stuart Milligan

FOUR-time Balwyn premiership player Rod Crowe is set to make an unexpected return to the Tigers almost two years after playing his last game.

The star defender has been training at Cherry Rd and is expected to pull on the boots for the first time since the 2016 premiership when Balwyn meets Norwood in Round 7.

Balwyn football director Paul Johnson said Crowe would fill the key defensive post left by the injured Ayden Kennedy and recruit Henry Schade, who departed the club on the eve of the season.

Kennedy suffered a season-ending knee injury in Round 2 against South Croydon when he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.

The Tigers are also expecting to see less of aligned player Ryan Pendlebury, who joined stand-alone VFL club Port Melbourne from Collingwood late last month.

Crowe could play the three games following the interleague bye next weekend before the Round 9 split weekend.

“He’s a pretty naturally fit sort of guy so it will just be a bit of match conditioning,” Johnson said.

“It will be up to him and (coach) Rodney (Eade) when he starts ... we’ll just ease him into it and hopefully if we play finals he’ll be there for us.”

Johnson said Crowe, who also played in Sandringham’s VFL three-peat from 2004 to 2006, phoned in for a score update against South Croydon just after Kennedy suffered his knee injury.

“I grabbed hold of the phone and said, ‘we’ve just lost our centre half-back, we’re in a bit of strife’ and he straight away said, ‘I’m a 70 per cent chance of coming to help you out’,” he said.

“Rodney spoke to him about 30 minutes after the game and by the next day he had decided he was going to play.

“It’s club loyalty that’s got him to come help us out, which is fantastic.”

Balwyn sits in second on the Eastern Football League Division 1 ladder after the first five games of the season with a 4-1 record.