Rookie Hugh Greenwood proves persistence pays off for Crows

ADELAIDE’S latest basketball-to-football convert Hugh Greenwood has revealed his signing by the Crows was eight years in the making.

AFL - Crows players return to training at AAMI Stadium. Taylor Walker shows who's boss on the first day back to Hugh Greenwood - with Brodie Smith and Daniel Talia. Photo Sarah Reed.

ADELAIDE’S latest basketball-to-football convert Hugh Greenwood has revealed his signing by the Crows was eight years in the making.

Greenwood, 23, said Adelaide recruiting chief Hamish Ogilvie was his development coach at Tasmanian club Lauderdale and had been tracking him since he gave football away in 2007 to focus on his basketball.

Ogilvie finally landed his man in September, signing Greenwood as a category B rookie.

“Persistence pays for old ‘Haggis’ (Ogilvie),’’ Greenwood said.

“He found me in Tassie, was my development coach and chased me for years and years, eight years basically.

“When he took the (recruiting) job at Adelaide every time the (basketball) season was finishing I could expect some voicemails from ‘Haggis’ asking ‘what are you doing in the off-season, do you want to come and see Adelaide and do this and that?’

“He was persistent and to his credit it ended up paying off for him.’’

Greenwood played for Tasmania at the 2006 under-16 football championships and was offered football and basketball scholarships at the AIS as a 15-year-old, choosing basketball.

His last football match was in the 2007 under-16 grand final for Lauderdale.

He then travelled the world in basketball, playing as a point guard in the US college system, representing the Boomers last year and trialling with NBA club Utah Jazz.

Greenwood, 193cm and 94kg, then turned his back on a three-year contract worth about $250,000 with NBL club Perth Wildcats to sign with the Crows.

“Basketball was always my focus and my passion but it got to a point where I’d exhausted everything with my basketball,’’ said Greenwood.

“I had an awesome opportunity in Perth (with the Wildcats) but things didn’t go the way I wanted them to (missing selection for Australia’s Olympic qualifiers) so I pulled the trigger with my footy stuff.’’

Illustrating how motivated he is, Greenwood stacked on 6kg of muscle while his Crows teammates were on holiday, although he says he is trying to become more streamlined now, and his skills are improving rapidly.

“I’m still working on my right foot (kick) because I’ve basically got two left foots at the moment,’’ said Greenwood, who is trialling as a medium-sized forward.

“But the skills are coming along quite well and I’m hoping I can force my way into playing a NAB Cup (pre-season) game.

“I’ve got to break that basketball tag and become a footballer. That’s my biggest thing at the moment, getting away from Hugh the basketballer and becoming Hugh the footy player.’’

Football is in Greenwood’s family, with his late grandfather Peter Marquis playing in three consecutive VFL premierships with Melbourne from 1957-59 and being inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

As for the long hair, Greenwood says it is here to stay — with good reason.

He said he grew his hair to raise money for the breast cancer foundation three years ago when he was based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and had become attached to it.

Greenwood’s mum Andree has been battling breast cancer since 2009.

“She’s an inspiration for me to continue to perform and play at the highest level to try to inspire her because she inspires our family,’’ he said.

Originally published as Rookie Hugh Greenwood proves persistence pays off for Crows