Six senior players left Adelaide Crows and headed to different teams at the end of 2019 – was the club right in letting them go?
A stack of former Crows players from the 2019 list have spent this season running around in another team’s colours. From Eddie Betts to Hugh Greenwood, was Adelaide right in letting them go? Champion Data stats reveal the truth.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
At the end of last season, Adelaide traded six of its senior players, letting go of a combined 783 games of AFL experience.
With fan favourites Eddie Betts and Sam Jacobs departing, alongside hardworking Hugh Greenwood and Alex Keath as well as the big-bodied Cam Ellis-Yolmen and big-kicking Josh Jenkins, it was called a player exodus.
But now, the Crows are left sitting on the bottom of the AFL ladder with two wins from 15 games – and well and truly immersed in what could turn into a painful rebuild.
So did Adelaide’s list managers do the right thing in letting those players go?
Champion Data stats help to paint the picture.
HUGH GREENWOOD (TRADED TO GOLD COAST)
Crows games in 2019: 14
Suns games in 2020: 14
Adelaide will remain steadfast in its argument that Greenwood – who was in and out of the team last year – wasn’t worth the four-year deal he desired and not part of the Crows’ next premiership team.
But even the most one-eyed Crows fan would concede that this decision isn’t looking too good for Adelaide at this point in time.
While the Crows’ midfield was getting smashed from pillar to post earlier this year, Greenwood meanwhile had grown into one of the leading contested midfielders in the competition, taking his opportunity on the Gold Coast with both hands.
Greenwood’s big-bodied style is glaringly absent from the Crows in 2020, and will be further exposed if Brad Crouch departs as widely expected.
The frustrating thing for Crows fans is that Adelaide already had one of the competition’s best midfielders wanting to stay at the club and while he is 28, it must not be forgotten Greenwood was a latecomer to the AFL.
However, one big difference between this year and last is that in his 14 Crows games in 2019 he kicked 11 goals, but from the same number of games in Suns’ colours he’s kicked two.
WHAT THEY’VE SAID:
Gold Coast footy boss Jon Haines: “We identified a real gap in terms of a big-bodied mid to take a bit of pressure off Dave (Swallow) and Touk (Miller) who have done a lot of the grunt work, and provide protection and leadership to our younger mids who we knew were coming in through the draft.”
WHAT ADELAIDE’S SAID:
Crows football director Mark Ricciuto: “That was as much our call or probably more our call. Everyone says we’ve got the slowest midfield in the competition, you can’t just keep having those players in your midfield and then whinge that you’ve got a slow midfield. He’s 28 this year and not going to be playing on our next premiership side, so we’re trying to get draft picks in to rebuild.”
TRADED/DEPARTED FOR: Gold Coast’s 2020 third and fourth round pick.
OUR VERDICT: Wrong call by the Crows
EDDIE BETTS (TRADED TO CARLTON)
Crows games in 2019: 21
Blues games to date in 2020: 13
One that could go either way depending on who you support.
The most popular player in recent history at the Crows never actually put in a trade request to return to Carlton, but both parties agreed if something could be worked out then Betts would depart.
He was sensationally dropped by Don Pyke last year, the first time as a Crow, beginning the process that saw him back in Melbourne, with Adelaide still paying some of his salary.
The numbers comparing his last season as a Crow and first back in Blue are quite similar when his 2020 stats are ‘normalised’, but what it is interesting is Betts has recorded more than seven extra forward half pressure points in his return to Carlton – an area where he came under serious scrutiny last year as Pyke’s side fell out of the finals race.
In 2019, Betts kicked 37 goals in 21 games. Back at Carlton in 2020, he’s played 13 games and kicked 13 goals.
Betts’ presence at the club he began his career at has brought smiles back to Blues’ fans faces, and while there hasn’t been a big improvement in his performances in his last year as a Crow, Carlton will be pretty pleased that it convinced him to return.
A post-playing career as an ambassador for them surely awaits.
BETTS SAID:
“My last couple of years at Crows, it was really tough … Teaguey (Carlton coach David Teague) coached us for three years at Adelaide. He rang me a few times and said ‘How are you going today, did you have fun?’ and I’d go ‘No, I didn’t have fun’. He goes ‘There you go, you need to start having fun, you need to start smiling’.”
TRADED/DEPARTED FOR : Carlton’s 2020 fourth round pick.
OUR VERDICT: Wrong call by the Crows
SAM JACOBS (TRADED TO GWS)
Crows games in 2019: 5
Giants games to date in 2020: 7
From 2012-18 Jacobs was a Crows workhorse – he played 22 games or more each season, until 2019 when the fan favourite injured his knee.
As he recovered from surgery, his deputy Reilly O’Brien nobly stepped into his shoes, wowing coaches with how he applied his ruck craft and, as a result, Jacobs found himself relegated to the SANFL for much of the year.
After being offered a one-year extension on his contract, Jacobs left Adelaide with a heavy heart as a free agent on a two-year deal with the Giants.
This season, Jacobs has upped his Champion Data ranking points to 97 (but sits behind O’Brien). He’s also improved his clearances.
The master and apprentice went head to head on Tuesday night and it was an intriguing battle.
O’Brien won the ruck face-off, recording 43 hit-outs to Jacobs’ 20, but across the ground the former Crow matched the young upstart – recording 14 disposals, seven tackles, four marks and a goal to O’Brien’s 13 disposals and five tackles.
DAVID KING ON AFL 360 IN JUNE:
“(Jacobs) could be in my opinion the best off-season acquisition in the competition. I know people will say Tim Kelly going back to the West Coast Eagles, but this guy is something the Giants have never had, so it’s something I think that as the weeks roll on we’ll say ‘gee look at this midfield, how do you stop them?’”
JACOBS SAID LAST YEAR:
“I wanted the fairytale finish. I love the club and wanted to finish my career at the Crows, but unfortunately it wasn’t going to go that way for me. To leave was the hardest decision I’ve made, it was sad, but that happens in footy.”
TRADED/DEPARTED FOR: GWS’ 2020 fourth round pick, used to get Billy Frampton from Port Adelaide.
OUR VERDICT: Right call by the Crows
ALEX KEATH (TRADED TO WESTERN BULLDOGS)
Crows games in 2019: 18
Bulldogs games to date in 2020: 14
Similar to Greenwood, the Crows wouldn’t budge from their two-year offer to the former Category B rookie, so the Bulldogs swooped in and snapped up Keath with a three-year deal, with a trigger for a fourth.
But unlike Greenwood, Keath was consistently in the Crows’ best side in 2019, with the former cricketer having a career-best year last season.
Since moving to the Bulldogs, Keath hasn’t matched those numbers, but he is often playing as the first or second tall defender under coach Luke Beveridge.
With Tom Doedee impressing upon his return from a torn ACL before his season was ended, and Fischer McAsey and Jordan Butts in the wings as young key defenders, the Crows won’t be losing too much sleep over letting Keath go.
KEATH SAID LAST YEAR:
“It wasn’t so much a decision about wanting to leave Adelaide. It was more about the opportunity at the Dogs and how they saw me fitting in. Adelaide is at a different stage now where they are transitioning to be a bit younger. It was more about getting here and the attractiveness of being a part of this exciting group.”
TRADED/DEPARTED FOR: Keath and Adelaide’s 2020 third round pick for Pick 45 in 2019 Draft (Lachlan Gollant) and Bulldogs’ 2020 second round pick.
OUR VERDICT: Right call by the Crows
JOSH JENKINS (TRADED TO GEELONG)
Crows games in 2019: 11
Cats games to date in 2020: 1
Jenkins struggled to hold his spot in the Crows’ 2019 team and at season’s end mutually agreed with Adelaide that he was better off at another club.
But his first season as a Cat has been hugely frustrating for the key forward as he’s battled a back injury.
He was only able to play his first game on September 6, in a thumping 66-point win over Essendon.
“(My injury) was very frustrating and I was so desperate because I have played a lot of footy, but when you get to a new club all you want to do is earn the trust and respect of your new teammates and the new coaching staff,” Jenkins said after the win.
The key forward had 14 disposals in his first game (including eight kicks), had two clearances and seven hit-outs.
WHAT THE CROWS SAID:
“After recent conversations it became clear that it is in the best interests of both parties that Josh looks to reinvigorate his career at another club,” the Crows’ list manager, Justin Reid, said.
WHAT JENKINS SAID THIS WEEK:
“Every club is different and goes about things in a different manner, even if we all have the same goal. I have thoroughly enjoyed my nine months at Geelong and I have enjoyed the environment. I said it to the guys before the game (on Sunday) that I have enjoyed it so much and I haven’t even had the opportunity to play yet. I just love the levelness of the environment, you never get the opportunity to get too high or too low, you just focus on the task at hand.”
TRADED/DEPARTED FOR: Jenkins and 2020 third round pick from Gold Coast for Pick 37 at 2019 Draft – which became Ronin O’Connor.
OUR VERDICT: Right call by the Crows
CAMERON ELLIS-YOLMEN (JOINED BRISBANE AS A FREE AGENT)
Crows games in 2019: 10
Lions games to date in 2020: 6
In 2019, Ellis-Yolmen held a rookie contract with Adelaide and averaged a career-best 23.5 disposals and 4.9 clearances.
But at the end of the season, he exercised his rights as an unrestricted free agent to join fellow former Crow Charlie Cameron in the Lions’ den for the 2020 season and signed a three-year deal with an option for a fourth.
Initially, Ellis-Yolmen struggled to crack into the Brisbane team, being overlooked for both Rounds 1 and 2.
But he’d worked diligently on his fitness during the eight-week COVID break, and started a heavy one-on-one boxing regimen and coupled it with riding on a road bike, improving his fitness and mobility.
Finally, he broke into the team for his first game in Round 3.
But in Round 5 his injury curse (which had plagued him at the Crows) struck again, as he injured his calf.
He returned for three more games from Round 9, but is back on the Lions’ injury list again with his calf.
CROWS LIST MANAGER JUSTIN REID:
“From a list strategy point of view, we’re looking to rejuvenate our list which means a strong focus on the draft. The addition of a pick in the middle of the third-round (in the Ellis-Yolmen trade) provides extra opportunity to bring young talent into our football club.”
ELLIS-YOLMEN IN JULY:
“Leaving the Crows was a tough choice, but I knew it was better for me as a player and person to move away. I’d been at the Crows for eight years and I tried to make it work but I needed, personally, a new fresh start and to come here and have different scenery … I’m happy.”
TRADED/DEPARTED FOR: Pick 49 in free agency compensation
OUR VERDICT: Right call by the Crows
Originally published as Six senior players left Adelaide Crows and headed to different teams at the end of 2019 – was the club right in letting them go?
Ginnivan leaves ‘heartbroken’ kids ‘in tears’
Hawthorn star Jack Ginnivan is embroiled in a fresh controversy after angry parents exposed a move that left their children shattered.
‘Oh my god’: Monster deal stuns Buckley
Injury-prone St Kilda key forward Max King has been handed a monster new deal that has left AFL greats in disbelief.