Adelaide Crows coaches prank rookie after Mark of the Year contender

The AFL’s Mark of the Year winner doesn’t get a car anymore, but this rookie thought his grab was good enough to be the exception.

Patrick Parnell in his Monday morning debrief with the Adelaide Crows. Photo: Adelaide Crows

Patrick Parnell flew high to snaffle one of the most spectacular marks of the year to date in the Crows’ thrashing of St Kilda in Round 9, and the 21-year-old thought for a second on Monday that he’d manage to snaffle a new set of wheels along with it.

Car manufacturers have historically sponsored the AFL’s official Mark of the Year, awarded since Alex Jesaulenko’s iconic grab in the 1970 Grand Final, with the winner typically given either a car or use of a car for 12 months.

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Tony Modra famously won two Mitsubishi Magnas in the 1990s playing for Adelaide, and Crows rookie Patrick Parnell would have been hoping to join him after his effort over St Kilda’s Jack Higgins on Sunday.

Adelaide’s Head of Football, Adam Kelly, took to the front of the Adelaide playing group at a Monday post-game debrief, and took a moment to appreciate Parnell’s grab.

“Awesome mark Patty, awesome mark,” Kelly said, in a video uploaded to social media by the Adelaide Crows.

“As we just heard (on commentary), mark of the year is no longer awarded a car.

“And the GM of Toyota was actually in the crowd yesterday and witnessed the mark.

“They have been a generous partner of ours since 1991.

“Unbelievable partnership, longest partnership running in the AFL.

“And we received a phone call today. So impressed were they, that they decided to award Patty with a car.”

Patrick Parnell was stoked he’d just won a car.

Opening the door to what Adelaide’s group expected to be a Toyota spokesperson bearing keys, in rolled a Land Rover Evoque toy car with “Toyota” emblazoned on the front, to raucous laughter.

“I thought I was getting a car,” Parnell said.

Parnell made his name known to the entire country with the mark described as the “platonic ideal of a hanger” early in Adelaide’s 19.7 (121) to 10.9 (69) win against St Kilda at Adelaide Oval.

With St Kilda’s Hunter Clark clearing a ball down the line to the forward flank, Parnell appeared to be beaten to the front of the contest with Jack Higgins, only to fly up and sit on Higgins’ shoulders for a spectacular mark that sent tongues wagging.

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“Patrick Parnell, where did that come from?!” exclaimed Anthony Hudson on Fox Footy.

Parnell, 21, is one of the shortest players on Adelaide’s list standing at 178cm, but flew higher than anyone imagined as he soared to take a Mark of the Year contender.

Social media went into meltdown on seeing the goal, with Triple M’s Rudi Edsall describing it as “is the platonic ideal of a hanger.”

“When you spoke about taking speckies as a kid, that was the exact mark you meant,” Edsall said.

Barossa Leader journalist Jeremy Nash said he could “watch this again and again”.

Parnell, nicknamed “Pistol”, was recruited out of Albury with the fourth pick in the 2021 mid-season draft, and was at the time playing for the Albury Tigers in the Ovens and Murray League.

He made his debut in Round 7 last year against West Coast, and played most of the rest of the season.

Adelaide had plenty to celebrate this round. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

It would be an omen for things to come for the Saints, with the Crows running out to a romping 52-point victory at the Adelaide Oval and continuing to reinvigorate their season as they returned to the top eight.

Ross Lyon was left with his face in his hands at points as the Crows piled on goal after goal. Taylor Walker kicked five goals to break the record for the most V/AFL goals kicked in South Australia (313), and moving into 47th in the all-time goalkickers list with 559.

Crows skipper Jordan Dawson told Fox Footy after the game he was proud of the efforts of his troops.

“Obviously they’ve been playing really good footy and we knew we had to come out and bring the heat, especially around the ball,” Dawson said.

“They pride themselves on some of their contested ball and their pressure so we had to match them and beat them (there) first, and kick straight at goal.”

Asked about recent losses to Collingwood and Geelong, Dawson was optimistic.

“I think it’s frustrating at times but you’ve got to move on pretty quick, we’ve played some pretty good teams, and even to match it with Collingwood here, it’s really important for us to know as a group, our best footy’s good enough.”

Crows fans were inspired by the win, with Age journalist Daniel Brettig praising the team’s “quick hands and running in waves”.

“The Crows‘ quick hands and running in waves in support are part of a beautiful tradition of skilful South Australian footy characteristics,” Brettig said.

Originally published as Adelaide Crows coaches prank rookie after Mark of the Year contender