Steve McCrystal was standing in front of the clubrooms at Arden Street watching North Melbourne train when then coach Denis Pagan blew his whistle and the players stopped.

It was the mid-1990s and McCrystal was Adelaide’s forward scout whose job involved keeping an eye on the Crows’ upcoming opponents.

“I knew a few people who worked at North Melbourne so I said hello to them and settled in, then the next moment Denis stopped training and was walking towards me,” McCrystal said.

“I think he used it as an example for the players but he said something like ‘if you’ve come down to watch training why don’t you just come out here?’

“Denis was a pretty intimidating sort of a fella so I quickly said ‘OK, I’ll leave’, and got on my way. After that I only watched North Melbourne training with binoculars from my car until he was gone.

“I also got sprung at St Kilda’s last training session before the (1997) Grand Final, and I don’t know how they spotted me because there were 10,000 people there.

“But a couple of assistant coaches started pointing at me so I quickly got out because I didn’t want to make a scene.

“I didn’t push the boundaries, if it was a locked session I would never go in, but if it was open then I’d spend the full amount of time checking out what was going on.

“In the very early days I’d even kick the footballs back to the coaches from behind the goals.”

Next month, McCrystal will be hanging up his binoculars and stats sheet after 26 continuous years with the Adelaide Football Club.

After watching more than 1000 live games of AFL and under-age footy as a scout and then recruiter, McCrystal’s final contribution to the Crows before retirement will be the national, rookie and pre-season drafts from November 24-26.

Senior figures at the Club estimate that no other individual has had more of a hand in the compilation and performance of Adelaide Football Club teams in its history than the school teacher turned pro scout, turned recruiter.

But he says the Covid environment – particularly in Melbourne where he has spent his entire life – and turning 60 led him to re-evaluate his priorities.

“Covid didn’t help because the last two years all I’ve done is watch vision and when you’re a recruiter or been involved in the game for a long time, you just love going to games,” McCrystal said.

“I could churn out 6-7 games a weekend sometimes, I might go to a Friday night game, a triple header on a Saturday and a double header on a Sunday.

“But the past two years made me question a little bit about life, and you’ve also got to understand that my wife Jan has put up with me not being there on weekends for 30 years, and she has retired, and I think it’s time for me to be a better husband.

“Right now I’m looking forward to going fishing and spending time with family and the grandkids.

“But I know once we get to February or March, it’s going to be hard for me not to have an interest in some respects.”

McCrystal played local footy and never pursued it seriously but his love of the game led to a job with Fitzroy in 1991 under then coach Robert Shaw who he knew from his teaching background.

“I pretty much cut my teeth at Fitzroy in the early years in forward scouting and opposition analysis,” McCrystal said.

“My very first game was at Victoria Park when Collingwood unfurled its 1990 premiership flag, and that was a very interesting day because back then you had to walk through the Collingwood supporters’ area to get up to the coaches’ box.

“We copped it bad that day and that was my initiation to the whole thing, but I loved it, and I had a few ideas for strategy and planning and Robert was pretty trusting in my ability to get the job done.

“That’s been a common thing with all the coaches I’ve worked under – the trust factor, and I’ve appreciated that.”

Despite growing up a passionate Carlton supporter, McCrystal had no trouble putting his allegiances aside when he started working in footy.

“I actually found it easy because the competitiveness of the whole industry, I quickly lost the supporter mentality, I wanted us to win and that was it.”

When Shaw was appointed Crows coach in 1995, McCrystal followed him albeit while still based in Melbourne.

“I had interviews with Bill Sanders and Bob Hammond and had to present samples of my work, that was a pretty intimidating time,” he said.

“They were terrific people to deal with, but I’d come from Fitzroy where we still had a Thursday night dinner with the players and the supporters group and it was a typical suburban football club atmosphere, then all of a sudden I am meeting up with two pretty impressive football executives.

“But they were very welcoming and couldn’t have been friendlier to be honest.”

He became Adelaide’s forward scout which involved watching the Crows’ upcoming opponents and reporting back to the coach.

“Statistics were quite basic back then because we didn’t have computers, so I used to count people’s possessions and errors and look for patterns,” he said.

“The big thing for me was when John Reid allowed me to have a fax machine, then I got a computer and statistics became more prevalent.

“I’d go to training as well, I’d finish the school day around 3pm, go home and get changed so I wouldn’t stand out too much, and sit behind the goals.”

When Malcolm Blight replaced Robert Shaw as Crows coach in 1997, McCrystal retained his role but had to establish a relationship with his new boss.

“John Reid was head of football and a big supporter of mine,” McCrystal said.

“But when Malcolm came in they did push a pretty heavy broom through the place and lots of people were moved on.

“I thought I’d be sacked, purely because Malcolm didn’t know me, but I had a meeting with him and John and a few other powerbrokers in a hotel room in Melbourne.

“They outlined my role quite clearly but Malcolm didn’t know me so there wasn’t any trust established and I was basically given half-a-year to prove my worth.

“Then one day before a game at the MCG in 1997 I was chatting with Malcolm outside the rooms, as he did to clear his head, and he started talking about life in general and footy and I knew then that we’d built that relationship and he trusted me.”

McCrystal watched the 1997 grand final from the players’ race at the MCG but kept going inside the rooms when nerves were getting the better of him.

But when the final siren went he was on the ground celebrating with the coaches and players.

“I remember looking up at the scoreboard and casting my eye around the ground and it was a surreal experience to be out there. God knows how the players feel in that moment,” he said.

“I didn’t drink much at the function that night because I wanted to take it all in, that was a mistake, so the year after I certainly enjoyed it.

“I’ve kept the dinner menu from the grand final function and my wife had it signed by Andrew McLeod and I got (then AFL CEO) Wayne Jackson to sign it too, so I’ll be hanging on to that.”

John Reid described McCrystal as being part of the fabric of the footy club.

“His contribution has been massive, the number of games he’s looked at for us and the work he’s put in,” Reid said.

“He had a good eye for it, I remember when Blighty came on board I said to Malcom ‘this bloke is bloody good’ and I got a couple of reports and showed them to Malcolm and he liked them.

“He was a teacher and then working for us on his weekends. If it was Sydney versus Brisbane he’d be at that game because we’d be playing Brisbane the next week.

“And he was never chasing more dough or wanting to stay in a better hotel, he was happy doing his job and just got on with it, he’s been a beauty.

“They’re the type of people that make a footy club, that calibre.”

McCrystal spoke to a few rival clubs over the journey but never seriously entertained the thought of leaving the Crows because he said he felt supported, was passionate about his role and felt a sense of loyalty.

He had the opportunity to sit in the coaches’ box under all coaches he worked for including Neil Craig.

“Neil significantly changed the way football was played during his time with the Crows,” McCrystal said.

“I remember the 2006 season when we were very hard to play against, I was assigned a tracking role on Ben Cousins during the Preliminary Final of that year but despite all the alerts in the second half Cousins was unstoppable.

“Don Pyke was the midfield coach at this time and a very good operator and it was no surprise that he ended up being a Senior Coach. Neil was an innovator and constantly challenged all those who worked under him.”

McCrystal stayed in scouting until 2012 when Brenton Sanderson was appointed Adelaide coach and he was moved into the recruiting department.

“David Noble rang me up and said ‘unfortunately that position is no longer yours, but would you be interested in working in recruiting?’” McCrystal recalls.

“The recruiting has been challenging but probably more enjoyable because I got to work in a team with Hamish (Ogilvie) who I have a lot of respect for, and Reidy (Justin Reid) of course.

“When the Club expanded its list management and recruiting program I was watching professional players and assisting list managers with trades, I was involved in the Eddie Betts trade after watching his form for a few years.”

His role changed again a few years later when he was put in charge of Victorian under-18 recruiting.

“I jumped at that because it was a fresh challenge and something different and it’s been fantastic because I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids play,” he said.

“I’ve graduated from the Victorian role and work hand-in-hand with Hamish on the national stuff and I get a bit emotional talking about it because I have really enjoyed working with those blokes.”

Asking McCrystal which recruit has been his favourite is like asking a parent to name their favourite child – impossible.

But he says a few stand out.

“One of the first things Hamish asked me to do when I started in the role was to find a rookie ruckman to support Sam Jacobs as Sam was starting to get on a bit, he was still an elite ruckman at AFL level but it was time to bring in a younger one who would move into that role.

“I was pretty keen on Reilly O’Brien and then I got Hamish involved and we went and watched a few of his games, he played a really good game for Coburg in the VFL as a young fella and that was enough for me to see that he could compete against men.

“The special memory there was going to interview him, Hamish and I drove to his house and we joked on the way out that we’d definitely found our rookie ruckman and probably our next CEO as well. He was a very impressive person.

“Kieran Strachan was another one I did a lot of work on and I’m really pleased with the way he finished off the season at AFL level this year.

“He played extremely well against (Todd) Goldstein who is a very good player so Kieran is going in the right direction.

“More recently I’ve done more work at the back of the draft, Lachie Gollant is another one I liked at school footy and was prepared to put my hand up for, he’s a ripping young man and I’m very pleased with the way he’s going.

“And the most recent one was Sam Berry. I saw enough of him playing as a 17-year-old in the NAB League with Gippsland Power in the midfield with some pretty good players.

“Katrina Gill and I went out to watch Vic Country training at Geelong one day and I was watching his groundball in a drill and once I’d seen that I was convinced he was exactly the type of player I was trying to find as an inside mid.”

Strachan and Gollant were both playing in the final game of the 2021 season when Adelaide beat North Melbourne by 44 points and McCrystal was watching on TV with pride.

“I got a lot of enjoyment out of that last game,” he said.

“The way the boys got around each other during the game and afterwards to celebrate the careers of some of the older boys, there was genuine love, care and enjoyment.

“The chemistry that players can generate is critical for success. If they’re together and pushing in the same direction and care for each other, that’s one of those intrinsic elements you have to have.

“They can be paid all the money in the world but competitors will play for team success and for their mates and coaches, and that was clearly evident to me in that last game.

“If that’s the last game I’m technically involved in, it’s a beautiful way to finish.”