National Recruiting Manager Hamish Ogilvie recalls Luke Brown’s road to West Lakes in another 'Recruiting Files' special.
A latecomer to the SANFL system, Brown was first brought to Adelaide’s attention in the latter stages of the 2010 season …
Norwood’s footy manger, Mark Ross, told us and told us about Luke in 2010. Luke, who turned 18 in September that year, was eligible for the draft, but it was a tough one because he hadn’t played many games for Norwood. He was playing for his local club, Tea Tree Gully, and only went out to Norwood late. He played maybe half a season, so he was a bit underexposed in draft terms. Still, we’d seen enough to consider him for a rookie spot. We rated Luke highly and had him on our list. We were going to take him in the rookie draft, but just with the way the cards fell we didn’t.
The Crows recruiting team quickly realised they’d erred in not rookie-listing Brown …
We basically held our breath for a year. We were terrified we’d made a blue and missed Luke by not taking him as a rookie when ‘Rossy’ had told us we needed to take him. Luke was going really well at Norwood and Rossy was saying, ‘I think it’s going to cost you, you’ve missed out on him. He’s going too well’.
The Club continued to monitor the skilful small utility closely – and he continued to impress …
We kept watching Luke closely throughout the year and saw almost all his games at Norwood. He played a few reserves games as an 18-year-old and by 2011 he was pretty much in the senior team the whole way through.
He was playing mainly as a small defender and a bit of wing/midfield/half-forward. He was a good kick, had great vision and made very few errors. He didn’t do anything too flashy, but he was solid in every aspect.
He also represented South Australia at the Under-18 National Championships as an over-age player. He went well, but he wasn’t a standout. He was 180-odd centimetres with dark hair and looked like a lot of other players. Sometimes, you really had to hone in on him to see all the good stuff he did. He just played his role, which is how he plays for us.
Adelaide began hatching a plan that the Club hoped would secure not only Brown, but another very talented young prospect …
A third of the way through the season we started to look at the plan of doing a deal with GWS to try to secure a pick in the 17-year-old ‘mini-draft’. Once we got to the point of looking at Brad Crouch, Luke was the obvious player to try to put in that deal.
It was a bit like the Rory Sloane scenario. We were going to take him, didn’t and then were lucky we got him in the second year. We made the blue of not taking him the year before, but we got in as early as we could in 2011 so that we didn’t miss him again.
It looks like that deal has been good value all around now. We got Brad Crouch and Luke Brown for pick Nos.10 and 13. I think Browny would’ve slotted in between picks 12-20 if he’d entered in the national draft. We did have to lose Phil Davis to get the compensation pick involved in that deal, but out of something bad came something good.
Brown had a breakout 2013 season, playing 21 games and earning a Rising Star nomination. He established himself as an integral part of Adelaide’s defence, but the quietly spoken 21-year-old could play a different role for the Club long-term …
Luke could play as a small defender at AFL level as long as he wants, or as long as the coach wants him too, but he should develop to play as a wing/midfielder in time. He’s quiet, but he gets the job done. He never said much in his interview. Even after we drafted him, he came into the Club the next day and didn’t say much. He just turned up and started training, and it’s been the same way ever since.
