New Adelaide recruit Brett Turner wasn’t too worried about telling his boss he wouldn’t be rocking up for work on Thursday - or for the rest of the year.
And you could say that Turner’s boss - also his dad - took the news better than most employers would.
“I’ve been working in my family’s solar company - Adelaide SolarSafe - for the last four or five years and I took on a bigger role about two years ago, starting to manage the company,” Turner said.
“Dad was over the moon - mum and dad were the same - and I don’t think work really mattered to him at that stage.
“He was just so happy, he knows what it means to me and how long we’ve been plugging away at this.
“Working for Dad has helped me chase this dream because I do get some leeway in leaving work early, so he has facilitated this for me, so I’ll be forever thankful.”
The Crows selected the Glenelg midfielder with Pick No.4 at the AFL’s Mid-Season Rookie Draft on Wednesday night.
The 25-year-old onballer, who can also play wing and half-forward, averaged 24 disposals and 1.5 goals per game in the first four rounds of this SANFL season.
That included a dominant performance against the Crows in Round Three when he gathered 38 disposals and kicked four goals.
And despite having a few interviews with Adelaide earlier this year, Turner was still not convinced he had done enough to land on the Crows’ list.
“I didn’t have any family over at that stage because I was pretty confident it wasn’t going to happen,” Turner said.
“Then when my name got read out it was a bit of a blur.
“It was good to have the family and Nicksy come over but I was shell shocked at what had happened and just so grateful for the opportunity.
“I reckon a minute after my name got read out I got a phone call from Nicksy, so I had to gather myself pretty quickly to chat with him.”
Turner is one of many budding footballers to have missed out on being selected by an AFL Club during their draft year.
But the midfielder, who played 64 SANFL games for West Adelaide before switching to Glenelg last season, said he never gave up on his dream.
He revealed an honest chat with two former Bloods coaches lifted him into contention.
“You always push yourself to try and play at the highest level so it was something I never gave up on and continued to persevere throughout the years,” Turner said.
“I’m thankful for being here now.
“Gavin Colville was a massive mentor for me from West Adelaide so he just helped me reassess where I was and helped me set some realistic goals and change habits in my life for the better.
“Then when I spoke with Andy Collins in 2019 we had a pretty honest conversation about where I was at.
“He just said ‘live like a professional footballer if you want to be a professional footballer’, so I changed my diet, I changed my habits and I started doing all the extra work that I wasn’t doing prior.
“As soon as I made that change from a football perspective it all started to come together and the pin sort of dropped for me in 2019, my mindset changed and I’ve been trying to play good footy since then.”
