Adelaide’s SANFL Coach Michael Godden has received national recognition by winning the AFL Coaches Association Development Coach of the Year Award.

Godden, who led the Crows from eighth in 2021 to a preliminary final and their best ever regular season record in 2022, received the honour as part of the AFLCA’s annual awards presentation on Tuesday night.

The Development Coach of the Year Award was reintroduced this year after last being presented in 2013 and previous winners include current Collingwood coach Craig McRae.

Godden won this year’s award from Fremantle’s Joel Corey and Brisbane’s Scott Borlace.

The award is determined by calculating rankings from players and coaches who are asked to rate the development coaches at their respective clubs based on their overall performance throughout the year.

Godden joined Adelaide as midfield coach in 2019 before taking charge of the Club’s SANFL team in 2021. Prior to that he spent almost a decade coaching in the SANFL at Woodville-West Torrens where he guided the Club to finals every year and a premiership in 2011.

Crows Senior Coach Matthew Nicks said Godden was a worthy winner of the award and the Club was thrilled for him.

“Mick is an extremely valuable member of our coaching group and this award is great recognition for all the work he puts in across both our AFL and SANFL programs,” Nicks said.

“It shows how highly valued and regarded he is by our players and coaches.

“He has a passion for helping others improve both individually and as a team, a strong work ethic, football expertise and genuine care for those around him.

“The performance of our SANFL team this year was very pleasing and Mick deserves a lot of credit for the development of our younger players who took significant steps in their AFL careers as well.”