Adelaide’s inaugural 1991 squad, finalised just a fortnight before the Club’s first game for premiership points, holds an important place in our history.

Recruited from the ten SANFL clubs or enticed home to South Australia from interstate clubs, the 52 players were pulled together over the summer of 1990-91 as the Adelaide Football Club prepared for its entry to the national competition.

This is the seventh and final article in a series to recognise the players’ role in the first year of the Adelaide Football Club.

Nigel Smart
Guernsey number: 7
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 278. AFC goals: 116.
Recruited from: South Adelaide (SANFL).
DOB: May 21, 1969.
Original squad selection 1991.

He couldn’t make Glenelg’s under-15 side or then the South Adelaide under 17s. But Nigel Smart became Adelaide’s first All Australian in 1991 and played what was for a time a club record 278 AFL games.
The athletic defender was a slow developer and kept a low profile during his first 50 league games with South before a break-out season in 1990, when he played State football and was rewarded with a spot on Adelaide’s inaugural list. Smart was the only player from the first game against Hawthorn to survive until the end of the club’s first decade. He will also be remembered for his fire-walking during Adelaide’s 1992 pre-season camp at Rapid Bay. Smart made it across the hot coals and despite suffering from blisters was able to play a trial the following weekend. Smart could play at either end of the ground but it was as a rebounding defender that he spent most of his career. He was an All Australian for a second time in 1993 and then again in 1998 and a premiership player in 1997 and then 1998, when he kicked three goals after being shifted forward. Off the field, he was also well respected and worked with the AFL Players Association, developing player welfare. Smart played his last AFL game in June 2004, aged 35 and 30 days. He has been a member of the AFC Board since 2005 and assumed the role of deputy Chairman in 2009.

Darren Smith
Guernsey number: 28.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 9. AFC goals: 10.
Recruited from: Port Adelaide (SANFL).
DOB: February 9, 1965.
Original squad selection 1991.

Smith was an experienced SANFL centre half-forward who had knocked back several VFL offers over several years before joining the Crows after 168 SANFL games for Port Adelaide.. He played in the first game against Hawthorn and kicked four goals in his third AFL match but played only six games in his first season and then three in 1992 before returning to Port Adelaide. When Darren finally retired he had amassed a tally of 343 league games with Port Adelaide. He also played in seven SANFL premierships with the Magpies.

Grant Tanner
Original squad selection 1991
Did not play an AFL game for Adelaide
Recruited from: Norwood (SANFL)
DOB: July 24, 1970
A promising, dashing wingman, Tanner did not get any opportunities with the Crows but he ended up heading to Geelong, where he made his AFL debut in 1994. He went on to play 69 AFL games for the Cats, including the 1995 grand final loss to Carlton. A knee injury ended his career in 1997.

Sean Tasker
Guernsey number: 49 and 4.
Crows debut: Round 15 v Collingwood, 1991.
AFC games: 48. AFC goals: 17.
Recruited from: North Adelaide (SANFL).
DOB: June 18, 1968.
Original squad selection 1991.
A premiership player with North Adelaide in 1987, Tasker was one of Adelaide’s most reliable defenders and was a highly respected player during the seven years he spent at the club. Tasker also had the ability to play as a ‘fill-in’ forward when required. Following his AFL career, he played successfully with Glenelg and Sturt in the SANFL

Robbie Thompson
Guernsey number: 41.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 5. AFC goals: 0.
Recruited from: Glenelg (SANFL).
DOB: October 22, 1967.
Original squad selection 1991.
Thompson was a part of Adelaide’s inaugural AFL side against Hawthorn and performed admirably on the night. He was mostly recognised as a stylish half back flanker. However, he only added another four AFL games to his tally and was delisted at the end of his first season.

Simon Tregenza
Guernsey number: 12
Crow debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 106 AFC goals: 18.
Recruited from: Port Adelaide (SANFL)
DOB: March 9, 1971
Original squad selection 1991.

Tregenza was the youngest Crow on the field when Adelaide played its first AFL game in March, 1991. But the 20-year-old had already packed plenty into his brief SANFL career, winning two premierships with Port Adelaide, twice finishing runner-up in the Magarey Medal, and representing South Australia.
The hard-running wingman played junior football for Glenelg (under coaches including Chris McDermott and Tony McGuinness) but switched to Port after being invited to training by Russell Ebert. The first Crows to earn a kick in the opening game against Hawthorn, Tregenza had some hamstring problems in the early years at the club but had a couple of top ten finishes in the club champion and then had his best year in 1995, when he finished third. But his last four years at the club were ruined by knee and soft tissue injuries. He only played two AFL games in 1996 before having a knee reconstruction; missed the 1997-98 finals campaigns; and then didn’t play an AFL match in his final year at the club (1999). However, he was able to play in successive SANFL premierships with Port Adelaide in 1998-99.

Peter Turner
Guernsey number: 22.
Crows debut: Round 8 v Essendon, 1994.
AFC games: 3. AFC goals: 1.
Recruited from: North Adelaide (SANFL).
DOB: January 23, 1974.
Original squad selection 1991.

A highly-rated junior at North Adelaide, where he made his league debut aged 16 in the 1990 preliminary final, Turner was one of the youngest players on Adelaide’s original list. He captained SA’s Teal Cup team in 1991 and won All-Australian under-17 selection that year. Adelaide remained patient and he finally made his AFL debut in 1994. But the 194cm forward played just three games for the Crows and then two more with Carlton in 1996..

Tom Warhurst
Guernsey number: 44.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 2. AFC goals: 0.
Recruited from: Norwood (SANFL).
DOB: February 17, 1963.
Original squad selection 1991.

Warhurst was a long-serving and reliable full back for his home club Norwood, where he played 231 SANFL games (and three State games) before signed by the Crows. He had been signed by Essendon in 1981 and drafted by Fitzroy three years later but opted to stay in the SANFL. In Adelaide’s first AFL match he beat Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton from centre half back. However, Warhurst only added one more match to his AFL total and needed a knee reconstruction at the end of the 1991 season.

Wayne Weidemann
Guernsey number: 33.
Crows debut: Round 16 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 68. AFC goals: 26.
Recruited from: West Torrens (SANFL).
DOB: October 21, 1966.
Original squad selection 1991.

Tried out unsuccessfully with Collingwood in 1988 but spent 1990 in the SANFL after being recruited by West Torrens from Canberra. The rugged midfielder from Fish Creek with the Viking looks became a cult figure among Crows supporters and the crowd’s cry of ‘Weed’ accompanied his kicks. Weidemann made most of his appearances for the club from 1992-94. In 1993 he only played seven SANFL games for Woodville-West Torrens because of AFL duties but won the Jack Oatey Medal as best afield in the Eagles’ premiership win over Norwood. Weidemann moved to Tasmania to coach after finishing with Adelaide in 1996 but eventually returned to South Australia and coached West Adelaide from 2006-07.