Eddie Betts will return to the Crows AFL side on Saturday, coach Don Pyke has confirmed.
“Eddie will come back in this week,” Pyke told reporters on Thursday.
“We’re really happy with what he produced last week, he did exactly what we wanted him to do.
“He got involved in the game, got up the ground and his score involvements were really high so it’ll be great to get him back in the team.”
Fans were out in numbers at Glenelg Oval on Saturday, making the most of their opportunity to see Betts work his magic up close.
In a move Pyke described as the hardest he’d made in his time at the Club, Betts was omitted from the senior side last week and named to play his first SANFL game.
He made his mark on the game, booting four goals, including two in the final quarter to spark an Adelaide comeback from 20 points down.
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His impact was enough to impress his coach, with Pyke confirming Betts would return to the senior side to face St Kilda.
Ahead of his first SANFL appearance, Betts said it was words of advice from fellow veterans Sam Jacobs, Bryce Gibbs and Richard Douglas that offered him a new perspective.
“They are all leaders, and they just said, ‘mate, it’s just fun, come back and enjoy yourself’,” Betts said post-game.
“They said, ‘give everything to the younger kids because as you get older you’ve got to give back to the young kids’.
“That is what I did, come back and embraced it, talked to the younger kids and got involved.”
Although Glenelg hung on to claim a two-point win, Betts said he was proud of the side for their fight in the final term.
“We were disappointed we got the loss, but it was good by the young boys to fight back though because we were four goals down,” Betts said.
“It was lapses in the third quarter where we let them score and run over us, so it’s good for the young boys to get it back to two points.”
After the match, fans mobbed Betts while he walked off the field, congratulating him on his goals and trying to get his autograph.
Two of Betts’ goals were trademark snaps from the pocket, but remarkably he didn’t kick the best goal of the day.
Ruckman Jacobs got in early for that, and let Betts know about it too.
“Big ‘Sauce’ had the left foot snap from the pocket, and he came up to me after that and said, ‘stay away from there, that’s my pocket’,” Betts laughed.
The SANFL Crows have a bye this weekend and will play their next game on Sunday, August 11 against West Adelaide.
The senior side will take on St Kilda at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night from 7.10pm.
Pyke said he expected there would be a number of changes to Adelaide’s side this weekend, but decisions would be made at selection on Thursday afternoon.
Adelaide’s full team will be announced at 5.55pm local time.
