All-Australian midfielder Matt Crouch is using the competitive nature of the Crows’ midfield group to motivate him to reach greater heights in Season 2018.
Crouch starred alongside recruit Bryce Gibbs in Sunday’s opening JLT Community Series win over a strong Fremantle outfit at Strathalbyn Oval.
With regular onballers Rory Sloane, Brad Crouch and Hugh Greenwood all sitting out of the game, comeback pair Curtly Hampton and Cam Ellis-Yolmen spent time in the middle alongside second-year Crow Myles Poholke.
When versatile veteran Richard Douglas and wingmen Wayne Milera Junior and Jordan Gallucci return to the selection mix, Crouch knows spots in the midfield will be hotly-contested.
“I think a strength of ours is that we’ve got a lot of depth now,” Crouch said.
“There are a lot of young guys coming through, and we’re looking forward to seeing what they can do this year.”
Crouch broke the AFL record for most disposals in a season in 2017 with 825, following up a breakout year in 2016 where he announced himself as a prolific inside ball-winner.
While his 36-disposal effort on Sunday suggests he’s set to continue his accumulating ways, the reigning Crows Club Champion is determined to mirror the pre-season progress shown by his teammates.
“(I want) to keep growing as the year goes on,” he said.
“I’m always looking to improve in different ways.
“Maybe, to hit the scoreboard a bit more when I can, but as long as the group is going well and we’re winning games of footy, that’s what I’m looking at.”
Crouch enjoyed lining up alongside Gibbs for the first time, with the pair often linking up and finishing the game as the highest possession-winners for the Crows.
After training alongside the former Blue all summer, Crouch is excited about the composure the best and fairest winner can add to the Adelaide engine room.
“He’s going to be a really good player for us this year.
“He showed (on Sunday) what a class player he is, and we’re very lucky to have him.”
Cam Ellis-Yolmen enjoyed his time in the midfield on Sunday
While fans flocked to Strathabyn Oval for a first look at Gibbs in Crows colours, they were also treated to an enthralling midfield duel between returning rookie Ellis-Yolmen and Fremantle star Nat Fyfe.
Fyfe typically won plenty of the ball, but Ellis-Yolmen held his own in many one-on-one contests to finish with 14 disposals and five tackles in his first full-length match since suffering a ruptured ACL in the last year’s JLT Community Series.
“Playing on Nat Fyfe was unreal,” Ellis-Yolmen said.
“I look up to him, he’s a great player and obviously a Brownlow Medallist.
“To play against the best is always good for my development and getting better as a football player.
“He’s such a strong inside mid, uses his big frame, that’s exactly what I want to do.”
Ellis-Yolmen hasn’t missed a beat at training this pre-season, after being delisted and subsequently re-drafted by the Crows as a rookie.
He got a taste of competition during February’s AFLX tournament, but it took until Sunday’s JLT match for the magnitude of his return to sink in.
“It was amazing,” he said.
“It was pretty much a year to the day that I did my knee in the last (2017) JLT match, and I was just so happy to run out with the boys after doing a whole pre-season with them.”
The Adelaide playing squad spent Monday visiting schools in the Strathalbyn region as part of the Club’s Community Camp, holding coaching clinics and autograph sessions before attending a fundraising dinner at Strathalbyn Football Club.
An appreciative Ellis-Yolmen enjoyed the opportunity to repay the fans and to strengthen the Crows’ ties with regional communities around Adelaide, with the players also visiting the Adelaide Hills region on Tuesday .
“Strathalbyn is a beautiful place,” he said.
“They really turned it on yesterday with the crowd that we got out to the game, and the quality of the Oval was awesome.
“The kids have been excited to see us, all of the boys have been loving it.”
