Tassie tutor
An elder statesman at West Lakes, Ian Callinan recently assumed the responsibility of teaching draftee and fellow Tasmanian Sam Siggins how to drive. Siggins, who turns 19 this month, has held a learner’s permit for two years but is yet to get his ‘P’ plates. He’s relied on teammates, including former host Andy Otten, to drive him around since arriving in Adelaide last October. Ian ‘Nutta’ Callinan has also been busy venturing into the world of social media. The popular Crow joined Twitter last week and attracted some 800 followers before offering his first tweet.
Meet David Mookay
David Mackay has been the subject of locker room banter since putting his name to Club sponsor Moo Yoghurt's new marketing campaign. An ambassador for Moo, Mackay is featured in the yoghurt company’s advertising as ‘David Moo-kay’. The ad has not gone unnoticed by D-Mac’s teammates, who have bombarded the skilful Crow with Photoshopped images of cows.
What’s in a name?
The Crows hold claim to a couple of quirky records in 2013. For the first time in history, there are three players with the first name ‘Rory’ on an AFL list. Draftee Rory Atkins joined Rory Sloane and rookie Rory Laird in Adelaide’s squad last October. There are currently only two other Rorys in the League, Gold Coast’s Rory Thompson and Melbourne midfielder Rory Taggert. There is also an AFL-record number of ‘Brodies’ at West Lakes. Brodie Smith and Brodie Martin are the only pair of Brodies on a Club list. In fact, only six players named Brodie have played at league level in history – and three, Martin, Smith and former Sturt star Brodie Atkinson have played for Adelaide. The most common Christian name at West Lakes this season is ‘Sam’ – Sam Jacobs, Sam Kerridge, Sam Shaw and Sam Siggins. However, this is not uncommon in AFL ranks – GWS also have four Sams this season.
Four the record
We can’t reveal names but …
A handful of Crows stayed overnight in Melbourne after Saturday’s game so they could take part in a Fox Footy video shoot on Sunday morning. While having dinner at their new Melbourne base, Mint Apartments, the players chatted to one of the hosts (Karen) and found out her children were quads.
“How old are they?” one player asked. “12,” Karen said.
“Are they all 12?” another Crow replied, much to the group’s amusement.
Lights, camera, action
Sunday’s video session required six of our players to do a range of poses at the impressive Fox Footy studios in South Melbourne. There were the usual “Blue Steel” stares and ball handling shots. But the group soon found out why the shoot had to be held in Melbourne. The highlight was a 10-metre wide, 52-SLR camera set-up which took a synchronized series of still photos of a single piece of action such as a kick, handball, gather or (in Dangerfield’s case) a handball while diving. Sounds complicated but the lads can’t wait to see the results. One teammate was heard to say that Patrick’s handball footage was a rare sight: “He doesn’t handball, he just gets up and goes!”
A Walker to remember
One of the Fox Footy staff with a South Australian and Crows background gave his four-year-old son a morning to remember. All dressed up in his Crows gear with No 13 on the back, young James couldn’t believe his luck as he mixed with Scott Thompson, Rory Sloane, Nathan van Berlo, Patrick Dangerfield, coach Brenton Sanderson and had a kick and catch with his hero Taylor Walker.
Sand trap
So what was the story behind the great photo of Taylor Walker chasing Graham Johncock out of the surf last week? No, it had nothing to do with a sledge about the famous mullet - “Big Walks” was seeking revenge for a serving of sand. And Graham did get away!
Hidden Tiger
Trade week recruit Angus Graham was busted slipping into some old habits over the weekend. After playing in Sturt’s trial game on Friday night, the ruckman returned home to Melbourne to catch up with family and friends. Unfortunately, a number of his Crows teammates had the same idea and he was spotted at Melbourne Airport on Sunday night wearing his old Richmond backpack. When quizzed why he wasn’t using his Crows backpack, Graham declared it was too small and could only fit two pairs of jeans inside.
