Brad Crouch has received more plaudits for his brilliant debut season, winning the Chairman’s Circle Emerging Talent Award at the Crows Club Champion presentation.
The Emerging Talent Award comes only a few days after Crouch finished runner-up to Gold Coast midfielder Jaeger O’Meara in the 2013 NAB Rising Star.
Recruited by Adelaide as a 17-year-old in the 2011 GWS ‘mini-draft’ (the pick after O’Meara), Crouch made his much-anticipated AFL debut against the Brisbane Lions in Round Two. Crouch played a total of 14 games, but it was a case of quality ahead of quantity for the 19-year-old.
A hamstring injury prevented the Ballarat teenager from cementing his place in the team early in the season, but he returned to play a starring role in the Crows midfield in the second half of the year.
In the last 10 games, the skilful midfielder ranked first at West Lakes in disposals (266) and handball receives (115), second in tackles (47), third in marks (50) and fourth in clearances (40), contested possessions (88) and hard ball-gets (30).
Not only was Crouch Adelaide’s best-performed midfielder in the latter-half of the season, his statistics stacked up with the elite players in the AFL. From Round 14 onwards, Crouch ranked 12th – level with 2010 Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett – in the competition for total disposals (266), averaging 26.6 possessions per game.
He topped 30 touches on two occasions, amassing 31 against both Melbourne and Gold Coast – the latter performance earned him the Round 14 Rising Star nomination.
Crouch polled 31 votes from the Rising Star judges to finish 13 behind O’Meara (44).
Crouch is the second Crow behind Andy Otten (2009) to finish runner-up in the prestigious award. Defender Daniel Talia became the Club’s first-ever winner when he topped the voting in 2012.
Past winners of the Emerging Talent Award include Brodie Smith (2012), Matthew Jaensch (2011), Andy Otten (2009), David Mackay (2008), Nathan van Berlo (2005) and Graham Johncock (2002).
