Exciting midfielder Brad Crouch has signed a two-yearcontract extension, tying him to the Crows until at least the end of 2016.
A delighted coach Brenton Sanderson made the announcement at the CrowsClub Champion presentation on Friday night.
Recruited by Adelaide as a 17-year-old in the 2011 GWS‘mini-draft’, Crouch enjoyed an outstanding debut AFL season. Crouch finishedrunner-up to Gold Coast onballer Jaeger O’Meara in the 2013 Rising Star. The19-year-old collected the award for EmergingTalent on Friday night and also finished 10th in the ClubChampion award, polling 39 votes from only 14 games.
Crouch polled more votes (33) than any other Crow in thefinal 10 rounds of the season.
Crows General Manager of List Development and Strategy DavidNoble said he was thrilled Crouch had committed to the Club longer-term.
“We were very keen to extend Brad’s contract,” Noble said.
“After a frustrating start to the season, Brad improved withevery game he played. The recognition he’s received both internally andexternally in the past week is a reflection of a very impressive first seasonof AFL footy.
“We’re excited Brad has signed for a further two years, andwe see him as an integral part of our midfield for many years to come.”
Crouch made his much-anticipated AFL debut against the Brisbane Lions in Round Two.
A hamstring injury prevented the Ballarat teenager fromcementing his place in the team early in the season, but he returned to play astarring role in the Crows midfield in the second half of the year.
In the last 10 games, the skilful midfielder ranked first atWest 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 inthe latter-half of the season, his statistics stacked up with the elite playersin the AFL. From Round 14 onwards, Crouch ranked 12th – level with2010 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 againstboth Melbourne and Gold Coast – the latter performance earned him the Round 14Rising Star nomination. Crouch polled 31 votes from the Rising Star judges onWednesday to finish 13 behind O’Meara (44) in the award.
Newly-crowned Club Champion Rory Sloane described Crouch asa “phenomenal” talent.
“Crouchy is unbelievable,” Sloane said.
“The way he attacks the ball and the excitement he brings tothe game … the coaches and players love him. Our supporters love him too andonce he shaved his head he definitely got noticed a bit more.
“He’s going to be a phenomenal player and I’m so pumped he’ssigned up for another couple of years. David Noble has done an unbelievable jobagain this year and signing up Crouchy for a longer period of time is great forour footy club.
“We’re starting to develop a really strong midfield and I’mgoing to love playing alongside him.”
Crouch follows young teammates Sam Kerridge, Daniel Talia,Rory Laird, Luke Brown, Cam Ellis-Yolmen and Mitch Grigg in committing to theClub this year. Captain Nathan van Berlo, full-back Ben Rutten and onballerMatthew Wright have also re-signed.
