Adelaide has welcomed five new players to the club in a busy exchange period.
The AFL trade week wrapped up on Monday afternoon, with the Crows securing rookie-listed Essendon ruckman Josh Jenkins as well as finalising a deal to bring Sydney Swans forward Lewis Johnston home to South Australia.
Jenkins and Johnston join St Kilda goalkicker Tom Lynch, Norwood midfielder/defender Luke Brown and North Ballarat teenager Brad Crouch in joining the Crows in the past week.
Jenkins, 22, became a Crow in a last-minute deal, which saw Adelaide give pick No.31 to the Bombers and receive pick No.41 in return.
The deal was able to go ahead after Adelaide on-traded the round one selection (No.24 overall) it received from Hawthorn for homesick 19-year-old Jack Gunston to Gold Coast in exchange for the Suns’ priority pick (No.27 overall), pick No.31 and No 68.
Earlier in the day, the Crows sent defender Tony Armstrong and pick Nos.35 and 68 to the Swans for Port Pirie product Johnston.
Crouch also officially joined Adelaide on Monday via the second selection in the 17-year-old ‘mini-draft’ held at Etihad Stadium after the 1:30pm trade week deadline.
The club secured the promising midfielder after agreeing to send its first-round selection (No.10 overall) and the compensation pick received for defender Phil Davis to Greater Western Sydney.
The Crows also netted 19-year-old Brown as part of the deal.
Lynch, 21, made his way to Adelaide as part of a three-way trade, which saw ruckman Ivan Maric reach his preferred destination, Richmond.
The Tigers sent pick No.37 to the Saints to complete the deal.
The Crows and Hawks reached an agreement over Gunston to strike the first deal of trade week.
Adelaide sent the 14-game player to Hawthorn with pick Nos. 53 and 71 and received pick Nos. 24 (on-traded to Gold Coast), 46 and 64 in return.
This leaves the club with pick Nos. 27, 41, 46 and 64 in next month’s national draft.
Player profiles:
Brad Crouch (North Ballarat Rebels), 184cm, 83kg, 12/1/94, midfielder
List manager David Noble on Crouch: “The Crows have not had many opportunities to bid for the country’s best junior players through the draft system but Brad is certainly in that category. To be in a position to put him in the bank now is exciting for our Club and its members. We have had a close look at all the players in this mini-draft pool and we are excited to have the opportunity to pick Brad."
Luke Brown (Norwood), 181cm, 79kg, 22/9/92, midfielder/small defender/forward
Noble on Brown: “We rate Luke very highly and we were keen to deal for him. He was a proven performer at senior level this season with Norwood and had an equally impressive draft camp last week.”
Tom Lynch (St Kilda), 192cm, 87kg, 15/9/90, tall forward/defender
Noble on Lynch: “We believe Tom has a lot to offer. We have tracked him for a long time and he’s excited about coming to Adelaide. His chances have been limited at St Kilda as a key forward but his form at VFL level has been good and he can play at both ends.”
Lewis Johnston (Sydney Swans), 192cm, 88kg, 3/3/91, tall forward/defender
Noble on Johnston: “We wanted to make something of the situation with Tony (Armstrong) wanting to leave, so we aggressively pursued Lewis. To get a South Australian lad to come home is good for us and he fits a need for us, as a tall key position type who can play at either end.”
Josh Jenkins (Essendon rookie list), 199cm, 103kg, 8/2/89, ruckman
Noble on Jenkins: “We’ve liked what we have seen from Josh this year with Bendigo in the VFL. He is a fantastic athlete and although we believe he can add to our ruck depth, he also can play forward or back.”
