Would the Adelaide Crows have won back-to-back premierships without Darren Jarman?

It’s a question Crows faithful will thankfully never have to answer about the SA native, who spent the first five years of his career with Hawthorn.

Jarman was a vital part of the Hawks side, booting 41 goals in their 1991 premiership season, before returning home in 1996.

Inaugural Adelaide chief executive Bill Sanders recalled a particularly unique incident in the middle of the negotiations.

“For an hour, I hid in the bathroom (of Jarman’s house) while the Hawthorn CEO was out there talking to Darren,” Sanders told The Optus Crows Show.

“There was a knock at the door, it was the CEO paying Darren a visit and they said ‘quick, you’d better hide’.”

But it was far from Sanders' first time visiting Jarman in Melbourne.

“At least once a week, I would visit Darren at their place in Kew,” he said.

“It was always a covert operation... we couldn’t let on to Hawthorn that we were interested in him.

“I’d go to Darren’s place, knock on the door, look around and go inside.”

More than 20 years on, the significance of the trade has not been lost on Sanders.

“It was probably one of the biggest trade deals that had ever gone down,” he said.

The three-team deal to bring Jarman to the Crows included:

• Adelaide receiving Darren Jarman from Hawthorn and pick No. 45 (Scott Hodges)
• Essendon receiving Sean Wellman from Adelaide and Paul Barnard from Hawthorn
• Hawthorn receiving Paul Salmon and pick No. 25 (Daniel Chick)

In 1997, the Crows No.3 helped Adelaide secure its first flag… but missed the parade.

Also on The Optus Crows Show this week, a look back at the day the siren was never heard and Taylor Walker talks footy and fatherhood.

The Optus Crows Show airs on Saturday at 11am ACST on Channel 7 in Adelaide.

Interstate fans can catch the full episode on afc.com.au shortly after.