Adelaide’s inaugural 1991 squad, finalised just a fortnight before the Club’s first game for premiership points, holds an important place in our history.
Recruited from the ten SANFL clubs or enticed home to South Australia from interstate clubs, the 52 players were pulled together over the summer of 1990-91 as the Adelaide Football Club prepared for its entry to the national competition.
This is the second of a series to recognise the players’ role in the first year of the Adelaide Football Club.
Grantley Fielke
Guernsey number: 30.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 24. AFC goals: 6.
Recruited from: West Adelaide (SANFL).
DOB: March 18, 1962.
Original squad selection 1991.
From Loxton in SA’s Riverland, Fielke was star wingman with West Adelaide from 1979 and was a member of the club’s 1983 premiership side. He won the Magarey Medal in 1985 and then had a year with Collingwood in 1987, playing 15 games, but returned to SA for family reasons. Fielke was given another opportunity by the arrival of the Adelaide Crows and he played 24 games in the club’s first two seasons. He played 364 games for West until 1997, a club record.
Ben Hart
 
Guernsey number: 34.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1992.
AFC games: 311. AFC goals: 45.
Recruited from: North Adelaide (SANFL).
DOB: July 9, 1974.
Original squad selection 1991.
 
The youngest player in Adelaide’s foundation squad eventually became the Crows’ first 300-gamer. Ben Hart was wearing his Rostrevor College uniform when the 16-year-old Year 12 student was first introduced to the media in 1991. A year later he became the youngest ever Crow on AFL debut (17 years, 256 days).
Hart moved quickly from combining SANFL with North Adelaide and his school commitments to starring for Crows in defence, where he won All Australian selection in his first season and was named AFL Rookie of the Year. He was given some tough roles against much bigger forwards but used his speed and leap to compensate for a lack of height and weight. His second season was just as good but he drifted along for a couple of years before Malcolm Blight’s arrival. In both 1997 and 1998 he was a key contributor to Adelaide’s grand final triumphs. And although the Crows crashed in 1999, Hart’s form was rewarded with a club best and fairest award and selection in a third AFL All Australian team. He won his second club best-and-fairest in 2002, when he also was chosen for a fourth time as an All Australian. Hart rarely missed a game through injury in his first 12 seasons but hamstring and back problems restricted him to just six games in 2004. He missed another month in 2005 and then broke an arm and had more leg problems in 2006, after becoming the first Adelaide player to reach the 300-game milestone. Hart was delisted by the Crows at the end of that season and then spent a year back in the SANFL with North Adelaide. Then, at the end of 2007, he returned to Adelaide as an assistant coach.
 
Darel Hart
Guernsey number: 3.
Crows debut: 1991.
AFC games: 39. AFC goals: 14.
Recruited from: North Adelaide (SANFL).
DOB: January 3, 1964.
Original squad selection 1991.
After a long and successful SANFL career, Hart welcomed the opportunity to play at the highest level in the first two years of the Crows. His SANFL career started at Central District but he made his name at North Adelaide, where he won club champion awards in 1986-87 and 1990 and captained the club to the 1987 premiership. He had already played 211 SANFL games when signed by the Crows and he proved a valuable contributor, playing 39 AFL games in the club’s first two seasons. In 1991 he also won the Jack Oatey Medal as best afield in North’s SANFL premiership side. Hart was playing-coach at North in 1993-94, and coach in 1995, before returning to Adelaide as an assistant coach. He then had another stint as North coach from 2001-03.
Eddie Hocking
Guernsey number: 8.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 11. AFC goals: 4.
Recruited from: Central District (SANFL).
DOB: January 6, 1970.
Original squad selection 1991.
One of the Adelaide Football Club’s first ‘cult figures’, Eddie Hocking’s short career with the club was one to remember. At 168cm, Hocking remains the smallest Crows player in history. Runner-up for the Magarey Medal in 1990 (to Scott Hodges), he played with dash and loved to sidestep opponents. Following his stint of AFL, he played for West Adelaide in the SANFL.
Jarrod Hocking
Original squad selection 1991
Did not play an AFL game
Recruited from: Glenelg (SANFL)
DOB: March 7, 1973
 
Another of the ten young players chosen on the first Crows list, Hocking made his SANFL debut for Glenelg in 1991 but did not play an AFL game.
Scott Hodges
Guernsey number: 17 and 24.
Crows debut: Round 2 v Carlton, 1991.
AFC games: 38. AFC goals: 100.
Recruited from: Port Adelaide (SANFL).
DOB: April 26, 1968.
Original squad selection 1991. Redrafted at No 45, 1995 national draft.
Hodges arrived at the Crows having built a great reputation in the SANFL, where the Port Adelaide full forward kicked a league record 153 goals on the way to winning the 1990 Magarey Medal. After settling a contract dispute leading into Adelaide’s first season, Hodges was restricted by injuries to 13 games in 1991 (for 30 goals). Despite missing 10 games with injuries during the 1992 season, Hodges was the club’s leading goalkicker with 48 from 13 games including an 11-goal haul against Geelong. But the sudden arrival of Tony Modra, who kicked 129 goals in 1993, limited Hodges’ opportunities and he left at the end of the season. Two years later, after continuing to kick bags of goals for Port in the SANFL, he was redrafted by the Crows but only played two games in 1996, despite kicking 102 goals in the SANFL. Hodges was traded to Port to join its inaugural AFL list in 1997 but failed to break into the side. In 183 SANFL matches between 1987 and 1998 he kicked 684 goals and played in eight premierships.
Danny Hughes
Guernsey number: 19.
Crows debut: Round 3 v Sydney, 1991.
AFC games: 11. AFC goals: 1.
Recruited from: Melbourne.
DOB: December 4, 1963.
Original squad selection 1991.
A best and fairest winner at Melbourne in 1985, Hughes returned to SA after 124 games with the Demons to add experience to the Crows’ inaugural squad. Predominantly played at full back, Hughes was a strong, reliable performer. Retired from the AFL at the end of the club’s first year and finished his career with the Port Adelaide Magpies in the SANFL.
Next: We start with Rod Jameson.