Being an Adelaide Crows player, naturally you want to be playing for the Crows, but sometimes for various reasons that cannot always be the case.

Injury, team strength, match fitness or poor form can all be reasons why you find yourself playing with your local SANFL team.

But believe me, that is not a negative.

Spending last year with the Bombers in Melbourne, I experienced a totally different set-up when it came to the second-tier leagues.

In the VFL, there are only two teams who are stand-alone clubs without any current AFL-listed talent (Port Melbourne and Frankston) whilst all other teams have anywhere from five to 20 AFL-listed players in their respective teams followed by a collection of, for lack of a better term, ‘ring-ins’ making up the 22.
At Essendon, we were aligned to the Bendigo Bombers.

In some cases, the VFL end of the club want wins and premiership cups while the AFL group want player development as the number one priority.

Both cases are fair enough but are not always conducive to a great partnership,which is why you have seen Geelong and Collingwood form stand-alone VFL teams completely controlled and run by the AFL clubs.

Having taken part in the early part of the NAB Cup, I was only able to get down and meet my Sturt team mates in the two hours before our first trial game against James Craig and Lewis Johnston’s North Adelaide Roosters.

It was a very tough situation, but the Sturt coaches and players made it much easier by welcoming me instantly.

I’ve now played in three Sturt trials against the Roosters, Bloods and then Norwood on Friday night and one thing is clearly evident; the support for the SANFL and its clubs is sensational.

The crowd at the Norwood v Sturt trial on Friday night was probably double what I would expect to see last year in the VFL regular season.

My girlfriend was in the crowd and was pleasantly surprised to see many faces painted and Redlegs jumpers being worn instead of sitting by herself in the cold Melbourne weather!

Whilst my goal is to participate in the Crows 22 week in and week out, I am pleased I can go back to my SANFL club and receive great support whilst playing in unarguably the second-best competition in Australia.

So whatever the case may be, I know I can look forward to a challenging and enjoyable game of football each and every weekend.

(I apologize for the delay in journal entries but the lead-up to round one has been incredibly hectic with added meetings and functions to attend. I will endeavor to get an entry in per week during the premiership season)

Remember, you can contact me via email (joshjenkinscrows@hotmail.com) and on Twitter (@joshjenkins24).

The Crows are also available on Twitter (@Adelaide_FC) and on Facebook.

Good luck to all local clubs beginning their seasons in the next few weeks and let’s hope the next time you hear from me the Crows have had a win on the Gold Coast!

Josh #20