Taylor Walker and Matt Jaensch posed for countless photos during the Club’s recent Community Camp in Berri. But it was their turn to seek a souvenir snapshot last Thursday evening when Australia’s Got Talent finalist Rod ‘The Old Fella’ Gregory walked into the Berri Hotel. From Maitland, the stand-up comic shot to fame last year when he joked his way through to the grand final of the popular TV show.
Ahead of the pack
Rookie Ben Dowdell claimed the title as the smartest Crow during the AFL Community Camp dinner at Loxton last Thursday. The former basketballer was the last man standing in a game of “heads and tails”, combining sound trivia knowledge with some creative guesswork on football-related questions. Earlier, Taylor Walker told the crowd he was the smartest Crow, having been the only player to correctly answer the following question from coach Brenton Sanderson. “If you are third in a race and you pass the person coming second, what position are you in?”
Think carefully before answering …
Family ties
Crows players and officials were spread out across all the tables at the dinner but Matt Wright had some familiar faces as his dinner guests. Matt’s grandmother, aunt, uncle and three cousins, who all live in Loxton, were more than happy to make the short drive to attend the event. New Crow Mitch Grigg also shared the night with grandparents Ruth and John, from Barmera. And Erica Kovachevich celebrated her birthday by sitting with her favourite player Graham Johncock. Another happy Crows fan at the dinner was 90-year-old Kathleen Deed, who travelled all the way to Loxton from Morphett Vale, by bus, so she could get closer to the Crows. It was worth the effort as she scored some kisses from favourites including Rory Sloane and Patrick Dangerfield - and CEO Steven Trigg.
Bicks at his best
It appears the bulked-up players weren’t the only ones to benefit from Adelaide’s emphasis on strength training over the summer. Keen to interact with the team while also keeping in shape, the Crows coaching staff joined in selected weights sessions over the summer with some surprising results. Assistant coach and dual-premiership captain Mark Bickley set the bell - which is sounded whenever a personal best is recorded - in the gym ringing when he bench-pressed 122kg. The result eclipsed Bickley’s previous best bench of 110kg, which he achieved more than a decade ago in the prime of his playing career. Bickley’s achievement followed an impressive show of strength from coach Brenton Sanderson earlier in the pre-season. Sanderson’s love of upper-body or ‘beach’ weights, as the players refer to it, is a long-running gag stemming from his time at Geelong, but the friendly jibes from the young Crows squad stopped when the coach finished near the top of the leaderboard in the upper-body testing.
Baby boom
Another Crow is set to become a father this season, with the news defender Michael Doughty and his wife Sarah are expecting a baby. Doughty’s wife Sara is pregnant with the couple’s first child due in early June. Conveniently, the due date coincides with the Club’s round 11 bye. Last month, Ian and Lauren Callinan announced they’re expecting their second child also due mid-year.
A not so super start
Facilities Manager Trevor Jaques’ whirlwind trip to the US to see Super Bowl XLVI ended on a perfect note with the New York Giants edging out the New England Patriots to take the title and Jaques and his travel partner - inaugural Crows coach Graham Cornes - invited to the after-party to celebrate … but the trip of a lifetime almost wasn’t. After their original flight from Adelaide to Sydney was cancelled, Jaques and Cornes boarded a different plane via Melbourne, which landed just in time for them to make their connecting flight to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the pair’s luggage didn’t join them in the States and they had to go shopping in a freezing Chicago before driving to Indianapolis for the big game.
