It’s hard to remember a recruit being embraced by a Club and its entire supporter base as quickly and enthusiastically as Adelaide’s newest cult hero, Eddie Betts.

After only 15 games in the blue, red and gold, Betts has his own pocket at Adelaide Oval and a chant.

The chant of ‘Eddddiiiieeee’ isn’t new in itself – Carlton supporters invented it years ago – but the Crows faithful have taken it to another level, bowing and generating noise at the 50,000-plus capacity Adelaide Oval cauldron that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The chant now also transcends state lines as discovered in Western Sydney last weekend.

The clever small forward’s universal popularity was on show when he returned to the MCG to play against his old club in Round 10 this season. Another Blue-turned-Crow, ruckman Sam Jacobs couldn’t believe the positive response Betts received.

“It speaks volume of Eddie that before the game against Carlton he went over and spoke to the Carlton cheer squad and they embraced him,” Jacobs said.

“During the game, the Carlton cheer squad came out with an Eddie Betts banner. I don’t know how many players could line up against their former team and have their old cheer squad holding up a banner for them.

“It just shows how big an impact Eddie had at the Blues and speaking to a lot of the boys at Carlton, they didn’t want to lose him either.

“Unfortunately, that’s the way footy is now and their loss is our gain.”

Coach Brenton Sanderson said Betts was also a popular figure within the Club.

“Eddie has quickly become part of our family,” Sanderson said.

“He’s adored by our fans. Even people out at training were cheering his name. This is a guy who has only played 15 games for us.

“Our players, staff and the coach, we love him.”

Jacobs spent four years with Betts at Carlton before returning to South Australia to play for Adelaide.

The man who Betts refers to as ‘Big Saucy’ was “absolutely pumped” when Crows Head of Football, David Noble, started asking questions on the quiet about Betts.

“Nobes rang me reasonably early on to suss out what Eddie was like. I didn’t have one bad word to say about him,” Jacobs said.

“I said to Nobes, ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ I was ringing Eddie flat out, getting in his ear and trying to get him across. I knew how much of an impact he would have on the Club not only on the field, but off the field as well.

“Our supporters see what he does on the field which is amazing enough, but he brings so much more to the team. He really is the complete package and I’m just rapt with how things worked out.”

Despite being acutely aware of Betts’ skill and endearing nature, Jacobs has been blown away by the ‘love’ for the classy goalkicker.

“It’s crazy. That pocket in front of the old scoreboard is now pretty much Eddie’s. I think he’d played 12 games for our Club at that stage and only half of them at home in front of our supporters,” Jacobs said.

“To see the whole crowd bowing to him and chanting was unreal. He’s really enjoying engaging with our fans and the boys here love him.  

“I think we’re really set for some exciting times with Eddie at the Crows.”

Betts’ off-field impact includes his work with the Club’s young players and, in particular, emerging talents Charlie Cameron and Cam Ellis-Yolmen. The 27-year-old, who relocated to Port Lincoln from Melbourne to “get out of trouble” and further his football career as a teenager, draws on his own experiences to help guide others.

Cameron, who has played four action-packed games in his debut AFL season, lives with Betts, fiancée, Anna, and the couple’s 20-month-old son, Lewis. Ellis-Yolmen isn’t a permanent resident, but frequents the Betts household “five or six nights a week”, according to Jacobs. Betts filled a similar role at Carlton, hosting Chris Yarran and Jeff Garlett at different stages.

Cameron, who hails from a rugby background, grew up in Queensland before moving to West Australia with his family and taking up football at the end of 2011.

The 19-year-old didn’t know too much about Betts before he was rookie-listed by the Crows, but the two-time All Australian has had an enormous influence on him in the last eight months.

Eddie, Anna and Lewis have become a second family for Cameron, whose parents work in the remote mining town of Newman in WA and drove thousands of kilometres to watch their son play for WAFL club Swan Districts last year.

Eddie and Anna have assumed the role of trying to get the cheeky teenager, who was able to dodge the issue at boarding school, to eat salad and vegetables. Anna even resorted to chopping up veggies and hiding them in burgers for their house guest.

“I love living with Eddie and Anna. Eddie is a great role model for me,” Cameron said.

“I call him ‘Uncle’ all the time. He’s pretty strict on me eating my veggies and all the right foods. Lewis is like a little brother to me too and I help take care of him. I’ve got two sisters and a brother back home and two of them are younger than me, so I’m used to having kids around.

“Eddie’s from the same culture and that’s made me feel more at home. He’s another brother.”

Cameron said it was “pretty special” making his AFL debut alongside Eddie in Adelaide’s win over Collingwood at Adelaide Oval in Round Nine.

“Celebrating my first goal with Eddie there was pretty good too,” Cameron said.

“He really helped me with my debut. He kept telling me just to focus on playing my role, and to relax and enjoy the moment. He’s teaching me about the work rate you need as a small forward. He tells me to chase and tackle, and to get up the ground and stay active.

“He’s also helped me with the professionalism required, with how he goes about his footy off the field. I see how he prepares for training and games and how he recovers. Before a game, he usually walks the dogs and has a stretch, so I would do that with him.

“I’ve learned a lot from him on and off the field.”

Betts has a bag of tricks bigger than his oversized shorts.

Cameron is also pretty handy with the football, but admits he’s in awe of Betts on the field.

“It’s amazing watching him do some of the things he can do. I was out injured, but I was up and about when he kicked that one from the pocket against North. I thought it was a fluke,” he said with a laugh.

Betts is one of the in-form forwards of the competition. The two-time Blues leading goalkicker has kicked 15 goals in the past month – ranked third in the AFL in this period.

See all Eddie’s stats in Go Figure

The elusive forward leads Adelaide’s goalkicking with 33 for the season and is also third in the League for score assists (26).

It’s a remarkable achievement considering Betts is still adjusting to playing a new role within a new-look Adelaide forward line that has changed every second week due to injuries and availability.

Jacobs said the loveable Crow was relishing playing with key tall forwards.

“At Carlton, Eddie never really played with a key tall after ‘Fev’ (Brendan Fevola) left. They were always changing their talls and Eddie was the main man in attack,” Jacobs said.

“I think he likes playing under the feet of our big guys. He’s still really good at organising the forwards and I think that comes from being the main man at Carlton.”

Betts will play his 200^th AFL game against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.

Only 16 of those games will have been for the Crows, but it feels like a lot more.