What’s in a name?
Debutant Luke Brown was an addition to the Crows travelling party for the trip to play GWS, but according to the room list supplied by the team hotel, a few other ‘new’ faces also made the journey. ‘Luke’ Callinan, ‘Brent’ Rutten and assistant coach Darren ‘Mulburn’ replaced better-known namesakes Ian, Ben and Darren Milburn on the official list, proving Western Sydney is still very much a developing AFL market. However, the hotel staff did go out of their way to make the team feel welcome upon its arrival, decorating the foyer with Crows-coloured balloons.

Skoda Stadium skulduggery
After being temporarily locked out of (and then inside) Skoda Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Adelaide staffers experienced a few more quirky moments at the Giants’ impressive home ground on game day. Coach Brenton Sanderson and Mark Bickley missed the first few minutes of the second term after becoming stuck in the elevator on the way back to the coach’s box after the quarter-time break. Fortunately, the strongly-built Bicks and Brenton 'Pipes' Sanderson were able to pry the doors open and free themselves. The elevator was also the setting of another unusual interaction after the three-quarter time huddle, as the Crows coaches wound up sharing a lift with GWS head honchos Kevin Sheedy and Mark Williams.

Doughty’s pride
Michael Doughty, who missed the trip to GWS to rest a neck complaint and be with wife Sara and newborn son Max, was one of the first to congratulate the team on its big win over the Giants. New to the world of Twitter, a beaming Doughty tweeted, ‘two happy Crows fans enjoying the great win by my boys … #loveshissocks’ along with a gorgeous photo of he and three-day old, Max. Congratulations again to Dogga and wife Sara!

The loss after the win
The weary travel party arrived back at Adelaide Airport on Sunday night to discover that 37 of the checked-on bags had not. After being assured their bags were on the next flight from Sydney and would be delivered to the Club later that night, the players headed home. A few staff, including some who had left their car keys in the checked baggage, waited around to collect their bags. Fortunately, all of the missing luggage was returned to its rightful owners … and the four points made it home safely.

The missing baggage in question arrives