Keen onlookers may have spotted a familiar face within the Crows’ entourage during their Round 13 clash against Brisbane, one that just six months earlier was walking out to the middle of Adelaide Oval to open the batting for Australia.

South Australian Cricket Captain Nathan McSweeney, along with teammate Liam Scott, were invited by the Adelaide Football Club for an exclusive inner sanctum experience last month.

The exercise was to help the cricketing duo explore the mental, physical and tactical demands of elite footy, as well as further develop their leadership skills.

Speaking to AFC Media, McSweeney said a partnership between the Crows and South Australian cricket was struck up last year and led to the players being given inside access.

“Our coaches did a little bit of work with the Crows last year, and came back with really positive reviews and a lot of great learnings,” McSweeney said.

“Our leadership consultant is Tom Jonas, former Port Adelaide player, and he reached out to Jordan Dawson I believe, and asked if myself and a couple of the other boys could come and do some professional development.

“Thankfully we were welcomed with open arms, and got a great opportunity to see how another professional sporting organisation goes about their planning and day-to-day operations. 

“The Crows are going really well at the moment, so it was great to see how they are going about it and building something similar to what we’ve done at SACA across the past few years.” 

The pair were given inside access to team meetings during main training, before the Round 13 clash against Brisbane, and were allowed the changerooms at half-time and post-game.

McSweeney, who helped lead SA to a 29-year, drought-breaking Sheffield Shield title during the 2024/25 season, said the few days spent at the Crows were eye-opening.

“We spent two days around the Club, we were there for the main training session and sat in a lot of their meetings and research into the opposition, which I found really interesting,” McSweeney said.

“We were also able to go in on game day, which was a great experience, we were able to get a look at what they do under the high pressure of a game.

“The most interesting part for me was being part of the conversations at half-time, where they chatted about strategy, tactics and what they had been doing well and what needed to be improved.

“A lot of it was just to see how other teams plan and prepare, it’s something that’s pretty transparent across all sport, so for us to get a glimpse into how an AFL side does it gives us great insight going back to the SACA and our upcoming season.”

Although cricket and Australian Rules were very different sports, McSweeney said there were plenty of learnings he would take back to his side as it starts its preparations for the 2025/26 season and its quest for back-to-back titles.

“They’ve (cricket and football) got different pressures for sure, both from the fans in the stands and the media pressure as well, so to see them deal with that and perform, it was really impressive to see how they block out that noise,” McSweeney said.

“AFL is unique in how quickly the game is played, with cricket you’ve got four days to be able to plan and tinker around with tactics, whereas the AFL teams have to precisely communicate and action those changes immediately or the game is over very quickly.

“I think we can get way better at swapping or changing plans and communicating analytically throughout a game, and thinking on our feet as well.

“At the half-time break there were so many conversations around changing tactics and to see how quickly they could take that information on board and go out and execute it was also very impressive.

“There is so much we can learn from each other, and hopefully that relationship can remain for a long time, and we can continue to help each other wherever we can.”