Crows two-time premiership defender Peter Caven can remember the stern words delivered to him by then Fitzroy coach Robert Shaw when he defected the Club for the Swans.
But in a twist of fate, it was Shaw who lured Caven out of an early retirement when his time with the Swans was up and brought him to the Crows.
“Well, the only reason why I ended up in Adelaide was my coach at Fitzroy, who was Robert Shaw at the time, and I was coming through the reserves,” Caven said on this week’s episode of Crows Chat.
“I left Fitzroy to go to Sydney for money. They wouldn’t give me $10k, they were $2.5k short, so I said ‘right, I’m going to Sydney’.
“Robert wrote me this two-page letter, more or less bagging me about what a bad decision it would be to move to Sydney to a non-football state.
“They (Sydney) recruited Tony Lockett the next year… At the end of that year, the club called me in and said, ‘Look, Sydney's not big enough for both of you, someone has to go’.
“They sacked me, and then Robert Shaw rang and said, "What are you up to?’ I said ‘not much’. I thought my 55-game career was over, and I was going to go backpacking with my girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, but Robert said ‘come and play’, and I said ‘Ok’.”
The move to Adelaide proved pivotal for Caven’s career, and the backman ended up being one of the Crows’ most successful recruits, lining up in 82 games, including the Club’s back-to-back flags in 1997 and 1998.
He is best remembered for his influential role against champion forward Wayne Carey in the 1998 Grand Final.
Caven retired in 2000 after two injury-interrupted seasons, and became an assistant coach with Adelaide’s AFLW side in 2018 - a role he held until the end of Season Seven.
He said he would always cherish the memories he made at the Club, both as an AFL player and in the AFLW coaching ranks.
“They were exciting times, just to be able to live your dream, but when I look back, it seems like so long ago,” Caven said.
“The highlight was really just relief, really, like ‘thank God Wayne Carey didn't get best-on-ground against me’.
“That sort of goes through your head as that week I prepared for that week.
“I just always love footy, and that's what I really enjoyed getting back for the girls. They just embraced the game, and they just wanted to learn. They were just like sponges, ‘teach me how to get better, Peter’.
“The boys obviously have had a massive head start. I just thought the passion, and the way the girls went about their footy was just really refreshing, and I loved it.”
To hear more from Caven, as well as a chat with new sole AFLW Crows Captain Ebony Marinoff, and tune into Crows Chat on Triple M Adelaide on Sunday from 9am.
Missed episodes of the Crows Chat podcast from earlier this year? Head to the hub here.
