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Crows Interested in Hall
- September 20th 2001 - by Pablo
Adelaide has
entered the race for disgruntled St Kilda key forward Barry Hall.
The Crows
yesterday officially tendered their interest in the powerful 24-year-old,
just hours after he announced his decision to quit the Saints after
88 games in six seasons.
''We rate
Barry Hall as a player,'' Adelaide football operations manager
John Reid said. ''He is still a young boy, he is a key forward
and he has strength. We obviously need a player of that type and it
would be remiss of us not to pursue him.''
''We're in
the ball park but we understand there will be a number of clubs chasing
him,'' Reid said. ''We have to see how our evaluation of him
compares to his own and then you have to deal with St Kilda which
will be trying to gain the maximum it can for him.''
Vardy
Quits
- September 19th 2001 - by Pablo
Adelaide premiership
player Peter Vardy has likely played his last game for the club. The
25-year-old half-forward is believed to have told the Crows he wants
a change of scenery and is even contemplating not playing AFL at all
next season.
Sydney, which
was in a race for Vardy's services two years ago, is believed to be
his choice of club should he opt for a trade. He could be swapped
for ex-South Adelaide key forward Ryan Fitzgerald. Vardy
met with the Crows hierarchy last week and said he wanted a couple
of weeks to examine his options.
''Peter's
out of contract and is reviewing what he wants to do,'' Adelaide
football operations manager John Reid said. ''He is a required
player and we want him to play next season but it's a bit up in the
air at the moment. He's frustrated by the number of injuries he's
had and has gone away to think about things. Once
the dust settles we'll sit down and see where he's at.''
Robran
Retires
- September 18th 2001 - by Pablo
In the end injury
caught up with Matthew Robran. After missing what amounted to nearly
three seasons of AFL football through injury in his 10-year career,
the dual Adelaide premiership player yesterday announced his retirement
from the AFL after 137 games with the Crows and Hawthorn. At 30, he
cited chronic back problems for his decision to retire from the AFL
prematurely, quitting Adelaide with a year still to run on his contract.
His decision
came after consultation with the Crows who were frustrated by his
inability to string games together.
''My back
is a fair concern,'' Robran said. ''I struggled through most
of this year with bulging discs and certainly in the second half of
the year it really affected my play and my training. 'After consultation
with medical staff it's a problem that doesn't seem like it's going
to get better in a hurry. Because of the problems that I've had it's
just turned out to be a very frustrating year from my behalf and I
think the club was pretty frustrated as well that I couldn't get myself
out and playing good footy.''
Robran, who played
15 games this year including the elimination final, was adamant he
was not forced out by Adelaide.
''I had a
meeting with (coach) Gary Ayres and all the match committee last week
and I've spoken to (football operations manager) John Reid as well
and we basically came to a mutual agreement that I won't play on next
year,'' he said. ''But it was my decision to finish up.''
Go
Crows Awarded
- September 16th 2001 - by Pablo
I recently received
a plesent email today proclaiming this site has been awarded a Cool
site award. It has been designated a Cool Site in the Netscape
Open Directory Sports/Football/Australian_Rules/Adelaide_Crows.
"Congratulations! Your site has been chosen as a 'Cool Site'.
The editor of the Adelaide Crows directory for DMOZ, which maintains
such search directories as Hotbot and Lycos, found your site to be
professionally designed and extremely up-to-date, above every other
Adelaide Crows page."
I wasnt aware
of such awards but it is pleasing to see. I will continue to provide
latest news to all Crow fans.
New
look ahead
- September 13th 2001 - by Pablo
The Adelaide
Crows will farewell some familiar faces during an active AFL trading
period, coach Gary Ayres said today. Ayres, disappointed at Adelaide's
limp exit from this year's premiership race when thrashed by Carlton
last Saturday, forecast changes at the club.
'New players
will arrive and some familiar faces will depart,' Ayres told the club's
website today. We will be active at the recruiting and trade tables
over the next few weeks.'
Ayres has also
recast the Crows' goals from contesting the finals to winning grand
finals. 'Our last two weeks gave us no momentum leading into the
finals and we are not an experienced side that can afford to flirt
with our form,' Ayres said. We are in no way satisfied with
our results this year. Reaching the finals is no longer a goal - winning
grand finals will be.'
Ayres said the
meek capitulation to Carlton, which cruised to a 68-point triumph
in the MCG final, was disappointing. 'We
did not respond, with only two players winning their positions and
with the pressure on the defence constant, we let ourselves and our
supporters down,' he said.
Neil
Craig to Dockers? - September 11th 2001 - by Pablo
A new player
has emerged in the race for the vacant coaching position at Fremantle.
Adelaideassistant
coach Neil Craig, the sports science expert who worked with the Australian
cycling team for years and is credited with building the fitness base
the Crows used to overcome arduous finals campaigns in winning the
1997-98 premierships, has emerged as the ''smokey'' for the
job.
New Dockers chief
executive Cameron Schwab hasn't spoken to Craig, but said his search
for a new coach had identified the South Australian as one of the
best-credentialed assistants in the AFL system. Schwab hopes to organise
a meeting with Craig once Adelaide's season is over.
''I spoke to
Ric Charlesworth, who had a fair bit to do with him through their association
with the Olympic Games, about him yesterday. He pushed him up as someone
who would be most interesting to talk to. Bob Hammond (former Adelaide
chairman) and John Reid (Crows operations manager) genuinely
push this guy up as someone who is ready to coach AFL football and would
immediately make an impact.''
Thats
all she wrote - September 9th 2001 - by Pablo
Darren Jarman
made a teary farewell from football last night saying he'd "had
enough" and was "mentality shot".
Acclaimed by
Crows coach Gary Ayres as one of the game's great champions in the
crowd-pleasing mould of a Gary Ablett, Jarman had delayed an announcement
until after yesterday's game.
"I wanted
to try and help us go a little bit further," he said after
Adelaide's 68-point defeat. "It wasn't the best way to go
out. The boys tried. We just weren't good enough on the day".
The three-time
premiership player said he and his wife Sue decided a fortnight ago
to quit in September -- no matter what happened. "The
body is fine, but mentally I have given it my best," he said.
"It's time to go out and do other things."
The 34-year-old
champion forward said he would love to continue in football in more
of a back-room capacity, such as skills coaching. Teammates applauded
him and he broke down in tears, an emotional end to a nightmarish
day for the Crows.
Ayres said he
was lucky enough to have played with Jarman at Hawthorn -- his skills
out of the centre as good as anyone he had seen in a lifetime in the
game.
"He has
been able to give something to this day which draws people through
the gates," Ayres said. "He has been a credit to
himself and his family. We've all had a fair idea about what he was
thinking, but it was his decision, he wanted to tell the group after
the game."
Jarman had only
three kicks in his final match, his 230th in 11 seasons. He kicked
a goal with his final kick, his 40th goal for the season and 386th
of his career. He was given Ablett-type status after Adelaide's back-to-back
premierships in 1997-98 when he kicked six goals against St Kilda
and five against the Kangaroos.
His memorable
final term against the Saints included five goals and some of the
most spectacular marking seen at the MCG in years. "I'm
very proud of what I have achieved, but it was time," he
said.
A three-time
All-Australian, Hawthorn Club Champion and second in the 1995 Brownlow
Medal, Jarman's wizardry made him one of the great goal sneaks.
Last night Hawthorn
football icon Jason Dunstall paid Jarman the ultimate accolade by
saying he was the most skilled and best deliverer of the ball in his
career. "They came so hard that they could knock the wind
out of you," said Dunstall. "Jars was just great."
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