Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson says he’s in love – with goalkicking recruit Eddie Betts.
So are the rest of the Crows players, and the AFL club’s fans.
The popular Betts will play his 200th AFL match against Hawthorn tonight,in his 16th match for Adelaide since his free agency transfer from Carlton last year.
“He has quickly become part of our family,” Sanderson told reporters.
“He is adored by our fans. Even people at training today were cheering his name – this is a guy who has only played 15 games for us.
You might like
“He has quickly become a bit of a cult hero for our fans and our players, our staff, the coach – we love him.
“It didn’t take him long to win the love.”
Betts is in a scoring purple-patch, kicking 15 goals in the past four matches for a season tally of 33.
“We watched a highlights package before and half of it was Carlton and the other half of it was actually the Crows, he’s already quickly got his own highlights reel here at Adelaide Oval and for us,” Sanderson says.
Stay informed, daily
“We absolutely love him.”
Midfielders Patrick Dangerfield (knee), Scott Thompson (hamstring) and defensive duo Daniel Talia (corked buttock) and Ben Rutten (concussion) are not certain starters in the Adelaide Oval fixture.
Sanderson says he won’t take any risk with the foursome after all participated in a light 45-minute training session on Thursday.
“Some of those decisions won’t be made until tomorrow,” Sanderson said.
Sanderson rated Dangerfield and Talia as most likely to play, while Rutten needs to pass another concussion test to confirm his selection.
A decision on Thompson, who suffered a knock to a hamstring in last Saturday’s win against Greater Western Sydney, will be made just before the clash against the Hawks.
“Thompson did every thing we asked of him today but he might be a game-time decision for us,” Sanderson said.
“We’re not trying to hide anything. It’s just the reality of a six-day break and a Friday night game means we will probably have to keep a few people in the dark until the umpire bounces the ball.”
