Tex has his say to Crow targets
ADELAIDE captain Taylor Walker has preached team success to out-of-contract pair Jake Lever and Mitch McGovern in a bid to keep them at the Crows.
Walker said he had spoken to the standout youngsters about the reasons they should sign with the club, with team success and club culture the features of his chat.
“I just tell them to look at the top of the ladder, it’s as simple as that,’’ the skipper said as the star pair weigh up their futures amid strong interest from rival clubs.
“I’ve expressed my views on things and it’s just a decision that they need to make now.’’
Key defender Lever, 21, a Victorian, has been strongly linked to Melbourne, Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs. It has been reported he has met the Demons.
Key forward McGovern, 22, a West Australian, has been linked to home clubs Fremantle and West Coast, while the Magpies also are understood to have sounded him out.
His older brother Jeremy plays for the Eagles.
Walker said that while he had told the pair they could achieve team success at Adelaide, which sits top with three home-and-away rounds remaining and is flag favourite after a record 84-point thumping of Port Adelaide, he understood that players had different motivations.
“Everyone is different, so they just have to make those decisions for themselves,’’ he said, adding premierships, club culture, money and family were all motivating factors for players.
Walker said Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield left the Crows to join Geelong at the end of 2015 purely for family reasons.
“It was family, not money, that’s what he told me,’’ he told Triple M.
Walker would not be drawn into the importance of Adelaide keeping Lever and McGovern, simply saying: “I want to be greedy, I want to keep everyone at our club.’’
Walker, meanwhile, said the Crows’ prime focus leading into the finals was on securing the minor premiership and all the finals rewards that came with it.
Their next challenge is finals-chasing Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.