Healthy Crouch rediscovers his love of football

BRAD Crouch goes into every game like it could be his last, conceding he lost the fun in footy while battling a persistent foot injury early in his career.

Crouch turned to boxing and went to Vietnam with his dad to find a release from the mental strain of injury which cost him the 2015 season.

Now, having played 33 games in the past two seasons and on the eve of a second consecutive finals series, the older of the two Crouch brothers at Adelaide says he is just grateful to be out there.

“I’ve found particularly over the last couple of years the enjoyment of playing week-in, week-out has been really good for me,” he said.

“When you miss playing a heap of footy you never take any game for granted and even now I try to play as if I shouldn’t be playing or it’s my last game, and use that as a bit of motivation for my training and preparation.

“Times when I hurt my foot twice in the one year (2015) I didn’t know what to do, I just found between Monday and Friday I was training and on a weekend not playing was killing me. I was worried, there were times I thought why is this happening and it’s not just the one injury, and not understanding why.

“It was a 12-week injury and I happened to do it on the eve of Round 1 and then again in Round 12, so missed that chunk of footy.”

With the help of Adelaide’s player development manager Emma Bahr, Crouch sought alternative training methods away from the daily grind of rehab at the footy club.

“I wasn’t training full-time here, I was doing stuff like boxing over the other side of town and some training in the city,” he said.

“And there were times I got to go home and keep myself busy, and I went to Vietnam with my dad in the off-season for two weeks. I won’t have a chance to do that stuff all the time while I’m playing, so it freshened me up bit.”

A fit Crouch, combined with brother Matt’s dramatic rise to All-Australian this year, has made the Crows’ midfield, which so many doubted when Patrick Dangerfield left, one of the best in the competition.

Crouch said he and Matt had a special bond on and off the field but on game day he felt like he had 21 brothers wearing the same colours.

“There’s definitely a bond in terms of we know sometimes where each other are, you definitely feel that, you hear the voice and recognise it more so than other players,” Crouch said of Matt.

“We’ve developed a good relationship on the field in terms of how each other plays and how the whole midfield plays.

“But, like anyone, you want to stick up for all your teammates.”

As the Crows prepare to play GWS in Thursday’s qualifying final at Adelaide Oval, Crouch said the players were embracing the expectations of a top-four side.

“There’s more expectation this year because we are in the top four. It makes a huge difference – last year the way it happened was frustrating because we thought we were a top-four side,” he said.

“Definitely, there is more expectation internally and externally this year, we’re not a young side any more, we have a lot of experienced players and I think we’re ready to take the next step.”