Crows welcome back hungry Sloane

THE fresh start Adelaide has been craving all year finally arrived yesterday but it was an old, familiar face — and importantly voice — that greeted the club’s young players at pre-season training.

“Stay up,” Rory Sloane shouted to his teammates during a brief respite between running drills at Mt Barker.

“Walk, breathe and let’s go again.” The session was mandatory for the Crows’ oneto-four-year players, or those under the age of 22.

Sloane is 28 and going into his 11th campaign, yet was one of the first ones there.

He was one of the first ones across the line in the running drills and, not surprisingly, was the last one to leave after posing for photographs with students who had left class at Cornerstone College to watch training.

In another boost for the group, Bryce Gibbs was there too and, at 29, he’s older than Sloane and going into his 13th AFL season.

But the sight of a hungry, fit Sloane in full flight after missing 10 games with a serious foot injury this season and having endured a personal tragedy in the off-season triggered endless smiles, backslapping and high-fives for the vice-captain. There were plenty of hands on heads and hands on hips as players pushed themselves in a gruelling running set across the centre square as rain fell.

Day one of pre-season yesterday finally — and officially — closed the door on 2018 and heralded a fresh start for 2019 in every way.

Fresh air in the Adelaide Hills, a fresh environment at Cornerstone College, fresh faces in Tyson Stengle, Shane McAdam, Marty Mattner and Michael Godden, and fresh hope.

And who better to have front and centre than Sloane, who shunned free agency and the lure of a Victorian homecoming last year to pledge his future at the Crows because he loved the club and believed in the direction it was heading.