IT has been a roller-coaster 18-month ride for Limestone Coast footballer Henry Crauford, with the final destination a position on Essendon’s 2020 AFL roster.
Rewind two years and Crauford was playing for Mount Burr in the Mid South East Football League, where he won back-to-back A Grade flags, along with best-on-ground in the 2017 decider.
He then made the move to Adelaide at the start of 2019, where he played in the Norwood Reserves premiership side, earning himself the club’s best and fairest honours at that level.
An invitation to the AFL draft put the ruckman on the national radar, but Crauford was not picked up in the initial process.
That was until the pre-season supplemental selection period, where the 22 year old received a call from the Bombers and an opportunity presented.
However, just two weeks into training full-time at Essendon, players were sent home as the competition was postponed due to coronavirus.
Crauford has returned to his childhood home in Worrolong to wait for the season to reboot and spoke to The Border Watch about his journey.
Growing up in Mount Gambier he played junior football for North Gambier, but eventually moved away for boarding school.
After he finished Year 12, he returned to the South East, where connections with former Mozzie coach Tom Renzi, as well as Mount Burr legend Will Whitty resulted in a MSEFL debut.
Crauford played for the Mozzies for three seasons, with his 2017 campaign in particular catching the eyes of selectors at state level.
“In 2017 I went pretty good and that was when I first heard from clubs in SANFL,” he said.
“I still had two years left on my apprenticeship and I was loving it out there so I did another year – that was 2018 when we (Mount Burr) lost to Robe.
“Mark Ross from Norwood called me up again and I was going okay and he said come up and give it a crack.”
From there it was all a matter of being in the right place at the right time and the next 12 months fell into place perfectly.
Crauford made the move to Adelaide in early January, but missed a fair chunk of Norwood’s pre-season after recovering from surgery on a finger.
“I went okay the first couple of games and after that I struggled a little bit just because it was pretty different,” he said.
“After that I started getting the hang of it and it helps when you get to know everyone as well.”
Crauford said he made “good mates” at Norwood and those relationships helped him flourish on the ground.
A solid season resulted in an average of about 16 disposals, five clearances and 27 hit-outs a game and on top of the premiership flag, Crauford received Norwood’s Reserves best and fairest honours.
“That was when I spoke to a few (AFL) clubs, but nothing happened,” he said.
“I wasn’t too fussed, but then something did happen.
“It was pretty cool – it wasn’t expected, that’s for sure.”
In the lead-up to the AFL draft Crauford said he spoke to around half a dozen AFL clubs, but after not being picked up he was happy to head back to Norwood.
“Then in that top-up period one of the list managers (at Essendon) Rob Forster-Knight gave me a buzz and asked if I’d be interested,” Crauford said.
“I thought it wouldn’t hurt to go over for a week.”
Crauford trained with the Bombers in mid-March and at the end of it booked himself the final spot on their list.
After he received the call up it was a quick transition migrating from Adelaide to Melbourne.
“They told me on the Thursday and then after training on Saturday I got on the plane, shot back to Adelaide, was there Saturday and Sunday and then on Monday I chucked all my stuff in my ute and drove to Melbourne,” Crauford said.
With so much excitement crammed into a short period of time, it was an anticlimactic result when the 2020 AFL season was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic and players were sent home.
“Round one was on the Saturday and then the Monday I drove back (home) and they shut the borders on Tuesday,” Crauford said.
Crauford was at Essendon for almost two weeks training and said his time at Norwood was valuable in preparing him for the step up.
“It is not too different, it is just that you are there (training) all day,” he said.
“It would be pretty hard for those blokes who get picked up from an amateur club.
“When I went to Norwood I was like ‘oh geez, what have I got myself into’, but once you get used to it it’s alright.”
Despite that, there is still plenty for Crauford to learn at the top level, but a warm welcome into the club has helped with the transition.
“It is a good club, it is unreal – they are all nice fellas,” Crauford said.
“It is so weird, you walk in and here’s all these superstars.
“You watch them on TV, like Dylan Shiel, David Zaharakis and Joe Daniher.
“Daniher has always been one of my favourite players just to watch and I walked in and was like ‘how you going’ – I had this big grin on my face.”
Despite the pressure of training alongside legends of the game, Crauford said everyone was happy to help out.
“Everyone is vying for a spot, but even the older fellas are really helpful and give you tips,” he said.
“I have learnt a fair bit already and it will be good to get back into it.”
Despite the catastrophic effects of the current health crisis, the situation could play to Crauford’s favour should the season resume in a more congested format and the ruckman could receive his first taste of AFL action.
“Obviously you get pretty banged up playing in the ruck, so they reckon if we are going to play a five-day turnaround there is a fair chance you’ll get a go,” he said.
“If that is what they end up doing, I am probably more likely to get a game.
“But I’ll just keep training and see how I go.”
As a first-year player Crauford is part of the club’s Jack Jones Academy and has weekly group video calls to stay up to date.
“They have a fitness program and I have a bit of a home gym setup,” he said.
“I have my running program and kick the footy around when I can.
“Other than that they just want us to keep ourselves busy – they don’t want you to go insane.”
Norwood started its pre-season back in November last year and Crauford said he is feeling fit, so for now it is just a matter of maintaining that fitness and playing the waiting game for football to return.
