LEETON-Whitton stalwart Bryce O'Garey has again put his hand up to help the Crows negotiate a rebuilding phase as they look to dig even deeper into their youth stocks this season.
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O'Garey, who captained the Crows to the 2017 flag, originally signalled his intention to retire after helping guide the club to the AFL Riverina Championship grand final in the shortened 2020 season.
That year the Crows were boosted by the return of several star juniors, including current St Kilda forward Cooper Sharman, after their respective competitions interstate were cancelled.
Although they showed plenty of heart in the back end of last year to knock off some teams higher up on the ladder, the Crows were set to be finals contenders before the season was postponed.
The loss of player-coach Sam Darley, regarded by most as the best player in last year's competition, is a big hole to fill, key forward Tyron Rainbird has returned to Queensland, key defender Alex Daly signed with his junior club Wodonga Raiders and Bailey Wood has defected to Coolamon.
While he return of fullback Will Wakeman and key position player Hayden Mahalm from serious injury will help, new coach Tom Groves has a big job to help develop the juniors and look toward success down the track.
Former Coleambally player Groves is well positioned to do so given his experience in the GWS Giants Academy's coaching ranks.
He was appointed after Darley's unexpected decision to return home to Geelong after the first season of his two year deal, where he dominated the competition.
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"We've lost a few players, a few local boys are going elsewhere and a few recruits have gone back to where they came from," O'Garey said.
"We're a bit low on numbers and age, we'll be even younger this year.
"Tom wanted me to stick around with some of the older boys still left there to help them, and have an older body on the field.
"We'll still be competitive. We probably just don't have the crop at the moment but there's still a couple of months to go until the end of the season, and we've always had a strong crop of juniors.
"Tommy has been at the GWS Academy and has coached a lot of kids. He's motivated to work with the kids here and guide them through.
"I haven't been to training yet, I'm training for a triathlon again which takes up a fair bit of my time. I had a chat to Tommy and he was happy for me to wait until February to train full time again."
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