ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig says he has no regrets about retaining on the Crows list veterans Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod, Tyson Edwards and Brett Burton, as well as injury-ravaged forward Trent Hentschel, despite none of the five seeing out the season.
Goodwin, McLeod, Burton and Hentschel all succumbed to injury during the season and will be farewelled in a motorcade following the Crows' clash with St Kilda at AAMI Stadium on Sunday, while Edwards announced his retirement mid-year.
Craig said those five players were crucial in holding the team together when the club was going through its record six-game losing streak to start the season.
“With the injuries that we had [early in the season] those guys played a huge role and continued to play a huge role off the field in terms of their leadership; their demand and their ability to keep the group together and to keep them calm when it could have totally fallen apart,” Craig said on Thursday.
“The gem we get out of it is that for the last month or so our supporters and members have had a bit of a look at what it will look like without those guys because we haven’t had them.
“So it’s panned out probably in the best interest for everyone.”
Craig is not one to use the emotion of a retirement or a significant milestone as motivation to win games.
Instead Goodwin, McLeod, Burton and Hentschel were honoured with a video presentation before Thursday’s training session.
Craig said the retiring players had made a point of not making the final match about them.
“The playing group had some vision of each guy and said a few words about them. It was great recognition from the playing group for those four players, who all of them in their own way will leave a legacy to our football club,” Craig said.
“Simon, Andrew, Brett and Trent don’t want us to win for them. It’s more about us continuing to play like we have because the playing group on the weekend is going to be the future of our club.”
The Crows have made one change for the clash with St Kilda, with wingman Brodie Martin coming into the side to replace injured defender Will Young.
Young, who was awarded a TV for his two-possession game on Collingwood playmaker Harry O’Brien, requires surgery on his injured shoulder and will be sidelined for up to six months.
Goodwin, 33, has already expressed a desire to join AFL coaching ranks as an assistant next season.
Craig said there was unlikely to be a vacancy on Adelaide’s coaching panel next season for Goodwin -who has been linked to Essendon— but that the club was exploring its options for the decorated midfielder.
“You always want to keep good people because good people are hard to find and I think it’s a myth to say that you have to leave an environment to go and see what else is out there,” he said.
“But Simon needs to make that decision and he might have to because there may not be a position here.”
Craig also weighed into the debate over whether Hentschel should be awarded life membership at the club.
Hentschel falls short of the current criteria, which is 10 years or 100 games, but Craig said the club might consider making an exception for the 27-year-old.
“I would be happy to sit with Triggy [CEO Steven Trigg] if he’s the decision maker and say, ‘I reckon there’s a factor here that might need to be figured in, in your decision to give Trent life membership’,” Craig said.
