County Louth’s Donnelly, who turned 20 in late July while in Adelaide a three-week trial, will return to Adelaide in late October to prepare for the start of the pre-season campaign. He will be allocated to the club’s rookie list prior to the December rookie draft as the club’s last pick.
Crows football operations general manager John Reid said the 193cm Donnelly had impressed the club with his natural talent and desire to learn the game.
“It is an exciting step for this club to take but although we think Brian has the potential to develop quickly we also have realistic expectations,” Reid said.
Coach Neil Craig said that although there was some risk, he was hopeful Donnelly could adapt.
“The debate that you have of course is that you have all these young kids in Australia running around so why would you jump over to Ireland to grab one, two or three, whatever the case may be,” he said.
“There’s a bit of a trend there that if the assessment is good enough their capacity to adjust to the game quick enough and be able to perform and become part of an AFL team is pretty impressive. The one’s that make it all have great competitive attitude, that’s the thing I like about them.
“So hopefully the one that we’ve given an opportunity to can make it through. So it’s a bit different, it’s a bit different for us, adds a bit of excitement. It is a new initiative for our football club, so we’ll just see how that one unfolds.”
Karl Dias, the other Irish player who came to Australia for a trial, will not be offered a contract by the Crows this year but the club will continue to monitor his progress.
