Shane Crawford - We'll be missing you

Shane Crawford was recruited from Assumption College, Kilmore in Victoria, and selected by the Hawks with the 13th pick in the 1991 AFL National Draft. Shane Crawford made his debut in 1993 and "Shane Crawford has since become an all-time club great and remains the only link from Hawthorn's golden era through to today."
Proven by a special tracking system, it is said that he runs about 18kms when playing a full match. Shane Crawfords amazing fitness levels make him almost impossible to tag for long periods by a single player. "Crawfs" is still one of the AFL's elite midfielders and his hard running and polished skills make him a highly dangerous opponent. It is said that Shane Crawford could have made it as a national 800m runner if he chose athletics over football in his earlier years. These days a player who is only 174 cm would usually be overlooked but Shane Crawford proves that theory wrong and performs week in week out with his work ethic. Although he has also been highly criticised for never going in for the 'hard ball gets', preferring to let his team mates take the hits and then pick up the crumbs.
Shane Crawford has played over 300 career AFL games. He is also a four-time All-Australian player and has played in three International Rules series for Australia. He became captain of Hawthorn in 1999 and that season Shane Crawford also won the AFL's top individual honours, the Brownlow Medal and the Players' Association MVP award. He has won four Hawthorn best and fairest awards ( 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003) and came second in the Brownlow in 2003, losing to the winner by one vote. He is also a member of the 2008 premiership side.
Shane Crawford stepped down from the Hawthorn Football Club captaincy after the 2004 season, in which he broke his arm and the Hawks finished second last on the AFL premiership season ladder. He regained some form in the 2005 season and was again one of the league's leading possession winners. In 2006 Shane Crawford showed he still has plenty to offer and could be a handy utility player for the Hawks for at least 2-3 years yet. Shane Crawford has the ability to get the ball quickly out of defence when needed and can also kick much needed goals on the run.
Shane Crawford played his 300th game for Hawthorn against the Brisbane Lions in round 19, 2008 in Launceston and, after a slow start, they eventually thrashed the Lions by 69 points.
On September 27 2008, Shane Crawford won his first premiership in his 305th AFL match, at age 34. Shane Crawford played more AFL games before receiving his first premiership medal than any other player. After receiving his medal he went to the microphone and yelled in a loud voice, "That's What I'm Talking About", a phrase he has uttered on The AFL Footy Show on several occasions.
Shane Crawford was offered another year with the Hawks, but he announced his retirement, closing out a 305 game career.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Shane
• Crawford
• crawfs
• hawthorn
• hawks
• football
• club
• footy
• show

[anobody911]

Spine-tingling stuff

[oneclubonefamily]

I had goosebumps, god i'm going to miss crawf!

[CynderTheDarkAngel]

Why didn't i see this 3 years ago :/ He was hawthorn HE WAS AWESOME

[headgames24]

what an awsome thing to watch on the last day of 2008 . reflecting on a great career and a great year for the hawks..will be defanately signing up as a member again for year 2009 for back to back premiership!! GO HAWKS IN 2009!!!

[j0nni2008]

good clip...good times

[jackoejacko]

Great stuff mate

[liam6363]

awesome video brought a tear to my eye