Adelaide’s mid-season draftee Brett Turner has recalled the moment when it all clicked for him in his footy career.
Strangely enough it came after he suffered a season-ending injury while playing for West Adelaide in 2019.
Turner, who was drafted with pick 4 from Glenelg, says a conversation with three-time Hawthorn premiership great Andy Collins, a former Bloods coach, sparked a flickering lightbulb.
The 25-year-old midfielder/forward says it was a “confronting” chat where it became apparent that if he put in the effort, he would eventually be rewarded for it.
“The lightbulb moment was sort of flickering throughout the years,” he said on SEN SA’s The Run Home.
“I knew I needed to make change and needed to change up what I was doing.
“The lightbulb moment specifically was when I ruptured my syndesmosis in a game versus Port (Adelaide). It was my 50th game for West Adelaide and I missed the rest of the season basically.
“I called Andy Collins the week I had surgery. I knew what I wanted to hear, but I just needed to hear it from him.
“He basically berated me on the phone for half an hour. It was a bit of a confronting and honest conversation but everything had merit to it.
“I’ve sort of always reacted well to a bit of constructive criticism. It was something that I just needed to hear at the time.”
Turner, who says he had previously nominated for just one draft when he was 18, acknowledges he didn’t quite have the mindset to make it earlier in his career.
“I had a bit of interest in my draft year, I spoke to a couple of clubs, but I sort of didn’t have the right attitude towards footy and my training,” he said.
“They found that out and rightfully so.”
But after 64 games with West Adelaide and 25 with the Tigers, including four solid games in 2022, the interest came from the Crows came around a month prior to the draft.
Turner admits while he had spoken with the club, he had no idea they would actually call his name.
“I had absolutely no clue,” he said.
“From my conversations with the Crows, it was going to be more favourable if they took two picks.
“Then we got a phone call through saying that they were definitely only going to take one.
“I pretty well wrote myself off then. When pick four came out I was like I don’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard my name it was a bit of a weird feeling.
“It still is, it still hasn’t really set in.”
Turner was one of six SANFL players to be picked up in the mid-season draft, joining Glenelg teammate Sam Durdin (who joined Carlton) along with Josh Carmichael (West Adelaide to Collingwood), Jacob Bauer (North Adelaide to Richmond), Zane Williams (Eagles to Geelong) and Jye Menzie (South Adelaide to Essendon) at the elite level.
Photo courtesy @Adelaide_FC Twitter.