Growing up Adelaide recruit Callum Ah Chee fondly remembers running around kicking the footy in his Crows guernsey, dreaming of one day wearing the tri-colours as an AFL footballer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Friday afternoon, that dream became a reality, as the Crows secured the two-time premiership player in the Telstra Pre-Season Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking to AFC Media, Ah Chee said it was a thrill to begin his journey as a Crow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo finally start my journey with the Adelaide Football Club, the team I supported as a young boy growing up, it\u2019s a full circle moment for me,\u201d Ah Chee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly idolised the Crows as a young boy, so to now get the opportunity to wear those tri-colours as an AFL player, it is just a dream come true.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went for the Crows because my Dad went for the Crows, and Andrew McLeod, Mark Ricciuto, Graham Johncock – they were my heroes growing up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Dad would take me to the airport to go and meet them and stuff, and they are memories I still cherish to this day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just super pumped that it has finally happened and I can call myself a Crow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ah Chee requested a trade to Adelaide following a 2025 season that ended in him becoming a two-time premiership player for the Brisbane Lions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said there were multiple factors behind his decision to move from Brisbane to Adelaide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the big reasons I decided to join the Crows was the fact it gave me the chance to live out my dream as a kid,\u201d Ah Chee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut also, I think they are in a great spot as a football club, and I really think I can add value to that with my experience across 10 years in the AFL system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe move also gives me the chance to be much closer to family as well, it will be awesome to bring my kids up a bit closer to home, my wife has close friends in Adelaide as well and to be honest it just made sense for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdelaide is a place I\u2019m really familiar with, and to be able to embark on the next chapter of my footy journey there will be very special.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The move to West Lakes was a complicated one for Ah Chee, with Brisbane and Adelaide unable to come to an agreement during the trade period, which meant the Crows had to select him in the Telstra Pre-Season Draft.<\/p>\n
He admitted it was a tough situation, but always had faith it would end up the way it did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really strange situation, but I understand that footy at the end of the day is a business and the reality of it is these things can happen,\u201d Ah Chee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a little bit tough with the uncertainty of it all, but I had faith it would all get sorted out and we would end up where we are today.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m finally happy to have closure now and move, I\u2019m super thankful to the Brisbane Lions for everything they did for me and so appreciative of the past six years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to 2026, Ah Chee said the overwhelming feeling was excitement, as he joined a team he had admired from afar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a super exciting team, I really enjoyed watching them from afar this season,\u201d Ah Chee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI played alongside Ranks (Izak Rankine) on the Gold Coast, so very keen to link up with him again, he\u2019s such an exciting player to be around.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying in the finals last year, the boys would have learned a lot and hopefully I can add to that with my experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a player I\u2019m very flexible, I\u2019m able to play a number of different roles and that\u2019s what Nicksy and the coaches are after which is exciting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for how the next few weeks look, Ah Chee said he would begin the move to Adelaide by himself before Christmas, before his family joined him in the new year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family will stay up in Queensland for the start and I\u2019ll come over for the pre-Christmas block of training,\u201d Ah Chee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a house in Adelaide now which is really exciting, and the plan is we\u2019ll all move over after Christmas and we\u2019ll be ready to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super excited to get over there and meet everyone, and I can\u2019t wait for that first session on December 1.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up Adelaide recruit Callum Ah Chee fondly remembers running around kicking the footy in his Crows guernsey,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,83,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-299997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-text","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}