WHILE his star continues to rise, Josh Jenkins isn’t afraid to come back home and talk to the kids.
Jenkins toured Swan Hill at the weekend, with a number of Q and A sessions at local primary schools touching on everything from how to cope with bullying to his best friends in the AFL (Essendon’s Michael Hurley and fellow Crow Patrick Dangerfield, just for the record).
The Crows’ Number 4, Jenkins told excited youngsters that Matthew Richardson was his favourite player growing up as Tigers fan. But any excitement among yellow and black fans in the audience was quelled when he added that Richmond was now one of his least-liked clubs to play against.
In an important moment of local diplomacy, Jenkins refused to pick the most sentimental of his local connections when asked about his preference for Lake Boga or Tyntynder football clubs, telling the inquisitive Swan Hill Primary School student that he “didn’t want to offend anyone”.
At a Chances for Children breakfast on Saturday, Jenkins detailed his own at-times difficult upbringing in the Swan Hill region and his pursuit of a career in basketball before being rookie listed at the Bombers and then traded to Adelaide.
Jenkins made his AFL debut for the Crows in 2012 and has gone on to play 48 games and establish himself as a Crows star to watch.
The big forward told The Guardian that a gruelling pre-season program had officially closed this week.
“It was tough, but you wouldn’t be an AFL player if you took it easy,” he said.
Jenkins said new Crows coach Phil Walsh was “intense” as he and the club strove to improve on Adelaide’s 2014 record of 11 wins and 11 losses which saw the Crows finish 10th.
“[Pre-season] officially finished [last week] and now we start our in-season program,” he said.
The Crows head to Port Lincoln for their first official practice match of the NAB Challenge series against North Melbourne on Sunday week.
