Riley Knight admits he was disappointed with the way his time at the Adelaide Crows ended.
Knight was delisted at the end of last season after playing 55 games between 2014 and 2020, primarily as a half-forward.
The 25-year-old, who was a key member of the side that played off in the 2017 Grand Final, bemoans the lack of midfield opportunity handed to him, particularly in the last few years of his time as a Crow.
“I was pretty disappointed to be honest,” he said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“I still felt like I had some really good footy in me, but I just felt like I didn’t really get an opportunity to progress with my footy.
“Every time that I played AFL I always played the high half-forward role. I never really got the opportunity to take the next step into a midfield role, other than the tagging role that I had in 2017.
“I look back at my career and I sort of just wonder there was no way I was going to forge a 10 or 12-year career playing as a half-forward in that sort of graveyard shift.
“So I was a little bit disappointed in that aspect.
“At the same time, obviously my body broke down a few times as well, so that doesn’t help in trying to build that continuity.
“Disappointed with the way that it all finished up. I still feel like I could play some really good footy, but at the end of the day it is the industry that it is and turnover is part of that.
“Unfortunately that’s just the way it goes.”
Knight has this year returned to his former club Woodville-West Torrens where he will look to enjoy more midfield minutes with the reigning SANFL premiers under coach Jade Sheedy.
Despite having something to move onto and look forward to, he still says it has been difficult to process his axing at AFL level.
“It does become pretty tough,” he added.
“After 2017 I sat down with the coaches and said I really wanted to transition into the midfield and start progressing forward.
“Every year after that I got the opportunity to train as a midfielder across the pre-season. I did all my craftwork with the midfielders and as soon as the games rolled around I was straight back to a half-forward.
“It sort of felt like a waste of time. If I had a coach that was brutally honest and said, ‘Look, you’re not going to play midfield for our club’ then I would have invested more time in my forward craft and became more than just the half-forward link sort of player.
“It did become really tough across the last two our three years that I was at Adelaide to walk into every pre-season knowing exactly where you’re going to end up at Round 1, but at the same time you’re still playing footy so it’s enjoyable
“I guess when the results started to go against us and you start to slide down the ladder, it does become a bit more of a drag. That’s just unfortunately the way it goes.”
Knight said he would be open to another chance with an AFL club if it were to arise, but is now purely focusing on playing good SANFL footy with the Eagles.
