Josh Jenkins recently called time on his AFL career after spending two seasons with Geelong.
The 32-year-old had previously been with Adelaide for eight years, finishing up with the Crows at the end of 2019.
Jenkins had been a key figure of the successful Crows side that played finals in 2015 and 2016 before making the 2017 Grand Final, but suggests he fell out in the end.
He admits he may not have seen eye to eye by the conclusion of his time at West Lakes, which came in the wake of the infamous Crows camp of 2018.
“I didn’t leave on great terms with Adelaide, but I left with my head held high,” he said on AFL Trade Radio’s Trade Mornings.
“There was a lot of stuff going on in the periphery and I felt I fought the good fight and stuck up for some players who weren’t necessarily confident enough to voice their own concerns.
“I felt like I did that a lot and I paid the ultimate price. It probably also fit in nicely with the fact Adelaide were keen to get a bit younger and to shed some money off their salary cap.
“From their point of view it made sense and from my point of view, I’d probably worn out my welcome with Don Pyke and those guys. They all moved on not longer after.”
Jenkins found his way to Geelong to play alongside former Crows colleague Patrick Dangerfield and although he only managed two senior games, he thoroughly enjoyed his time at the Cattery.
“It was probably time to move on and I was really eager having known ‘Danger’ and his time at the Cats,” he added.
“I was really eager to come here. It hasn’t worked out from a playing point of view, I only played two games, but the environment that I moved to was exactly what I was looking for.
“Two games is not many but I honestly wouldn’t change it. Even now if you have had said I’d go somewhere else and play 25 games, I wouldn’t change it. The guys were good enough to get through to a Grand Final in 2020 and made a prelim this year and we spent a lot of time on the road.
“If you’re talking about an environment, and you’re going to be spending four months away one year and then another month away the next, I sort of fell into the perfect place.”
Jenkins ended up playing a total of 149 games (147 for the Crows) and kicked 296 goals across his career, coming a long way from his country footy days and time spent on Essendon’s rookie list.
“I’m proud of what I achieved because three or four months before I got picked onto Essendon’s rookie list, I was playing country footy for Lake Boga,” he reflected.
“I didn’t even have the AFL in mind, so I’m very proud of what I was able to do.”