Delisted Crow still holding out hope for an AFL lifeline... but he has contingency plans in place

Will Hamill still harbours ambitions to play at AFL level.

The 23-year-old was delisted by Adelaide earlier this month after six seasons and 45 games after being selected with Pick 30 in the 2018 draft.

Hamill, who played seven games in 2024, is keen to stay in the AFL system if a club wanted to offer him a lifeline.

But the running defender from Dromana, who played his junior footy for Balnarring, says he will likely have a contingency plan in place at state league level if an AFL opportunity is not forthcoming.

“Hopefully I get picked up in the delisted free agent period,” Hamill said on SEN SA Breakfast.

“If not I’ll head back to Victoria and play some VFL somewhere. I’m not sure where but I’ll look forward to getting back to Victoria and getting around friends and family.”

Has he received any interest from AFL clubs?

“It’s hard to say wth the trade period going down just because teams don’t know where their list is,” Hamill replied.

“It’s more the next month I’ll be trying to get a better idea of what’s happening.

“I’d be happy to go anywhere really, wherever.”

Hamill played 17 games in 2021 and 13 in 2022 which marked his two best seasons at the elite level, but he was restricted by various injuries over the journey including a broken finger this year.

“I was just a bit unlucky with a few of those injuries,” he said.

“That’s just footy though. You hear so many stories about boys not even getting drafted when they probably should have been because of injuries.

“I feel very lucky that I got to play 45 games. I would have loved for it to be more but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me.”

Hamill admits he could see late in the season that his time with the Crows was coming to an end.

Despite the disappointment he is trying to see the positives in what many would believe to be a negative situation.

“A couple of months out I had a bit of an inkling that it wasn’t going to happen,” Hamill said further.

“It was a bit of a waiting game with the Crows and their trade period just because they had so many targets.

“I came to terms with it maybe a month or two months ago. It was tough for a bit but I’m only 23 years old, I’ve got lots ahead of me, it’s not the end of the world.

“You’ve got to try and take the positives out of it. I’ve enjoyed my time in Adelaide, I have lots of great memories and good friends.

“It’s come to an end so you’ve just got to accept that.”

Hamill was previously delisted by the Crows in 2023 before being picked up in that year’s Rookie Draft.

He has been studying engineering part-time at Flinders University in Adelaide and plans to take that up full-time as another contingency if his footy dream does not continue.