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Essendon have signed controversial former Fremantle midfielder Ryan Crowley as their first top-up player in the wake of the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) supplements ruling.
The 31-year-old, who has signed on for the 2016 season, toured the Bombers’ facilities on Tuesday and will begin training with the team on Wednesday.
Crowley said it had been a whirlwind 24 hours.
“I’m super excited to be at Essendon – it’s a great club with a proud history. I can’t wait to get out on the track and start training with the boys.”
Fremantle delisted Crowley in October, a month after he completed a one-year doping ban.
The tagger played 188 games for the Dockers, the last of which came late in the 2014 season.
His backdated one-year suspension ended midway through last year’s finals campaign, although coach Ross Lyon resisted the temptation to call on Crowley for the preliminary final against Hawthorn – a match the Dockers lost by 27 points.
“Hopefully, I can bring a lot of experience, a bit of hardness and maybe just a bit of protection for some of the young Essendon players,” Crowley said.
“We’ve got some great young on-ballers, (Zach) Merrett and (Darcy) Parish and these guys, so hopefully I can look after them.
Crowley has been training recently with WAFL club Swan Districts.
“It’s amazing how good your body can feel,” he said.
“I wouldn’t recommend having a year off but it’s amazing how good your body can feel.”
CAS last week upheld a WADA appeal against the AFL anti-doping tribunal ruling that had cleared 34 affected past and present Bombers players.
It means 12 current players and five former teammates at other clubs cannot play this season.
However, the Bombers can sign up to ten top-up players and have until March 15 to do so.
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