A broken jaw for Kurt Tippett means he will not be able to take the field for Sydneys semifinal against Adelaide at the SCG on Saturday. It also means that for once the Crows will be facing a highly rated opponent without having to contend with a player once counted among their number.Alongside Tippett, Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong), Jack Gunston (Hawthorn) and Phil Davis (Greater Western Sydney) were all Adelaide draftees, learning their trade in the AFL and showing enormous promise before choosing to leave the West Lakes nest that had nurtured them. Had that quartet remained in Adelaide, the Crows first 22 would be the envy of the league, but as it is they haunt the club like the ghost of Christmas past, come to visit Ebenezer Scrooge.As with Scrooges Yuletide introspection, their departures led to questions about how the Crows functioned, and about Adelaide as a place. While interstate recruits invariably discuss the go home factor with potential clubs at draft screening and in their early days after arrival, Adelaide seemed more affected than most.This had a history going back numerous years before the Dangerfield generation. The likes of Kane Johnson, Chris Knights, Jonathon Griffin and Nathan Bock all fled the Crows when presented by opportunities either for a home posting or a rich contract to set them up for life after football. Bocks departure to the Gold Coast was compounded when Davis, the man groomed to replace him, elected to accept the entreaties of GWS.Plenty of contention surrounded Gunstons desire to return to Melbourne right at the moment he looked to be maturing into a forward of considerable skill, and the Hawks have read the benefits of Adelaides earlier nurturing work. Hawthorn supporters have taken to singing You wish you had Jack Gunston to the tune of We Wish You A Merry Christmas: nary a Crows supporter or administrator can fail to wince at that one. In the same year Gunston left, the re-signing of the unassuming wingman David MacKay was looked upon as something of a minor miracle.Of course it was Tippett who but epitomised Adelaides sheer frustration about retaining players. In a saga daubed across newspaper back pages for far longer than anyone at West Lakes would have liked, the salary cap transgression designed to keep Tippett in Adelaide for the short-term, cost the club enormously in terms of draft penalties and staff bans, before the Swans were able to pick him up for no gain by the Crows. It remains the most embarrassing chapter in club history.The lesson learned at the time was twofold. First, there seemed little point in stretching the rules to accommodate players who did not want to remain in Adelaide. Secondly, the market pressure created by the addition of Gold Coast and GWS to the AFL had allowed players to be far more aggressive in chasing home pastures or bigger contracts. The Crows had been caught in a major storm, and hurt themselves further by trying to swim against the current.Since then, smoother waters have been sought and largely found. Ironically, the circumstances in which Adelaide have settled their list down and become more successful at retaining players actually revolve around the bonds formed by draftees from outside South Australia. Daniel Talia, who joined the Crows in the same year Tippett signed his fateful three-year contract extension in 2009, summed up how things had changed -- Adelaide is now a desirable place in which to grow together.Its funny, a lot of the guys at the club now are from interstate and I feel like thats really bonded us closer, Talia (Calder Cannons) said of a group featuring the likes of Rory Sloane (Eastern Ranges), Rory Atkins (Calder Cannons), Tom Lynch (St Kilda) and Josh Jenkins (Essendon). With the events of last year were a really tight knit group and our cultures one of our strong points.Weve got a great culture and guys want to hang around and be a part of that. Weve got a core group who are 18 to 25 and we dont have many senior guys other than Thommo [Scott Thompson] and Dougy [Richard Douglas] and those kinds of guys. Were all growing up together, playing footy together and developing as a group. Its a really exciting time to be around the club and guys want to be a part of that, says Talia.Many of the old headlines were dredged back up by Dangerfields decision to return home to Geelong at the end of 2015, a decision he had made some months before but kept quiet. However it is now possible to view his exit as something of an outlier to a wider trend, for young interstate players of promise to decide that Adelaide isnt just the place to be for a football education, but as a club to make your home.Certainly, and with more games of footy and the more we play together I feel like the more were going to improve, Talia said. Its an exciting time, an opportunity for our group to play some good footy and win finals. We dont just want to make up the numbers, we want to go the whole way.Added to the sense of togetherness at Adelaide is the fact that the team have not been built through the pick of the national draft, nor the generous concessions offered to new clubs elsewhere. Instead this is a group carefully compiled from lower draft choices, rookie draft selections and trades. Contentions that the Crows lack the star power of other clubs may actually be a strength: they know they must work for each other to be a chance, whether on the field or at contract time.Crows re-signed in the past two years: Brad Crouch, Daniel Talia, Brodie Smith, Josh Jenkins, Rory Atkins, Mitch McGovern, Tom Lynch, Rory Sloane, Sam Jacobs, Richard Douglas, Rory Laird, Luke Brown, Jake Lever, Charlie Cameron, Jake Kelly, Kyle Hartigan, Riley Knight, Reilly OBrien Stitched Penguins Jerseys . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. Pittsburgh Penguins Shirts . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/ .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. Penguins Jerseys China .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. Wholesale Penguins Jerseys . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. Toto Wolff says there is no value in the negative headlines about Lewis Hamilton which have dominated UK newspapers since the Japanese Grand Prix.Hamilton found himself at odds with the media in Suzuka after he was criticised for playing on Snapchat during the televised press conference on Thursday, which led to him refusing to answer questions on Saturday in his print media session. After fluffing his start and having to settle for third -- losing further ground in the title fight to Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg -- Fleet Street was highly critical of the world champion, with one newspaper declaring he is in meltdown.Mercedes boss Wolff is unfazed by what has been written as he feels the coverage of Hamilton has always been fickle.?First of all, its clear that the media needs to produce headlines and it goes both directions -- youre being built up, then you being dropped, Wolff told Sky Sports during Mercedes constructors championship celebrations on Tuesday. With Lewis he had a couple of tough weekends and yesterdays news has no value at all. If he recovers and has a good weekend in Austin he is the heroo again.dddddddddddd Thats why Im pretty relaxed about whats written in the newspapers.Hes one of Britains greatest heroes and hes won world championship titles in Formula One, this is not easy. Like many sports stars, or any stars in general, you write them up, you write them down.Hamiltons woes in Japan left him 33 points behind Rosberg, meaning he can now win the remaining four races and not claim the title. Though Hamilton has had the lions share of reliability troubles this year Wolff thinks his drivers are equally deserving of the championship.?When asked if Rosberg would make a worthy champion, he replied: Absolutely, hes won nine grands prix this year and hes been closely matched with Lewis this year and always in the last couple of years. I remember 2014 when we let him down in Singapore and at the last race in Abu Dhabi, actually, this year Lewis is the more unlucky one.But both of them would deserve to win the world championship title and lets see how its going to end. ' ' '