Tom Lynch

Biography

AFC Debut Number: 184         AFC Debut Game: Round 1 v Gold Coast, 2012

Career Guernsey Number: 27

Tom Lynch grew up supporting St Kilda and was understandably thrilled to be selected by the Saints at No. 13 in the 2008 AFL draft. But it was at Adelaide where he eventually made his name as one of the game’s most influential medium forwards.

Drafted from the Sandringham Dragons, Lynch played six AFL games for the powerful St Kilda side as it challenged for premierships. He then asked to be traded to Adelaide at the end of the 2011 season, hoping for more senior opportunities. Despite starring in the SANFL with Glenelg, he only played six AFL games in his first year with the Crows as they advanced to a preliminary final.

The following season, however, he was Adelaide’s leading goalkicker with 33 from 17 games, including ten goals against GWS. Only two other Crows – Tony Modra and Scott Hodges – have booted ten or more goals in a game.

Serious injuries, including a dislocated shoulder, broken jaw and later a fractured neck, ruined Lynch’s 2014 season. But he played every game in 2015 and then kicked a career-high 42 goals in 2016, when he received an All-Australian nomination and finished third in Adelaide’s Club Champion Award.

Elevated to Adelaide’s leadership group in 2017, he was also an All-Australian nominee that season when he booted 31 goals from 23 games as the club reached the grand final. He continued to play an important role as a roaming forward who worked hard up and down the ground and created scoring opportunities.

A serious toe injury derailed Lynch’s 2021 season but he finished strongly and his Crows career ended on 158 games after the last minor round.