Callum Ah Chee opens up on Brisbane exit, West Coast’s interest and Adelaide’s premiership hopes

Adelaide recruit Callum Ah Chee has revealed why he never seriously entertained interest from West Coast, while he has “no bad blood” towards Brisbane despite his ugly exit last year. And the South Fremantle product can see similarities between the Crows and the Lions team he joined on the verge of becoming a powerhouse of the competition. Ah Chee was recruited by Adelaide in the pre-season draft after Brisbane refused to trade the two-time premiership forward for the future second-round pick that was on the table. It led to the out-of-contract star walking from the Lions after 124 games in six seasons, and having to wait before he could land at West Lakes. But not before his manager Ben Williams gave an extraordinary press conference after the trade deadline, where he declared Ah Chee would not go back to Brisbane under any circumstances. The Crows weren’t the only team showing interest in the 28-year-old, with The West Australian revealing in August that West Coast were eyeing the West Australian product. There was also significant calls for the Eagles to swoop in and draft Ah Chee with the first pick in the pre-season draft after his failed trade to South Australia. Ah Chee said he never spoke to the Eagles because he always had his sights set on the Crows for footy and family reasons. “There was probably a little bit of interest, but not enough to sway me to go back home,” he said. “I’d made my decision once I’d spoken with Adelaide and tracked towards coming here after seeing their vision for me. “It just felt like the right call for us, especially as a family. My wife’s from Cairns, so it’s a massive move for her to move to WA and be so far away from her family. Adelaide is a halfway point for us, so it didn’t make sense to go home.” Despite the controversial exit, Ah Chee said he still had a lot of love for the Lions. “It was pretty stressful, more just having my kids and my family have to go through it as well. Not sort of knowing what was coming,” Ah Chee told The West Australian. “Not knowing was the most stressful bit, but these things happen in footy, and we had to deal with it. “There’s no bad blood there. I had an amazing career at Brisbane with the boys, and what we went through. I got to enjoy a lot of success there, which I am so appreciative of.” After a stunning 2025 regular season, Adelaide were bundled out of the finals in straight sets and have started the season slowly with one win from three games. Ah Chee said the Crows were going in the right direction and pointed to similarities between what he’d seen at Brisbane before their run of three consecutive grand finals. “They have faced some adversity last year, similar to what Brisbane were when I got there, and I see a young, driven, hungry group,” he said. “They’ve definitely learnt from last year, and I felt like that was a similar case when I joined Brisbane. “We’ve got all the right parts to have success here at this footy club. I’ve been so surprised by how great the young boys are and how driven they are to really get back there this year.”