Just as there is something extra special about SUNS games against the Lions, when Adelaide play Port Adelaide in the ‘Showdown’ it is ‘on’.

So when Elliott Himmelberg delivered a breakout game for the Crows against the Power in Round  3 2022 – Showdown #51 on a Friday night at a sold-out Adelaide Oval - it confirmed what smart people in the football world already knew … he could play.

In his 30^th game at 23, Himmelberg had 14 possessions (seven contested), took eight marks (four contested and three inside 50) and kicked four goals in a four-point Crows win.

He kicked two goals in the second quarter and, after the Crows found themselves 13 points down midway through the final term, he kicked two more in as many minutes before Jordan Dawson kicked the sealer after the siren.

To play so well in a Showdown was special. And when Himmelberg followed up with two goals in the loss to Essendon the following week and then four goals in a win over Richmond he’d left an indelible mark on recruiters around the country.

Now, two and a half years later, that 16-day stretch is part of the reason the now 50-game 26-year-old is heading to the Gold Coast SUNS.

A laconic type, known at the Crows as ‘Easy’ and ‘the Big E’, he was claimed by the SUNS today as an unrestricted free agent and signed on a three-year deal.

This completed something of a geographic circle for the big blonde powerhouse after he was drafted in 2016 from Redland in Brisbane, 57km up the highway from People First Stadium.

Originally from Wagga and the younger brother of GWS veteran Harry Himmelberg, the 198cm key position utility moved to Queensland with his family in 2016.

Quickly invited to join the Brisbane Lions Academy but never eligible to be a concession choice to the Lions in the draft, he represented a Queensland Under-18 side that included subsequent SUNS players Jack Bowes, Brayden Crossley, Jacob Dawson, Brad Scheer and Max Spencer, and Lions players Jack Payne, Jacob Allison and Connor Ballenden.

But after winning a spot in the Under-18 Allies side a broken leg ruled him out if the AFL Draft Combine, ended his season and saw him slide a little in a 2016 National Draft which in hindsight confirms what happens at the draft table isn’t always an accurate guide to what follows.

After Andrew McGrath went #1 to Essendon, Tim Taranto #2 to GWS and Hugh McCluggage #3 to Brisbane, the SUNS took Ben Ainsworth at #4, Jack Scrimshaw at #7, Will Brodie at #9 and Jack Bowes at #10 , Adelaide drafted Jordan Galluchi at #15, Myles Poholke at #44 and Himmelberg at #51, and the SUNS took Himmelberg’s Under-18 teammates Scheer and Spencer late.

Ainsworth (134 games) has been a win for the SUNS, while Scrimshaw has played 103 games at Hawthorn after four games with the SUNS. Brodie played 25 games with the SUNS and 29 games with Fremantle but after being overlooked throughout the 2024 season he is looking for a third club, and Bowes played 83 times for the SUNS and has added 39 games with Geelong.

Galluchi played 27 games, Poholke 16 games,  Scheer 13 games and Spencer eight games. And Himmelberg outlasted them all by four years – or more.

Linked 12 months ago in a possible move to join his brother at the Giants which stalled when ex-SUNS forward Mabior Chol chose Hawthorn over Adelaide, Himmelberg will head to the SUNS having played 50 games in jumper #34 for the Crows. He was used primarily as a forward/ruck but also showed he was more than comfortable in defence.

Oddly, in eight years in the AFL he’s played only once against the SUNS. It was his second game in Round 5 2019 when the Crows posted a 73-point win at Adelaide Oval to celebrate Eddie Betts’ 300^th AFL game.

Only nine players still at the SUNS were in the side that day – Ainsworth, Charlie Ballard, Sam Collins, Brayden Fiorini, Nick Holman, Touk Miller, Alex Sexton, David Swallow and Jarrod Witts.

He has played three times at PFS Stadium during Covid in 2020 – but none against the SUNS.

Described by Crows GM List Management and Strategy Justin Reid as “a popular member of our playing group who has made a big contribution to our Club over the past eight seasons,” Himmelberg played nine games in 2024 in Rounds 7-8-9-10 and Rounds 16-7-18-19-20 for five wins and a draw. He took 29 marks, had 88 possessions (50 contested), had 34 hit-outs and kicked eight goals.