Brenton Sanderson did it the hard the way.

The 37-year-old's appointment as Adelaide's senior coach for the next three AFL seasons caps a remarkable journey.

Sanderson was a member of the Crows' inaugural AFL squad in 1991 - but was cut after just six games in four seasons.

So he moved to Collingwood in 1993 - and was cut again, after just four games for the Magpies.

Sanderson moved to Geelong the next year and soon was met with a crushing blow: he was dumped from the Cats' side for their 1995 grand final loss to Carlton.

Undeterred, the qualified pilot stuck at it and was ultimately rewarded with a solid 199-game career at Geelong which peaked in 2001 when he won the club's best and fairest.

The next year he avoided the catastrophe of the Bali bombings - he left the Sari Club hours before the terrorist attack which killed 88 Australians.

Renowned as a deep football thinker beyond his years, Sanderson retired in 2005 and returned to South Australia as a development coach at Port Adelaide.

But the Cats again came calling and he returned to Geelong as an assistant coach in 2006.

A coveted tactician in the successful era of senior coach Mark Thompson, Sanderson was part of planning for Geelong's premierships in 2007 and 2009.

But he was again cut deeply when overlooked as Thompson's successor late last year, although he remained a loyal assistant until Monday when he quit after winning the Adelaide job.

"Life is full of chances - some you choose, some choose you," Sanderson has said.

Sanderson's ascension to the Crows senior coaching position also heralds the end of an era at Geelong.

The Cats' premiership coach Thompson is now an assistant coach, while two of his assistants are now senior coaches - Sanderson and Brendan McCartney, who was named Western Bulldogs hours before Sanderson joined the Crows.

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