Crabb was a left-foot ruckman who debuted with the war-time combined West Adelaide-Glenelg side in 1942, and played out his career from 1945 to 1956 with Glenelg.
Jeff Pash, a contemporary and later a sports writer, noted Crabb's outwardly placid nature, yet he was well able to look after himself in the roughhouse world of the ruck.
Pash described Crabb's rucking as "both the deft palmer and the solid knocker" and felt that he had "some adventurous quality about him, too – whimsical almost – that leads him to mark one-handed or otherwise do the dangerouse thing, but not at all in any spirit of ostentation".
[1] Crabb represented South Australia against interstate teams for many years; usually in ruck partnership with Norwood's John Marriott.
Crabb was runner-up in the Magarey Medal – the highest individual award in the League for the "fairest and most brilliant" player – in both 1949 (on a countback) and 1950.