Adelaide Football Club

Premiership glory in 1997 and 1998

The year 1997 marked the entry of a second South Australian club, Port Adelaide. The Crows finished fourth to qualify for its first finals series since 1993, and hosted fifth-placed West Coast in the First Elimination Final. In the first final ever to be played at Football Park, the Crows won 14.15 (99) to 9.12 (66). The next week, Adelaide benefited from the finals system in use at the time and hosted the higher ranked Geelong, who had finished second but were forced to play away due to losing in the previous week to North Melbourne. The Crows won narrowly: 11.10 (76) to 9.14 (68). This set up an away Preliminary Final against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG. Despite losing Coleman Medallist Tony Modra, who had kicked 84 goals for the season, to an ACL injury in the first quarter and trailing by 31 points at half time, the Crows kicked four unanswered goals in the last quarter to record a two-point victory, 12.21 (93) to 13.13 (91), with Darren Jarman kicking a goal to put Adelaide in front with less than two minutes remaining. This allowed the Crows to qualify for their first AFL Grand Final, to be played against St Kilda at the MCG a week later.

St Kilda, chasing their second Premiership in VFL/AFL history, were warm favourites to win the Grand Final, having come first in the minor round and won both of their finals by margins of 46 and 31 points, against an Adelaide side without Tony Modra, Mark Ricciuto and goalsneak Peter Vardy due to injury. However, the Crows again overcame a half-time deficit, kicking 14 second-half goals to win by 31 points, 19.11 (125) to 13.16 (94). Darren Jarman kicked six goals, five of which came in the last quarter, whilst utility Shane Ellen kicked a career-best five and Troy Bond kicked four. Andrew McLeod, who gathered 31 possessions across half-back and in the midfield, won the Norm Smith Medal for the best player on-field in the Grand Final. The win is arguably one of the finest moments in South Australian sporting history.

Adelaide often struggled in close matches during the 1998 AFL season; seven of their nine losses were by 13 points or less, compared to only three wins by corresponding margins (they finished the regular season fifth on the ladder, with a record of 13-9). The Crows were well beaten by Melbourne in the qualifying final at the MCG by 48 points, and at the time, looked far from a premiership threat. Since season 2000, a loss in the finals by a team outside the top four would result in instant elimination, but the Crows benefited from a quirk in the McIntyre finals system that was in use during the 90's and still progressed to the second week, drawn to play a semi final against the Sydney Swans at the SCG. The Crows bounced back from their disappointing first finals loss and recorded a comprehensive upset 27 point win against the Swans in the wet, which set up a Preliminary Final rematch against the Western Bulldogs. Despite going into the match as underdogs, the Crows played some of their best football of the year to soundly beat the Dogs by 68 points - 24.17 (161) to 13.15 (93). It was a complete contrast to the thriller that took place the previous year, with Matthew Robran kicking six goals and Andrew McLeod, opposed to renowned tagger Tony Liberatore, booting seven.

Like the previous year, Adelaide went into the Grand Final as underdogs, playing against North Melbourne, who had won the Premiership in 1996 and had won eleven consecutive matches leading up to the Grand Final. North Melbourne led by 24 points at half-time, 6.15 (51) to 4.3 (27), with only their inaccurate goalkicking keeping Adelaide in the contest. However, as they had in the previous year, Adelaide dominated the second half to win by 35 points, 15.15 (105) to 8.22 (70). Darren Jarman kicked five goals, while Andrew McLeod won his second successive Norm Smith Medal, an unprecedented feat. Club legend Mark Ricciuto won the Crows' Club Champion award in 1998. Following a disappointing year in 1999, premiership coach Malcolm Blight resigned from the role and the Crows entered the new millennium with two premierships under their belt.

2012: Scandal and Investigation

At the end of 2012, it was revealed that Adelaide had been found guilty of breaching the salary cap and tampering with the draft. As a sign of cooperation with the AFL, Adelaide forfeited themselves from the first two rounds of the 2012 draft.^[18] At a hearing at AFL House in Melbourne, both the Adelaide Crows and current CEO at the time, Steven Trigg, were both fined $300,000 and $50,000 respectively.^[19] The Adelaide Football Club were also suspended from participating in the first two rounds of the 2013 draft.^[20] It's widely accepted to be the leagues biggest salary cap and list management scandal since Carlton in 2002.^[19]

2014: Transfer of SANFL licence

In March 2014, on the eve of the new season, the South Australian Football Commission announced it had struck a deal with the Adelaide Football Club which required the SANFL to transfer its ownership of the Crows' licence to the club, in exchange for payments totalling $11.326 million between 2013 and 2028. The arrangement marked the first time the Adelaide Football Club had independent control of its own administration and came in conjunction with measures designed to solidify the SANFL's control of game development and the sport in South Australia.^[21][22]

2015: Death of Phil Walsh

The 2015 season started successfully for the Adelaide Football Club with a 77-point win over reigning preliminary finalists North Melbourne. Newly appointed coach Phil Walsh oversaw a rapidly improving team that became known for their skilled ball use and ability to grind out wins. During the season, Adelaide was cleared of any wrongdoing by the AFL in the Eddie Betts affair, which became newsworthy following an allegation that Betts's transfer to the Crows from Carlton had been illegally signed and approved as much as 18 months prior to his move.^[23]

Fans gather at Adelaide Oval to pay tribute to Phil Walsh.

On 3 July, two days prior to Adelaide's then-scheduled round 14 match against Geelong, coach Phil Walsh was the victim of murder by his son and died from multiple stab wounds at the age of 55.^[9] The tragedy was followed by an outpouring of sympathy and tributes from the club's fans and the wider AFL community.^[24] The match against the Cats was cancelled, with both teams receiving two premiership points each.^[25] Adelaide's SANFL team's match against South Adelaide, scheduled for the next day, was postponed until later in the season.^[26] On 6 July, assistant coach Scott Camporeale was appointed interim coach for the remainder of the season, while West Coast premiership coach John Worsfold was hired as coaching director to support Camporeale.^[27] Inspiringly, the team rebounded to win six of their next seven games and qualify for the 2015 finals series, where they defeated the Western Bulldogs by seven points in a thrilling elimination final at the MCG. Their season ended when they lost to eventual premiers Hawthorn the next week.

2016–present: Don Pyke era

Star midfielder for many years Patrick Dangerfield left the club at the end of the 2015 season (a season in which he won the club's best and fairest) and Don Pyke, a former premiership player and assistant coach with West Coast who had also been an assistant coach at Adelaide from 2005 to 2006, was appointed Adelaide's senior coach for at least three years.^[10] Adelaide was widely tipped to slide out of the finals in 2016^[28][29][30] but the Crows proved to be one of the successes of the season, comfortably qualifying for a home elimination final and defeating North Melbourne by 62 points, before being eliminated the next week by eventual beaten grand finalists, Sydney in the semi-finals. The club had a dominant 2017 season, winning their opening six games and never falling below second place for the entire season. Adelaide claimed their second McClelland Trophy as minor premiers.^[31] The Adelaide Crows entered the 2017 finals series as favourites for the premiership; they defeated Greater Western Sydney and Geelong by 36 and 61 points respectively to qualify for the Grand Final, their first since 1998, where they faced Richmond. Despite starting as rampaging hot favourites, the Crows lost the match by 48 points and finished runners up for the first time in their history.

The club struggled to replicate its 2017 form the following season; despite winning twelve games, including defeating Richmond at the Adelaide Oval and finishing with a percentage of 104.1, the club finished 12th on the ladder, out of the finals for the first time since 2014.^[32] To the end of 2018, the Crows have won the fourth most AFL matches since the turn of the century.

Present

Home guernsey

The home guernsey features navy blue, red and gold hoops.^[33] It is worn at all matches designated as home games for the club as well as in selected away games (currently only Geelong, Port Adelaide and Sydney). The jumper is worn with navy shorts at all home and away games, except for away Showdowns, where it is paired with white shorts. It has had minor variations through its history since debuting with the club in 1991, including adding a white outline to the numbers in 1996, and the removal of yellow cuffs and addition of navy blue panels down the sides (due to manufacturers template design) in 2006. In 2009 the yellow cuffs and full hoops returned. In 2010 the hoops were cut off again at the sides. For 2016, the club removed the side panels, returning to the full hoops of the original design. The original base design/idea has never changed in the clubs 27-year history.^[34]

Clash guernsey

The clash guernsey is a predominantly white based design,^[35] worn in away games where the standard home guernsey may cause a clash of colours with the home team. It features three hoops around the sternum in the clubs colours of red, yellow and navy blue, and is always worn with white shorts. The current clash guernsey was introduced in 2016, and is more similar to the home strip than those of previous years.

Alternative guernsey

The alternative guernsey is the same design as the clash guernsey, but with a gold base instead of white.^[36] It is worn in away games in which it provides a greater contrast with the home team than either the home or white clash guernseys. These team are North Melbourne, Carlton, Fremantle and Western Bulldogs football clubs. It is always worn with white shorts.

Past

In previous seasons, the Crows have had variations of alternate guernseys.

Pre-season guernsey (1996–98)

The club briefly used an alternate design in the pre-season competition. It was still in the club colours, but featured the club logo prominently on the front and continuing over onto the back.^[37]

Away guernsey (1999–2009)

The away guernsey was originally intended for use in all matches designated as away games, except finals. The design had changed several times over the years since it was first used in 1999.^[38] From 2006 the red was removed from the top of the guernsey, moving it closer to the home guernsey. Its usage had waned since the introduction of the "clash" guernsey, to the point where it was only used twice in 2007, against the Western Bulldogs in round 2 and Collingwood in round 22. In a few away matches that year, the club also continued to use the traditional "home" guernsey, something which had rarely been done since the away strip was introduced. In response to this, a new away guernsey was introduced in 2008 featuring more red and yellow with a flying crow on the front – similar in design to the mid-90s pre-season jumper.

Clash guernsey (2006–2012)

The clash guernsey was first introduced for season 2006 and was radically different from the "home" and "away" designs at the time.^[38] It was worn at all away games where the AFL deemed there to be a clash with the home team's guernsey design. Those clubs officially on the "clash list" included Carlton, Essendon, Fremantle, Melbourne and Richmond. Despite this, the AFL forced the club to wear it against other teams, such as Hawthorn and St Kilda in 2007, West Coast in 2008 and the Brisbane Lions in 2008 and 2009. The first clash guernsey was red, and was worn from 2006-2009. The club first adopted a white clash guernsey in 2010, which is worn in the majority of away games, meaning the traditional home jumper was rarely worn away from home. It featured the club logo on the front with stylised curves in club colours on the front and back with navy stripes down the sides. The design has been changed a number of times over the years, but has remained predominately white. The club now wears the clash guernsey in away games against all clubs aside from the Sydney, Geelong and Port Adelaide football clubs.

Premiership teams