Adelaide will play its last AFL game at AAMI Stadium on August 24. In the third of this afc.com.au series, we rewind to the Club’s early years at Football Park, this time 1994-96.
When Tony Modra kicked 13 goals to lead Adelaide to a 66-point win over Carlton to open the 1994 season at Football Park, anything seemed possible.
But the Crows spent the next three seasons out of the finals and sacked two coaches through the tumultuous period.
Adelaide won seven of its 11 games at Football Park in 1994. Modra’s 13 goal performance came just days after it was revealed he had nearly walked out on the Club and the AFL. Two months later the Crows lost to Hawthorn by 97 points - one of its worst home performances. A seven-point win over eventual premiers West Coast was a highlight but the following week the Crows lost to bottom side Sydney.
Inaugural Crows coach Graham Cornes was replaced by former Fitzroy coach Robert Shaw at the end of 1994 but the Club’s fortunes did not improve. Winning away still proved difficult and seven of the nine wins were at Football Park, where the Crows also lost to bottom-placed Fitzroy. Shaun Rehn needed his first knee reconstruction early in the season but a couple of promising players, Andrew McLeod and Tyson Edwards, made their AFL debuts.
Adelaide’s footprint at the stadium grew early in 1996 when it opened a training facility on the eastern side of the ground. On the field the Crows made a flying start, thumping Sydney by 90 points at Football Park and holding top spot after winning the first four games. Ben Hart took mark of the year against St Kilda in round eight but Rehn suffered another serious knee injury, the Crows lost 14 of the next 18 games and Shaw was gone.
1994
33: Adelaide 22.18 (150) defeated Carlton 13.6 (84)
34: Adelaide 15.14 (104) defeated Geelong 11.11 (77)
35: Adelaide 13.15 (93) lost to Footscray 17.8 (110)
36: Adelaide 7.6 (48) lost to Hawthorn 22.13 (145)
37: Adelaide 15.13 (103) defeated Fitzroy 9.10 (64)
38: Adelaide 11.17 (83) defeated Melbourne 12.6 (78)
39: Adelaide 12.11 (83) lost to Richmond 13.12 (90)
40: Adelaide 12.10 (82) defeated West Coast 11.12 (78)
41: Adelaide 10.15 (75) lost to Sydney 13.9 (87)
42: Adelaide 13.11 (89) defeated Brisbane Bears 12.14 (86)
43: Adelaide 17.13 (115) defeated Essendon 8.10 (58)
Top moment: Modra’s 13 goals against Carlton in round one
Biggest crowd: 45,639 v Geelong, round four
1995
44: Adelaide 13.14 (92) defeated St Kilda 3.8 (26)
45: Adelaide 7.14 (56) defeated West Coast 6.10 (46)
46: Adelaide 11.11 (77) defeated Melbourne 10.9 (69)
47: Adelaide 9.12 (66) lost to Fitzroy 15.9 (99)
48: Adelaide 9.6 (60) defeated Hawthorn 7.16 (58)
49: Adelaide 12.8 (80) defeated Footscray 6.10 (46)
50: Adelaide 16.9 (105) defeated Fremantle 12.12 (84)
51: Adelaide 9.11 (65) defeated North Melbourne 7.12 (54)
52: Adelaide 6.10 (46) lost to Brisbane Bears 11.10 (76)
53: Adelaide 13.15 (93) lost to Sydney 22.7 (139)
54: Adelaide 12.14 (86) lost to Richmond 19.9 (123)
Top moment: Andrew McLeod’s winning goal v Hawthorn, round nine
Biggest crowd: 42,723 v West Coast, round four
1996
55: Adelaide 20.10 (136) defeated Sydney 6.4 (40)
56: Adelaide 21.16 (142) defeated Geelong 12.6 (78)
57: Adelaide 23.23 (161) defeated Essendon 9.11 (65)
58: Adelaide 20.12 (132) defeated Fremantle 5.6 (36)
59: Adelaide 13.19 (97) defeated St Kilda 11.7 (73)
60: Adelaide 11.10 (76) lost to West Coast 19.16 (130)
61: Adelaide 10.12 (72) lost to Melbourne 19.9 (123)
62: Adelaide 15.12 (102) defeated Brisbane Bears 14.10 (94)
63: Adelaide 26.10 (166) defeated Fitzroy 9.13 (67)
64: Adelaide 10.10 (70) lost to North Melbourne 10.16 (76)
65: Adelaide 14.12 (96) lost to Collingwood 24.9 (153)
Top moment: A 15-goal win over Sydney in the opening round. The Swans finished the minor round on top of the ladder.
Biggest crowd: 45,266 v Essendon, round four
