Andrew McLeod twice starred on the AFL’s biggest stage and that alone would be enough to guarantee a revered place in the history of the Adelaide Football Club.
But McLeod’s football story was about much more than two stunning Grand Final performances at the MCG. The longevity of high performance required to justify the champion tag proved no issue for the Darwin-born star and the quality remained until the last of his Club record 340 AFL games in his 16th season.
If not for a couple of sliding door moments, Adelaide would not have been the lucky club where McLeod made his name. His father brought him to Adelaide in 1994 and he battled homesickness (and the cold) while playing for Port Adelaide in the SANFL. He ended the season, however, as an SANFL premiership player with the Magpies. Then, when Fremantle had access to McLeod for its inaugural squad at the end of 1994, it chose to instead trade the 18-year-old to the Crows.
In his second AFL game for Adelaide the next year, McLeod gave a glimpse of the influential moments he would become famous for, kicking the match-winning goal against Hawthorn with a clever snap in the wet from deep in the forward pocket.
For many, his 1997 Grand Final performance was an introduction to his talents. But it had been the last game in a break-out season in which he won his first Crows Club Champion award playing mainly as a small forward or across half back. His second Norm Smith Medal was won the week after he kicked seven goals in the Preliminary Final, and after he had been named an All Australian for the first of five times.
McLeod’s list of achievements continued to grow, despite a chronic knee problem. Ten years after becoming Adelaide’s youngest Club Champion at 21, McLeod became its oldest winner with his third award. As a measure of his remarkable consistency, he finished runner-up or third in the best and fairest another six times.
And he’s still contributing in 2015, managing the Club’s Indigenous programs and also helping design Adelaide’s Indigenous Round guernseys.
Adelaide Football Club service
340 games and 275 goals 1995-2010
Member of the 1997 and 1998 Premiership teams
Member of the 2003 Pre-season premiership team
Two time Norm Smith Medal winner 1997, 1998 (only one of three players to achieve this honour)
Michael Tuck Medal winner 2003
Three-time Club Champion (1997, 2001, 2007)
All Australian 1998, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007 (Captain)
Runner-up in the Brownlow Medal 2001
AFL Player’s Association Most Valuable Player award 2001
Member of the Indigenous Team of the Century
Jim Stynes medal winner 2005
Life Member of Adelaide 2003
Games record holder for Adelaide
