The Adelaide Football Club congratulates its inaugural coach Graham Cornes on his induction to the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Cornes, who coached Adelaide for the Club’s first four seasons in the AFL, last night became the 33rd South Australian to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Adelaide CEO Steven Trigg said: “On behalf of the Crows community, we congratulate Graham on the well-deserved recognition of his outstanding contribution to the game, in South Australia and nationally, over more than four decades.

“His time with the Adelaide Football Club is only a part of his impressive list of football achievements but we are certainly proud that he will also be remembered as the first coach of the Adelaide Football Club.

“Graham’s performance in this role was critical to the ongoing success of the football Club. He provided a great foundation of success against the odds, paving the way for the Club to win AFL premierships in only its seventh and eighth years in the competition.”

Cornes was appointed as the coach of the new Adelaide Football Club late in 1990 and led the Crows until the end of the 1994 season. In this time the team won 43 of 89 games, won its first final (against Hawthorn) and went as far as the preliminary final in 1993.

Cornes had coached South Adelaide (1983-84) and Glenelg (1985-90) in the SANFL but also had great success as coach of South Australia’s State-of-Origin team.

Three Crows players are in the Australian Football Hall of Fame - Mark Bickley, Darren Jarman and Mark Ricciuto. Malcolm Blight, who coached the Crows to the 1997-98 premierships, is also among the SA inductees.