Adelaide’s inaugural 1991 squad, finalised just a fortnight before the Club’s first game for premiership points, holds an important place in our history.

Recruited from the ten SANFL clubs or enticed home to South Australia from interstate clubs, the 52 players were pulled together over the summer of 1990-91 as the Adelaide Football Club prepared for its entry to the national competition.

This is the fourth of a series to recognise the players’ role in the first year of the Adelaide Football Club.

Bruce Lindsay
Guernsey number: 32.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 6. AFC goals: 0.
Recruited from: West Torrens.
DOB: July 22, 1961.
Original squad selection 1991.

Lindsay was first pursued by VFL clubs in the late 1970s, having made his SANFL debut for West Torrens aged 16 and his State debut against Victoria less than a year later. He signed with Collingwood but a serious knee injury at the end of 1980 kept him out of the game for two years. Lindsay stayed with Torrens for the rest of the decade, captaining the club and State. Then came the unexpected chance to join the new Crows. He played at half-back in Adelaide’s first game against Hawthorn but made only five more appearances. Hamstring problems ended his career but he later returned to the Crows as a specialist development coach and team runner.

Matthew Liptak
Guernsey number: 27.
Crows debut: Round 9 v North Melbourne, 1991.
AFC games: 116. AFC goals: 128.
Recruited from: Glenelg (SANFL).
DOB: April 30, 1970.
Original squad selection 1991.

After only one year in the SANFL with Glenelg, Liptak was one of the promising young South Australian footballers given the opportunity to join Adelaide’s inaugural squad. But football was not his only priority.
After taking a three-year break from medical studies in the early days of the Crows, Liptak then juggled studies and work with his AFL career on the way to becoming a doctor. After making his AFL debut midway through 1991, Liptak soon became a regular in the line-up as a small forward or rover. Hamstring and thumb injuries held him back in 1995 but the following year was one to remember, as he graduated from his medical degree, played every game to join the 100-game club and won Adelaide’s club champion award. And he achieved all this despite working up to 70 hours a week as a doctor. Despite being regarded as one of the club’s fittest players, the rest of his career was rocked by injuries and his last three seasons he was only able to add 13 AFL games to his tally. Liptak was one of the unlucky Crows who was unavailable for the 1997 finals series and he was also absent for the 1998 campaign. Hamstring and quad strains were the main issues in 1997 before a sore Achilles tendon needed surgery at the end of the season. This held him back from pre-season training and then he fought a frustrating battle with hamstring and thigh injuries in the last two years. He retired, aged 29, and shared his farewell game with team-mate Rod Jameson and coach Malcolm Blight in the last minor round of the 1999 season.

David Marshall
Guernsey number: 16.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 26. AFC goals: 14.
Recruited from: Glenelg (SANFL).
DOB: June 30, 1968.
Original squad selection 1991.

Marshall had already played 13 seasons of senior football when the Crows were formed. And he was 30 years, 265 days old when he made his AFL debut in the club’s first game against Hawthorn - the oldest to have made his debut with the club. However, after years of fine service for Glenelg he adapted to the higher level with ease. Marshall made his SANFL league debut in 1978 and had played 323 games for the Tigers (including premierships in 1985-86) before joining the Crows’ inaugural squad. He won Glenelg’s best-and-fairest in 1990, when he finished joint runner-up for the Magarey Medal. The stylish wingman/centreman played 26 games in two seasons with the Crows and later became a team selector and then a member of the board in 1999 and 2000. He finished his playing career with Glenelg in 1993, when he also captained South Australia’s state league team against Western Australia.

Rodney Maynard
Guernsey number: 18.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 81. AFC goals: 24.
Recruited from: Norwood (SANFL).
DOB: September 21, 1966.
Original squad selection 1991.

‘Rocket’ Maynard was the ever reliable but unfashionable defender. Recruited by Norwood from Lameroo North - where his family had a wheat and sheep property - he played 137 SANFL games for the Redlegs before the arrival of the Crows and topped the club’s goalkicking in 1988. In the AFL he took on some much bigger opponents and was rewarded with the honour of being the Adelaide Football Club’s first winner of the Best Team Man award. Was a regular in the early seasons - he did not miss a game in the first two years - and even played in Adelaide’s first trial game against Essendon on the eve of his wedding. Gave great service for five seasons but in 1993-94 a broken collarbone, shoulder problems and a broken arm cost him games before retiring from the AFL at the end of 1995. However, he continued to play country football for many years and finished his career by winning a premiership with Lameroo in 2008.

Damien McCarthy
Original squad selection 1991
Did not play an AFL game
Recruited from: Woodville (SANFL)
DOB: June 14, 1971.

One of the ten development players.

Chris McDermott
Guernsey number: 10.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 117 AFC goals: 25.
Recruited from: Glenelg (SANFL)
DOB: November 4, 1963
Original squad selection 1991.

Chris McDermott had all the credentials to be the inaugural captain of the Adelaide Football Club. After a decade of success in South Australian football with Glenelg and as State-of-Origin captain, it was the perfect next step in what had been an illustrious career.
The Brighton High School product grew up supporting Woodville but made his SANFL debut with Glenelg in 1981. He played in losing grand finals in his first two seasons but quickly developed a reputation as one of the competition’s toughest and most courageous midfielders. When Glenelg won the 1985 and ’86 premierships he was listed high among the best players; he won three consecutive best-and-fairest award in 1986-87-88 and made the All Australian team in 1986 and ’87. He signed with Fitzroy in 1981, was chased by Carlton and then drafted by the Brisbane Bears but stayed loyal to Glenelg, despite the successful moves to the VFL of close mates, Stephen Kernahan and Tony McGuinness. A natural leader, McDermott became Glenelg’s captain in 1989 - the year after he suffered a serious knee injury in an exhibition game in Canada. Adelaide’s creation at the end of 1990 gave him the opportunity to play at the highest level, making his debut in the club’s first game (against Hawthorn) at the age of 27 and after 274 games for Glenelg and SA. He was able to mix it with the best in the AFL and in 1992 was rewarded with the Club Champion trophy and All Australia selection. He captained the Crows for its first four seasons and then continued to play until Malcolm Blight was secured as coach at the end of the 1996 season. McDermott played 117 games for the Crows. In 1997 he was appointed playing coach of North Adelaide and then non-playing coach from 1998 to 2000.

Tony McGuinness
Guernsey number: 11.
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 113 AFC goals: 79.
Recruited from: Footscray
DOB: May 6, 1964
Original squad selection 1991.

Adelaide needed to entice some former South Australian stars to return to bolster the inaugural squad and it hit the jackpot with rover Tony McGuinness.
Like close mate Chris McDermott, McGuinness made his SANFL league debut as a 17-year-old with Glenelg in 1981. In his second season he won the Magarey Medal and Glenelg’s best-and-fairest. The last of his 112 games for Glenelg in this period was the 1985 grand final in which the Tigers defeated North Adelaide by 57 points. He then moved to VFL club Footscray, where he played 109 V/AFL games in five seasons and won a best-and-fairest in 1987. He also won All Australian selection in 1987, ‘88 and 1990. But the birth of the Adelaide Football Club proved impossible to resist and McGuinness returned to SA at the end of 1990, keen to be involved in the new club from day one. He will be remembered as the first player to kick a goal for the Crows in a premiership game. In his first four seasons with the Crows he three times finished second in the Club Champion voting and won the award in 1993, and was twice chosen as an All Australian (1992-93). After four years as a vice-captain he took over from McDermott as captain in 1995 but his form fell away and after 113 games for the club he was told he was no longer required when Malcolm Blight took over as coach at the end of the 1996 season. McGuinness returned to Glenelg as non-playing coach from 1998 to 2000 and spent time as an assistant coach at AFL level with Port Adelaide.