Founded in 1990 as a pooling of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) talent, the Adelaide Crows won the bid to enter the AFL in 1991, taking the spot from now bitter rivals Port Adelaide, who would have to wait until 1997 to join the competition.
Coincidentally, it was in 1997 when the Crows won their first premiership, in an upset win over St. Kilda by 31 points. But the Crows weren’t done there, backing up one year later to win the grand final again, this time against the favourites North Melbourne by 35 points. This double premiership glory is the highlight of the relatively short history of the Adelaide Crows, who are yet to claim their third flag.
Club legend and all-time great midfielder Marc Riccuito had his best season yet in 1997, before an injury cruelly kept him out of the Grand Final success. However, Riccuito was back in 1998, adding a premiership medal to a list of career achievements that went on to include the Brownlow medal in 2003 (with co-recipients Adam Goodes and Nathan Buckley), as well as an eight-times All-Australian.
With Riccuito, and a host of other quality players, the Crows consistently made the finals in the 2000s, without managing to achieve major success. This period inevitably led to a dip in Adelaide’s form in a lean period which lasted from 2010-2014.
However, new head coach Phil Walsh had the club moving in the right direction in 2015, when in the middle of the season he was tragically killed, placing an enormous amount of emotional stress on the players and all involved. Don Pyke was appointed new coach in 2016 and has done an amazing job in continuing Walsh’s turnaround of form, and has the Crows primed as a title-contender for years to come. Runners-up in 2017 to the Tigers by 48 points, Pyke will be using that defeat as extra motivation to spur Adelaide on this year.
