McLeod doesn't feel welcome at Crows
By Sam McClure
Adelaide games record-holder Andrew McLeod says he doesn't feel comfortable at his former club.
The two-time Norm Smith medallist and 340-gamer at the Crows has voiced his unrest in a podcast, where he claimed several of his old teammates feel the same way. McLeod is one of the most decorated players in the club's history – along with the likes of club football director Mark Ricciuto – winning two flags and three best and fairests.
But the club legend, who has done some work for the Crows since retiring, said he no longer feels welcome.
"If you asked me if I felt comfortable walking back into the football club, I'd say no," McLeod said on the Bunji and Brettster podcast.
"I've had this conversation with a lot of my old teammates. You see lots of guys go back to their footy clubs and feel welcome.
"For me the Crows – it doesn't really have that vibe, it doesn't have that vibe where it feels like you're really welcome there.
"I've done some work there with my programs and whatnot. But it's not a place that you feel like it embraces you as a past player."
Ricciuto responded on social media after seeing the comments.
"It's not the way I feel or Rod Jameson who heads up the Past Players [committee] feel or I doubt other players on the committee like Mark Bickley, Peter Caven, Kym Koster or current player Tom Lynch would feel," Ricciuto wrote on Twitter. "I'm looking forward to hearing why he said it."
Ricciuto, third on the all-time Adelaide games record list behind McLeod and Tyson Edwards, is now the club's football director and continues to be the public face of the club.
McLeod, who retired at the end of the 2010 season, worked with Adelaide's AFLW team in 2018 and previously managed the club's Indigenous programs.
