Adelaide Football Club Yearbook 2024 by Adelaide Football Club

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO COUNTRY

The Adelaide Football Club deeply acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters across Australia. We honour their continued connections to these sacred places and the wisdom embedded in their cultures. We pay tribute to their elders, those that were, are and will be, and recognise their strength, resilience, and the rich diversity they bring to our shared story.

CHAIRMAN HON JOHN OLSEN AO

Every football season brings its inevitable highs and lows and this year was no different. It’s the manner in which you handle the challenges that often matters most, and our people stuck together in the face of intense scrutiny.

We’re all in this together, from the Board of Directors down and we are single-minded on getting better. Your support was once again steadfast and we acknowledge your patience, like ours, was probably tested at times. To achieve record membership for the second-year running is an incredible achievement and our total of 75,477 was complemented by an average home game attendance in excess of 40,000.

Helping to underpin the record was an increase in AFLW membership which surpassed 7500 for the first time. Our women’s team continued with its remarkable consistency by reaching a third-straight preliminary final. While we fell short of a premiership, we have now made finals in seven of the competition’s nine seasons which means we are doing a lot right!

First year Co-Captains Sarah Allan and Ebony Marinoff deserve special recognition for their seamless transition to the role, while Marinoff’s season was simply outstanding and duly recognised with the AFLW Best and Fairest, the AFL Coaches Association AFLW Champion Player of the Year, the AFLW Players’ MVP, Best Captain and a seventh All-Australian selection. She also topped it off by being crowned Club Champion.

CEO TIM SILVERS

The disappointment of our men’s season continues to burn but it is also driving our players and coaches, who are now well and truly into their 2025 preparations. Having identified a need to strengthen our squad, we were able to bring in five quality players via the trade period and national draft. Firstly, James Peatling and Isaac Cumming from GWS and Alex Neal-Bullen from Melbourne, then two young and talented South Australians in Sid Draper and Tyler Welsh.

We have also bolstered our coaching department with Murray Davis joining us as Coaching Director. Murray brings 13 years’ experience at the Brisbane Lions, culminating with this year’s premiership, and he is already proving to be an invaluable resource and support for Matthew Nicks, the assistant coaches and players.

While Rory Sloane’s 16-season playing career has come to an end, he will always be an important part of the Club. A former captain, club champion and All Australian, his contribution as a one-club player has been immense. Likewise, Deni Varnhagen also retires and leaves the game as an AFLW foundation player with two premierships. We congratulate and wish them both well!

This year, we also unveiled our new logo, as part of a Club-wide rebrand. It gives us a fresh look as we head towards an exciting era at our new Thebarton headquarters, which will be a world-class training, administration and community

facility. In recent months, we have made significant progress with this $100m project and site preparation is already underway. Construction works will begin in earnest in January. Our new home has been a long time coming but it’ll be worth the wait!

We would once again like to sincerely thank you for the passion and loyalty you have shown. Bring on 2025! Go Crows!

Hon John Olsen AO

Tim Silvers

AFL SENIOR COACH

MATTHEW NICKS

To our Members and supporters, thanks for your commitment, whether it’s a smile or a kind word in the street, or the fact that you continue to turn up to Adelaide Oval in your masses week after week. Your belief in what we are building doesn’t go unnoticed and nor is it taken for granted.

WATCH: KEY EXTRACTS FROM MATTHEW NICKS CLUB CHAMPION SPEECH.

SANFL SENIOR COACH

MICK GODDEN

The most important (thank you is to) the players, thank you every year, but I love coaching you, and it’s not lost on me the privilege that I have.

KEY EXTRACTS FROM

WATCH:

MICK GODDEN'S CLUB CHAMPION SPEECH.

AFLW SENIOR COACH

MATTHEW CLARKE

We have to confront the imposter of loss and defeat and not let it define us. We have to be able to maintain our intensity and our desperation and our desire and our drive, in-spite of it.

WATCH: KEY EXTRACTS FROM MATTHEW CLARKE'S CLUB CHAMPION SPEECH.

2024 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MALCOLM BLIGHT WINNER, THE SANFL CLUB CHAMPION

WATCH: MARINOFF'S SPEECH

VISIT: AFC WEBSITE

WATCH: DAWSON & KEAYS' SPEECH

WATCH: STRACHAN'S SPEECH

CROWS SUPPORTER GROUPS

The Adelaide Football Club is proud to have the support of fans around Australia, including those who are Members of our supporter groups.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON OUR SUPPORTER GROUPS, CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW

VISIT: SUPPORTER GROUPS

CROWS COMMUNITY

KUWA CIRCLES

VISIT: ACF WEBSITE

OPEN PARACHUTE PROGRAM

VISIT: ACF WEBSITE

CROWS ON COUNTRY STEMFOOTY

VISIT: ACF WEBSITE

RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN

Adelaide has strengthened its commitment to reconciliation and First Nations people by embarking on a new three-year Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

Having completed two ‘Innovate’ RAP’s since 2017, the Club’s new ‘Stretch’ RAP is the second highest RAP recognised by Reconciliation Australia, and is based on delivering measurable outcomes for internal and external First Nations stakeholders. It also reflects an ongoing commitment towards understanding and celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

Deliverables in the Stretch RAP fall within four key pillars of governance, opportunity, relationships and respect – and aim to drive meaningful change both within the Club and the wider community.

These include increasing Aboriginal employment and procurement opportunities across all levels of the Club, with the target of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders making up five per cent of the workforce, and increasing spending with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owned businesses by five per cent each year of the RAP.

From a football perspective, the Club is looking to expand talent and pathway opportunities by establishing a female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander NGA Academy, while off the field the Club aims to have 100 percent of players and staff complete the Club’s newly developed cultural learning continuum which covers cultural awareness and immersion opportunities with an aim to build cultural competence across the organisation.