Club great Andrew McLeod puts his imprint on Crows’ women’s indigenous guernsey

CROWS great Andrew McLeod has designed a striking indigenous guernsey aimed at celebrating the club’s first women’s team and its partnership with the Northern Territory.

Crows legend Andrew McLeod with co-captains Chelsea Randall and Erin Phillips as he unveils the indigenous jumper he designed for the new Adelaide women’s team. Picture: Sarah Reed

CROWS great Andrew McLeod has designed a striking indigenous guernsey aimed at celebrating the club’s first women’s team and its partnership with the Northern Territory.

The predominantly white “away’’ jumper will be worn in Adelaide’s interstate clashes against the Western Bulldogs at Whitten Oval (Round 2), Fremantle at Fremantle Oval (Round 4) and Melbourne at Darwin’s TIO Stadium (Round 6).

The clash with the Demons is a Crows “home’’ game but will celebrate the club’s unique partnership with the Northern Territory.

Of the inaugural squad’s 27 players, nine are based in Darwin.

Adelaide will don its distinctive tricolour red, blue and gold hooped strip in its other four minor round matches, including Saturday’s historic season opener against GWS at Thebarton Oval.

Andrew McLeod with the jumper he designed inspired by the women in his life.

The Crows are the only club in the inaugural AFL women’s competition to have an indigenous guernsey and they turned to their club record 340-game superstar and dual Norm Smith Medallist McLeod to put his imprint on it.

McLeod designed the first indigenous guernsey worn by Adelaide’s men’s team in 2014.

“When I was asked to design the jumper for the women’s foundation season I thought about the role women have played in my life, other footballers’ lives, the indigenous community and the fact that these women are forging a new path for future generations of young girls who will dream of following in their footsteps,’’ he said.

McLeod explained that the focus of the design is the sun mother — splashed across the front of the jumper — which is a “creator of life, nurturer and educator’’.

“She gives us strength and courage, comforts and keeps us warm and guides us,’’ McLeod said.

“The three claws of the crow wrapped around the sides of the guernsey represent a mother’s hug.

“The design inside the blue claw is island matting, symbolising a meeting place, a location where we can come together and feel safe.

“Inside the red claw represents the two moieties (meaning half) of Yolngu culture, Dhuwa and Yirritja.

“Everything (people, land, plants, animals, wind) is connected and comes together through these two holistic world views and have for tens of thousands of years.

“The yellow claw design is a dilly bag (made from pandanus leaves) intertwined like family. Dilly bags are used to transport food or other important tools to be used for hunting and gathering.’’

The crocodile and barramundi — synonymous with the Northern Territory — also feature strongly in McLeod’s design.

“The female crocodile (on the jumper) is moving forward, creating a path for others to follow and representing the AFLW taking shape,’’ McLeod said.

“Female crocodiles can lay up to 50 eggs at a time and can be very aggressive and very protective of their families, particularly at nesting time.

“Saltwater barramundi are born males but when they mature they transform into females, being the giver of life.

“They are also a beautiful fish with their iridescent skin, making them attractive to all.’’

The jumpers are available at the club for $89.95.

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