Adelaide chairman John Olsen has met with Andrew McLeod after the dual-premiership hero’s official split from the club

Andrew McLeod has spoken out after his official relationship with the Crows ended but could a meeting with John Olsen be the first step in the club mending ties?

Adelaide legend Andrew McLeod has met with new Crows chairman John Olsen in what the two-time Norm Smith Medallist described as a “good conversation”.

After The Advertiser published an article looking at the split between the Crows and arguably their greatest ever player McLeod, who did not answer or respond to multiple calls and texts last week, the two-time Norm Smith Medallist told Solstice Media he believed the club had lost its “own beliefs”.

“I am not about throwing people under a bus. But I will speak up about how there has been a change in focus (at the club),” McLeod said.

“It has become a corporate focus rather than a community focus.

“We have lost our own beliefs during this change in focus.

“We have lost our culture of family and community… and that is a sad thing.”

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New Crows chairman John Olsen has met with Andrew McLeod Picture: Brenton Edwards

But McLeod earlier this week met with Olsen, after previous chairman Rob Chapman’s attempts to reach out to him.

“I’ve also had a good conversation with John Olsen,” he said.

It comes after a year of tension between McLeod and the Crows.

McLeod was told by the Crows, who were contacted for comment, earlier this year they would no longer fund his McLeod Centre for Excellence – which ran four programs assisting Indigenous kids – because of COVID-19’s impact on their finances.

Federal Government funding to the tune of $300,000 ran out at the end of 2018, with the Crows then funding the Centre for a year.

McLeod then in June was critical of the culture at the Crows, saying he didn’t feel welcome at West Lakes.

The response from key Crows figures, in particular board member Rod Jameson’s comment that he was a “temperamental soul”, led to McLeod further having a crack at those involved at his former club.

Andrew McLeod after his recordbreaking 313th game for the Crows.

“I’ve never called out anyone personally, I just implored them to heed the advice of their own internal review to learn and improve,” he said on his Bunji and Brettster podcast.

“But in return, I received comments from club officials about my personality and my actions.

“For me, this is the exact problem with the club – the lack of genuine willingness to listen, self-reflect and improve.”

The Crows then disclosed last month that McLeod would not return in his role as an assistant to their AFLW side, because of “commitments”.

McLeod has a new business partner as he enters a different field professionally in 2021.

McLeod was a much-loved and highly regarded coach for three seasons (2018-20) at the Crows women’s team.

He joined the AFLW team for their 2018 season, working with the midfield group, where he became known for coming out with little pearls of wisdom that helped shape the midfielders – including All-Australians Erin Phillips and Ebony Marinoff – into the 2019 premiership powerhouse that it was.

Even after his departure, The Advertiser understands that players are still regularly catching up with him.

McLeod in his role as assistant coach for the Crows AFLW side. Picture: Sarah Reed

The two have been at odds before, McLeod was critical of Crows hierarchy for a perceived lack of support during his falling-out with long-term teammate Tyson Edwards.

The pair didn’t speak to each other off-field for years from 2005/2006 in a feud which embroiled their wives and tennis star Lleyton Hewitt, a Crows fan.

But they were able to put these differences aside and create what a 2018 article on the Crows website called a “proud partnership” between the club and the McLeod Centre of Excellence.

At his induction into the Adelaide Hall of Fame in 2015, McLeod gave an emotional speech in which he said “the Adelaide Football Club to me is family”.

This followed on from McLeod a year earlier at the AFL Hall of Fame saying “I’ll forever be indebted to the Adelaide Football Club”.

However after McLeod’s June comments about the culture at West Lakes as a past player, and the reaction from former Crows teammates and other key club figures it is unclear whether this difference between the two parties can heal in the same way.

Originally published as Adelaide chairman John Olsen has met with Andrew McLeod after the dual-premiership hero’s official split from the club