Rucci: There’s a simple barometer to gauge the success of the Crows and new CEO Andrew Fagan

OPINION: NEW Crows CEO Andrew Fagan hit upon a key point in his first media presentation. The club’s trophy cabinet has not been opened for some time.

Methode Byline Headshots of Advertiser Sunday Mail journalists. Michelangelo Rucci. Picture: Clayton Nick

ANDREW Fagan said all the right things in his first public presentation as the new Adelaide Football Club chief executive.

There were a couple of slip ups later — such as referring to the AFL playing field as a “pitch” — but then old habits from a near lifetime in rugby will be hard to get out of the system.

At a time when the Crows supporter base in noticeably frustrated, Fagan has hit on the key point that haunted Steven Trigg at the end of his tenure at West Lakes.

Membership numbers, Facebook friends, crowd figures and sponsorship dollars are vital, but football only remembers premierships. Adelaide has not won a flag — nor made an AFL grand final — since 1998.

The silver lock on the trophy cabinet at West Lakes may need WD40 to open.

Fagan left Australian Rugby Union — after just seven months at headquarters — saying he preferred to be involved in club football.

Moving to the highly scrutinised Adelaide Football Club will have every decision linked to Fagan far more heavily analysed than anything he faced with rugby’s Brumbies in Canberra.

So it was inevitable — quite predictable — that Fagan would measure the Adelaide board of directors while they were interviewing him. He was not alone.

As one highly touted candidate kept asking: “Is there something under the carpet I need to know about?”

Fagan’s line of questioning would have been fascinating. So would have the reactions — and responses — of the Crows’ directors.

It is memorable of the spring of 2011 when Adelaide searched for its coach. Scott Burns’ view did not resonate with the Crows selection panel — and time has proven him right.

Brenton Sanderson had a more upbeat assessment of the Crows’ player list — and the results have not backed this up.

Fagan returns to Adelaide — where he was born and left at age three to be raised in Sydney — with the Crows on the eve of their 25th anniversary season in the AFL.

He arrives when club champion Daniel Talia has made a strong public statement that the Crows have to do more, talk less — substance has to override style.

“We’ve just got make sure we make some good decisions,” says Fagan.

“I’ve followed the footy club as an Adelaide-born guy and I’ve enjoyed the success that they’ve had. But I’ve also been disappointed with not continuing that in the way we would’ve liked in recent times.”

Fagan is not in small company with that feeling. He now sits in one of the most powerful seats at the Adelaide Football Club to bring change.

He has — like Sanderson — linked the measure of his success on how the Crows perform on the field.

This is probably a good thing. Otherwise, Adelaide will become SA’s version of Collingwood — big and imposing off the field but overtaken in the record that counts most to the fans: Wins, finals and premierships.

Having asked the right questions to get the job at West Lakes, the supporter base now awaits his answers — and changes — to keep it.

Originally published as Rucci: There’s a simple barometer to gauge the success of the Crows and new CEO Andrew Fagan