Adelaide legend Andrew McLeod doesn’t believe his former club is one where past players “feel welcomed”.
Speaking on the ‘Bunji & Brettster podcast, the two-time Norm Smith Medallist stated that he doesn’t feel a particularly great vibe back at West Lakes.
“I’m one of those guys that, if you asked me if I felt comfortable walking back into the football club, I’d say no,” McLeod said.
“I don’t walk into the change rooms … it’s one of those things – and I’ve had this conversation with a lot of my old teammates – that it’s not a place you feel (welcomed).
“You see lots of guys go back to their footy clubs and they feel welcomed. For me, the Crows doesn’t really have that vibe. It doesn’t have that vibe where it feels like you’re really welcomed here.
“I’ve done some work there, with my programs and what not. But it’s not a place that you feel like it embraces you as a past player.
“Lots of clubs do it well, we obviously don’t do it as well as we could.”
McLeod has spent time working with Adelaide’s indigenous programs and also as an AFLW assistant coach.
Crows football director and fellow club legend Mark Ricciuto has responded to the criticism.
“It’s not the way I feel or Rod Jameson who heads up the Past Players feel or I doubt other players on the committee like Mark Bickley, Peter Caven, Kym Koster or current player Tom Lynch would feel. I’m looking forward to hearing why he said it,” Ricciuto tweeted.
“We are good mates as you would expect. I was just saying the guys on the committee do look after all the past players very well. They are not insular as you said.”
Adelaide has dealt with significant cultural issues over the last few years, with an independent review of the club last year leading to the departures of Don Pyke, Brett Burton and Scott Camporeale.
Kane Cornes also weighed in on Twitter, saying it is “very sad that the club’s best ever player feels that way”.