The Club’s Chairman spoke on Monday
Adelaide Chairman John Olsen says the Club will use its finals disappointment to keep refining its list, with targeted recruiting a key focus.
The Crows ended the minor round top-of-the-table with an 18-5 win/loss record, before hosting two home finals against Collingwood and Hawthorn, respectively.
But a loss to the Hawks in their semi-final on Friday night put an end to Adelaide’s campaign.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Olsen said the finals exit proved there was still work to be done.
“It’s been a good journey, but we are not satisfied, we’ve got a way to go and we will build on this year,” Olsen said.
“We will learn lessons from the finals series, we will look at recruiting and we will look at our squad and continue the improvement that we’ve seen and put in place in recent years.
“I think we’ve demonstrated in recent years a fairly determined, focused aspect of recruitment and list management, and we’ll continue what we’ve been doing in recent years.
“There’s a number of positions that you could look at and say you’d want to supplement them…What we will be doing is wanting to continue to improve our list.”
This year marked the first time the Crows had taken part in the finals since 2017, and Olsen said the Club, Members and supporters should be proud of that achievement.
“Don’t forget that our list has done a good journey this year, if we had said at the start of the year that we would end minor premiers, I bet everyone would bank that at the start of the season,” Olsen said.
“My point is the journey has been good this year, we’ve been on a trajectory upwards and as a result of that, it’s demonstrated in the finals that we’ve got more work to do and we’ll set out about that in the season next.
“We’ll now focus on the 2026 season, we’ll look at our list, we’ll look at supplementing our list as best as we can in an aggressive way, as we have done in recent years.”
Olsen also touched on the sad passing of Max Basheer AM, one of South Australian football’s greatest servants.
“Max Basheer was a giant of sports administration, particularly football,” Olsen said.
“It was Max Basheer’s determination, resilience and commitment that actually saw the formation of the Adelaide Football Club.
“(He was) a man of integrity, a man of absolute commitment, and someone with whom football in South Australia owes a great deal of gratitude and thanks for how he positioned football and its growth in South Australia.”