Editing Adelaide Football Club (section)

====Premiership glory in 1997 and 1998====
The year 1997 marked the entry of a second South Australian club, {{AFL PA}}. The Crows finished fourth to qualify for its first finals series since 1993, and hosted fifth-placed {{AFL WC}} in the First Elimination Final. In the first final ever to be played at [[Football Park]], the Crows won 14.15 (99) to 9.12 (66). The next week, Adelaide benefited from the [[McIntyre final eight system|finals system]] in use at the time and hosted the higher ranked {{AFL Gee}}, who had finished two places above the Crows but were forced to play away due to losing the previous week to {{AFL NM}}. The Crows won narrowly in a controversial match, where a clear forward 50 mark to Geelong's [[Leigh Colbert]] during a critical stage of the third quarter was not awarded by field umpire Grant Vernon, with the game concluding with the final scores as Adelaide 11.10 (76) to Geelong's 9.14 (68).<ref name=crowsvsgeelong1997>{{cite web|title=From the Archives, 1997: Persistent Crows down gallant Cats|date=17 March 2021 |access-date=10 January 2024|url=https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/from-the-archives-1997-persistent-crows-down-gallant-cats-20210317-p57bjj.html|publisher=The Age|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110031631/https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/from-the-archives-1997-persistent-crows-down-gallant-cats-20210317-p57bjj.html|archive-date=10 January 2024|url-status=live}}</ref> This set up an away Preliminary Final against the {{AFL WB}} at the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground|MCG]]. Despite losing [[Coleman Medal]]list [[Tony Modra]], who had kicked 84 goals for the season, to an [[anterior cruciate ligament injury|ACL injury]] in the first quarter and trailing by 31 points at half time, the Crows kicked four unanswered goals in the last quarter to record a two-point victory, 12.21 (93) to 13.13 (91). [[Darren Jarman]] kicked a goal to put Adelaide in front with less than two minutes remaining, this qualified the Crows for their first AFL Grand Final, to be played against {{AFL StK}} at the MCG a week later.<ref name=crowsvsbulldogs1997>{{cite web|title=From the Archives, 1997: Dogs stumble as Crows soar into the decider|date=30 July 2021 |url=https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/from-the-archives-1997-dogs-stumble-as-crows-soar-into-the-decider-20210730-p58eeq.html|access-date=10 January 2024|publisher=The Age|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714051718/https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/from-the-archives-1997-dogs-stumble-as-crows-soar-into-the-decider-20210730-p58eeq.html|archive-date=14 July 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>

St Kilda, chasing just their second premiership in VFL/AFL history, were warm favourites to win the [[1997 AFL Grand Final|Grand Final]], having come first in the minor round and won both of their finals by margins of 46 and 31 points, against an Adelaide side without Tony Modra, [[Mark Ricciuto]] and goalsneak [[Peter Vardy (footballer)|Peter Vardy]] due to injury. However, the Crows again overcame a half-time deficit, kicking 14 second-half goals to win by 31 points, 19.11 (125) to 13.16 (94). [[Darren Jarman]] kicked six goals, five of which came in the last quarter, whilst utility [[Shane Ellen]] kicked a career-best five and [[Troy Bond]] kicked four. [[Andrew McLeod]], who gathered 31 possessions across half-back and in the midfield, won the [[Norm Smith Medal]] for the best player on-field in the Grand Final. The win is arguably one of the finest moments in South Australian sporting history.

Few expected the Crows to successfully defend their premiership the following year. Adelaide often struggled in close matches during the [[1998 AFL season]]; seven of their nine losses were by 13 points or less, compared to only three wins by corresponding margins (they finished the regular season fifth on the ladder, with a record of 13–9). The Crows were well beaten by [[Melbourne Demons|Melbourne]] in the qualifying final at the [[MCG]] by 48 points, and at the time, looked far from a premiership threat. Since season 2000, a loss in the finals by a team outside the top four would result in instant elimination, but the Crows benefited from a quirk in the McIntyre finals system that was in use during the 90's and still progressed to the second week, drawn to play a semi final against the [[Sydney Swans]] at the [[Sydney Cricket Ground|SCG]]. The Crows bounced back from their disappointing first finals loss and recorded a comprehensive upset 27-point win against the Swans in the wet, which set up a Preliminary Final rematch against the Western Bulldogs. Despite going into the match as underdogs, the Crows played some of their best football of the year to soundly beat the Dogs by 68 points - 24.17 (161) to 13.15 (93). It was a complete contrast to the thriller that took place the previous year, with [[Matthew Robran]] kicking six goals and [[Andrew McLeod]], opposed to renowned tagger [[Tony Liberatore]], booting seven.

Like the previous year, Adelaide went into the [[1998 AFL Grand Final|Grand Final]] as underdogs, playing against {{AFL NM}}, who had won the premiership in 1996 and had won eleven consecutive matches leading up to the Grand Final. North Melbourne led by 24 points at half-time, 6.15 (51) to 4.3 (27), with only their inaccurate goalkicking keeping Adelaide in the contest. However, as they had in the previous year, Adelaide dominated the second half to win by 35 points, 15.15 (105) to 8.22 (70) - the result making Adelaide the only club during the decade of the 1990s to achieve the feat of winning back to back AFL premierships. [[Darren Jarman]] kicked five goals, while [[Andrew McLeod]] won his second successive Norm Smith Medal, an unprecedented feat. Club legend [[Mark Ricciuto]] won the Crows' Club Champion award in 1998. Following a disappointing year in [[1999 AFL season|1999]], premiership coach [[Malcolm Blight]] resigned from the role and the Crows entered the new [[millennium]] with two premierships under their belt.