Editing Adelaide Football Club (section)

===2000s: Finals and near misses===
The Crows next made the finals in [[2001 AFL season]], though they lost their opening three matches for the season. Adelaide played fifth-placed {{AFL Car}} at the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground|MCG]] in the First Elimination Final and were roundly defeated, 17.16 (118) to 6.14 (50). High-profile forward [[Darren Jarman]] announced his retirement after the match. Adelaide's impressive [[2002 AFL season]] (in which they achieved a 15–7 win–loss record) came undone at the penultimate stage, losing to Collingwood in the Preliminary Final at the MCG. [[Ben Hart (Australian footballer)|Ben Hart]] won his second Malcolm Blight Medal in 2002, with [[Tyson Edwards]] finishing runner-up. [[Brett Burton]] led the Crows' goalkickers with 51. Hart and [[Mark Ricciuto]] were both named as All-Australians. Adelaide then exacted some revenge by defeating Collingwood in the [[2003 Wizard Home Loans Cup|pre-season competition]] in [[2003 AFL season|2003]], the club's first win in that competition. The Crows' impressive 2003 season was eventually halted by the {{AFL BL}} at [[the Gabba]] in the semi-finals. That season, Adelaide captain [[Mark Ricciuto]] became the first and (as of 2024) only Crow to win the [[Brownlow Medal]] for the best and fairest player in the AFL in a three-way tie with [[Adam Goodes]] and [[Nathan Buckley]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.droppunt.com/brownlow2003.htm |title=Brownlow Medal 2003 - 2003 Brownlow won by Nathan Buckley, Adam Goodes and Mark Ricciuto |publisher=Droppunt.com |access-date=18 August 2012 |archive-date=22 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722092339/http://www.droppunt.com/brownlow2003.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Crows returned to finals in [[2005 AFL season|2005]] and recorded a famous win in what remains the only [[Showdown (AFL)|Showdown]] match against rivals {{AFL PA}} in the semi-finals. They then lost once more at the penultimate stage (preliminary final), to the [[West Coast Eagles]] at [[Subiaco Oval]] by 16 points. This was repeated in [[2006 AFL season|2006]] when they again lost to West Coast in the preliminary final, this time at home and by an even smaller margin of 10 points.

Adelaide would qualify for finals for each of the remaining seasons in the 2000s, falling short at the elimination or semi-final on each occasion. [[Collingwood FC|Collingwood]] proved to be the biggest hurdle, knocking the Crows out of the finals race successively in [[2008 AFL season|2008]] and [[2009 AFL season|2009]]. [[Andrew McLeod]] and [[Bernie Vince]] won the club's best and fairest awards in that time.

'''Adelaide's [[AFL finals series|finals]] runs in the 2000s'''

{| class=wikitable
|-
!Year
!Lost in
!Opponent
!Margin of defeat
|-
|[[2001 AFL season|2001]]
| Elimination Final
| {{AFL Car}}
| 68 points
|-
|[[2002 AFL season|2002]]
| Preliminary Final
| {{AFL Col}}
| 28 points
|-
|[[2003 AFL season|2003]]
| Semi Final
| {{AFL BL}}
| 42 points
|-
|[[2005 AFL season|2005]]
| Preliminary Final
| {{AFL|WC}}
| 16 points
|-
|[[2006 AFL season|2006]]
| Preliminary Final
| {{AFL|WC}}
| 10 points
|-
|[[2007 AFL season|2007]]
| Elimination Final
| {{AFL Haw}}
| 3 points
|-
|[[2008 AFL season|2008]]
| Elimination Final
| {{AFL Col}}
| 31 points
|-
|[[2009 AFL season|2009]]
| Semi Final
| {{AFL Col}}
| 5 points
|}