Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to mark, perhaps belatedly, the retirement of one of Australia’s most remarkable AFL footballers—the Adelaide Crows player Andrew McLeod. Andrew McLeod announced his retirement on 23 August this year, brought to his decision by his right knee, which clearly did not share his determination and undying passion for Australian Rules football—our one true game, the only game which was created on this ancient and fragile continent of ours. Andrew McLeod’s last game was on 16 July 2010 in a match against Geelong which, I am delighted to say, Adelaide won by 11 points.

This adjournment speech is belated in large part due to the distracting political events which occupied our attention in the latter part of this year. I am glad, however, that I am able to mark Andrew McLeod’s career before parliament rises for the summer break.

Andrew McLeod was born in Darwin in the Northern Territory. His mother is Indigenous and his father is of Scottish descent. His football career kicked off in the Northern Territory where he played both rugby league and Australian Rules as a junior. Andrew went on to play senior football with the Darwin Football Club, a club for which his father, Jock, had played over 200 games—as you would know, Madame Acting Deputy President Crossin, coming from the Northern Territory yourself.

In 1994 Andrew McLeod moved to Adelaide from Darwin to play with the Port Adelaide Magpies in the SANFL. Here, he quickly made his mark as a forward capable of great speed and accuracy. In this, his debut year with the Magpies, Andrew McLeod earned for himself a premiership medallion when Port beat Woodville-West Torrens by 37 points in that year’s grand final. It was an auspicious start to an auspicious career.

In the 1994 off-season period McLeod was recruited by the then fledgling Fremantle Football Club as part of their inaugural squad. Andrew McLeod is quoted as saying, ‘I walked into this dingy temporary office to meet the Fremantle coach. The first thing he said to me was that if I played for Fremantle I’d be doing a lot of swimming. He said he disliked my earring and that he’d been told that I would be taken high in the draft, but he’d never actually seen me play footy. That part was pretty insulting. I turned my back on him and said to my old man that I didn’t want to play for Neesham.’ And he did not. As a devoted Crows fan, I am delighted to record here that Fremantle agreed to swap McLeod to the Adelaide Crows.

I don’t propose to litanise Andrew McLeod’s achievements here tonight. Australian Rules fans, regardless of club loyalties, know of his achievements and celebrate them. Australians who are not, perhaps, fortunate enough to have been brought up in the tradition of Australian Rules are invited to read of Andrew’s achievements themselves. Suffice to say, Andrew McLeod was instrumental in two Crows premierships, won two Norm Smith medals and was named in the All-Australian team five times—once as captain. He was named captain of the Dream Team in 2008 and is one of the select list of AFL players to have played more than 300 games. In fact, Andrew McLeod played 340 games for the Crows. In this he is, currently, the club’s record holder.

In the context of all these achievements, it is extraordinary that Andrew did not win a Brownlow Medal, the game’s highest honour. He got closest in 2001—and there was much debate about the count. That Andrew McLeod did not receive any umpires’ votes for his 37 disposals against Fremantle in the final round left South Australians staggered believing that particular decision to be one of the worst Brownlow decisions ever made. The 2001 Brownlow medallist, Brisbane Lion Jason Akermanis, is said to have stated, ‘I stole that Brownlow from Andrew McLeod.’ Despite being justifiably stunned at the decision, Andrew McLeod remained gracious and sportsmanlike. Indeed, it is of note that in a very illustrious and robust career of 340 games, Andrew McLeod was reported only once—in 2002—for a late charge against an Essendon player.

Andrew McLeod could play footy in a dinner suit. His was an effortless, easy style and he delivered his kicks and his handballs with a surgical precision that was nothing short of astounding. I see you nodding there, Madam Acting Deputy President. Everything about Andrew McLeod said, ‘leader’. He had the tattoos of a warrior, the haircut of a disciplined soldier, the sculpted form of a superhero and an aura that exuded quiet confidence rather than arrogance.

Andrew McLeod proudly identified himself as an Indigenous football player. His athleticism, his sportsmanship, his dedication and his courage in returning to form after two injuries that would have sidelined lesser men all earned him immense respect throughout the AFL. Even today there are thousands of Indigenous kids kicking a footy around in the red dirt of Central Australia who are inspired by Andrew McLeod, believing that, if he did it, they can too. Andrew himself has devoted countless hours, days and weeks to working with these Indigenous kids out in the communities—teaching, mentoring, encouraging and urging.

Our nation continues to inch towards true reconciliation. There have been grand speeches, songs and high-profile symbolic events, and, every day, thousands of ordinary Australians drive us towards a genuine, national reconciliation with their individual actions and words—and may those things continue. But, when thousands of Australians rose as one to roar their admiration for one of Andrew McLeod’s athletic miracles on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon, as a nation we ran rather than crept towards reconciliation.

About two weeks ago, the new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mr Mick Gooda, outlined his agenda for the next five years. He identified as one of his key priorities a referendum to secure the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution. Some days later, Prime Minister Gillard announced that the government would hold this referendum and work towards its success. Political parties across the landscape have pledged support. As Mick Gooda said, this exercise ‘will provide us all with a great opportunity to reframe and reset our relationship as a nation’.

In part, it is our celebration of Andrew McLeod and other Indigenous athletes, men and women, that will help propel us toward reconciliation. I take this opportunity to thank Andrew McLeod for the excitement and inspiration he gave us, for the graciousness and humility he showed and for being a responsible role model to Indigenous kids right around the country. In uniting us all on a Saturday afternoon watching footy, whether he knew it or not, Andrew McLeod showed us how we can move forward to become one united nation—or, as Mick Gooda put it, ‘one mob under the Southern Cross’. I wish Andrew McLeod and his family a happy and prosperous post-football life.