Adelaide Crows fans will be hoping for a better 2025 season after missing out on the finals again this year, but the club is not off to a good start after its new logo was leaked – and immediately came under fire.
The Crows have not reached the AFL final since the 2017 grand final, where the club lost to a Richmond team led by Dustin Martin in his heyday.
That’s why Adelaide is looking for a new approach ahead of its 35th season, with a complete rebrand and a move to a new base at Thebarton Oval at the end of 2026.
The club has used a blue crow head since 2011, but has decided to go back in time with a new design based on the design used between 1991 and 2009.
However, the image of a swooping crow with club colors emerging from its wings and tail feathers has been given modern tweaks, with sharp, angled lines and colors on the wings themselves.
While the leaked image is obviously a work in progress, it has still attracted a lot of attention on social media, most of it negative.
A leaked image of what Adelaide’s new logo could look like as part of the club’s rebranding
Adelaide fans are hoping a rebrand will change the club’s fortunes after missing the AFL finals since 2017.
That included Port Adelaide premiership winner Kane Cornes, who spent many years caught up in the rivalry with the Crows.
‘New logo for the Cuervos? I hope not,” he published.
Cornes also disagreed with his father regarding his opinion of the new logo.
Graham Cornes played 369 SANFL games and was Adelaide coach from 1991 to 1994.
‘You are the best judge of these things. Thoughts?’ Kane then asked his father on social media platform X.
‘Disappointing… there is no sense of power or intimidation. On the contrary, it’s not adorable either,” Graham responded.
Former Adelaide coach Graham Cornes, pictured with his sons Chad and Kane as children, is not a fan of the new concept art.
There were many football fans who agreed with the Cornes family, lining up to criticize the leaked concept art.
“I’d rather see Raygun open the batting for the Australian cricket team this summer than the Crows choosing this logo,” raged one fan.
“If that’s all, the Ravens have paid more to a design company when they could have asked someone random to design it in MS Paint,” another added.
Another fan asked: “Was this made on a Commodore 64 in 1982?”
While another tagged the club itself for confirmation, asking: ‘@Adelaide_FC please confirm that this hideous monstrosity will not replace our current hideous monstrosity of a logo.’
The concept art aims to add a futuristic touch to the original logo used by the Crows.
The original Adelaide Crows logo which the club used in the 1990s and 2000s.
However, the concept was not without its followers: one fan said that social media users would have criticized the logo regardless of its appearance.
“It might be the best emblem in the world, but being Adelaide’s, there would still be a problem with it,” they said.
‘Much better than their current horrible logo… Bit of a throwback. I don’t care, but boy is he getting a lot of criticism!’ another published.
“It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but it clearly mimics the previous design, so why not go back to the previous design?” asked another.
The logo won’t be the only change for the Crows next season with a roster overhaul underway.
Meanwhile, Greater Western Sydney’s Isaac Cumming will join Adelaide, with Port Adelaide admitting defeat in the utility race.
Cumming, an unrestricted free agent, had told GWS he wanted a trade with South Australia.
After a bidding war between Adelaide and the Power, Cumming on Thursday nominated the Crows as his destination.
Cumming’s decision came as Port director of football Chris Davies said his club was not “at the front of the queue” to secure Harry Perryman from the Giants, who is also being courted by Collingwood.
The Power will work with Gold Coast to complete a deal for Jack Lukosius, who has been told by the Suns to explore his trade options.