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McLeod says he was sullied by Crows

By Steve Larkin 26/07/2010 03:15:28 PM Comments (0)

Adelaide champion Andrew McLeod says his character was sullied by his AFL club's inaction over his feud with teammate Tyson Edwards.

In his biography, McLeod details his infamous conflict with Edwards which threatened to split the Crows' playing group.

Formerly close friends, McLeod and Edwards spent a year not talking to each other from 2005, which the biography says "amazingly went unnoticed by the club for nearly a year".

"That in itself is staggering," author Geoff Kingston wrote in McLeod's authorised biography - Black Crow, The Andrew McLeod Story - to be released on Tuesday.

"It is almost impossible to believe that the club was unaware that two of its champions were not speaking to each other."

The spat followed McLeod's falling out with Australian tennis star and avid Crows fan Lleyton Hewitt.

That dispute was believed to have been triggered by McLeod's wife, Rachael, who remains friends with Hewitt's ex-fiancee Kim Clijsters.

Hewitt released a DVD which prompted McLeod to take legal action over the use of footage of the duo at sacred indigenous sites.

When McLeod launched the action, Edwards' wife, Mandy, signed an affidavit supporting the tennis player.

"I said to Tyson, `Why would you put a friendship that you and I have had for over 10 years in jeopardy and why would Mandy go into court against us and talk about something she knows nothing about?'," McLeod said in the book.

"They (the Edwards') basically chose a four or five month friendship over a 10-year relationship. We just couldn't believe it."

The legal action was settled out of court, with confidentiality clauses preventing any disclosure.

The animosity surfaced in public in June 2006 at a club dinner, and later that year after the Crows' club champion awards.

After the awards, Mandy Edwards threw a drink at Rachael McLeod at an Adelaide hotel.

"Things got really ugly," Mrs McLeod said in the book.

The McLeods refused to comment about the incident, with Andrew expecting the club to respond - but it didn't.

"At the time, Andrew believed that the club's inaction further sullied their characters," the book said.

McLeod and Edwards continued to play together at the Crows, until the latter retired in early June this year.

McLeod is expected to announce his AFL retirement at season's end.

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