We complete our summary of the most read stories on afc.com.au in 2014, covering from July through to December.

July started with the news that Crows defender Ben Rutten was to retire at the end of the season. The 31-year-old had been one of the finest full backs of the modern era.

Then long-serving Crows CEO Steven Trigg announced that he was stepping down after accepting an offer to join Carlton. Trigg had been with the Club since 1997, the last 12 years as the CEO.

Despite some inconsistency on the field, Adelaide’s move to Adelaide Oval had been supported by fans with the Crows attracting an average crowd of 47,613 in the first seven home games.

Adelaide lifted hopes of a top eight finish with a huge away win over Brisbane Lions on August 10 but sadly another serious knee injury to Andy Otten took the shine off the result. Scans confirmed a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, requiring a traditional reconstruction.

The release of the AFL’s official membership audit results confirmed Adelaide had smashed its membership record in its first season at Adelaide Oval. The Crows’ number of 54,294 included a high percentage of season ticketholders.  

Having missed out on a finals berth, Adelaide officially closed its season at the Club Champion presentation. Daniel Talia won his first Malcolm Blight Medal, claiming the yellow jacket by two votes from Rory Sloane. The last hour of the night was streamed live on the Club website.

On September 15, Adelaide announced its new CEO, appointing South Australian-born former rugby administrator Andrew Fagan.

Crows defenders Daniel Talia and Brodie Smith were named in the All Australian side for the first time.

And the football world was stunned when Crows coach Brenton Sanderson was the victim of an extensive review of the Club’s football operations. Sanderson, who had two years to run on his contract, led the Crows into the finals in his first year (2012) but the team finished outside the top eight in the next two seasons.

October’s biggest story on the website was the appointment of Phil Walsh as the new senior coach. He joined the Crows from Port Adelaide, where he was the midfield manager in 2014. Walsh, 54, spent the previous five years (2009-2013) at West Coast as Strategy and Innovation Coach after a decade at Port as an assistant coach.

The AFL’s trade week dragged on but Adelaide finally sealed its deals in the last minutes on deadline day. A swap of draft picks allowed the Crows to secure ruckman Luke Lowden and defender Kyle Cheney from Hawthorn. Adelaide also finalised a swap of draft picks with Geelong, swapping picks 10 and 47 for 14 and 35.

Adelaide added a couple of new faces to Walsh’s coaching team, appointing Sydney’s dual premiership player Ryan O’Keefe as a development coach assisting the midfield and naming David Teague as forward line coach. Teague has spent 2014 at St Kilda and previously worked alongside Walsh at West Coast.

The release of the 2015 fixture was one of the biggest days on the off-season calendar. Adelaide’s 25^th season in the AFL starts against 2014 Preliminary Finalists North Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Easter Sunday afternoon, April 5.

November is AFL draft month. But with the AFL squad returning to training under a new coach there were other big news stories, including the announcement that Taylor Walker had signed a contract extension until the end of 2018.

Adelaide also announced its 2015 leadership group, highlighted by the elevation of All Australian defender Daniel Talia. He joined Nathan van Berlo, Patrick Dangerfield, Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson and Taylor Walker.

Fans love to find out about any guernsey number changes and there was lots of interest when it was revealed that Charlie Cameron, Kyle Hartigan and Mitch Grigg would have new numbers in 2015.

Interest was also high on draft night. Fans wanted to find out more about our four new players and in particular first round selection Jake Lever taken at pick 14. And Lever, Harrison Wigg, Mitch McGovern and Harry Dear soon had their new numbers and lockers.

The rookie draft completed Adelaide’s lists for 2015, with three more young players secured by the Crows.

The release of the SANFL fixture confirmed the Crows would play another country game in 2015. Adelaide will take on Port Adelaide at Balaklava on May 17.