The past few days have been a mixture of pride and sadness with Chelsea Randall announcing her AFLW retirement.

While her achievements are incredible and wide-ranging, what I will remember most is the way she carried herself every day she walked through our doors. Chelsea’s leadership, resilience and unwavering commitment to all of us have made her one of the Club’s most respected.

Chelsea has been part of our Club's AFLW journey since the very beginning. She helped build a program that has changed lives, inspired a generation of young girls to play our game, and created a legacy that will endure for many years.

In regards to the AFL program, it goes without saying that Saturday night's Showdown result was extremely disappointing. Port Adelaide out-pressured and outplayed us. It was way off the standard any of us expect.

What gives me confidence, however, is the body of work that preceded it. Since the bye, we have been strong and consistent in our style of play. We would like to think the Showdown proves to be an outlier rather than a trend. Our focus had to quickly shift to the Eagles and the team headed west a day earlier than usual for away games, with the Captain’s Run held in Perth.

There was also some positive news this week with Brayden Cook recommitting for a further two-years. His persistence and hard work is paying off, and he’s found a level of consistency which is allowing him to impact games.

Just as importantly, your collective passion is one of the great strengths of this footy club. We are tracking towards our strongest ever membership result, so to all of you who have renewed or joined for the first time this season, thank you.

Looking ahead to our next home game against Gold Coast in Round 18 and we have a couple of important match day events. We will be celebrating our past players and their contributions by inviting them and their families to a fun night at the footy. In a first for the Club, an Australian citizenship ceremony will also be staged in the pre-game, and it’s our major initiative in the AFL’s Cultural Heritage Series.

And finally, I wanted to give a shout out to Tony Modra who is continuing his recovery from a serious truck accident. Mods occupies a special place in Crows history and we wish him every strength as his recovery progresses. The Club will continue to support him and his family in any way we can.

Thank you for your passion, loyalty and belief in our Club.