Under-19s side and four games in the reserves side, then finishing the season with 14 consecutive games in the senior team, including becoming a premiership player by winning the 1994 SANFL Grand Final. The Fremantle Football Club was entering the Australian Football League in the 1995 season, and as part of the recruitment concessions they have been given, they sought to recruit McLeod. When McLeod met with Fremantle, coach Gerard Neesham had not actually seen him play before and asked McLeod to stand up to show how tall he was. McLeod felt insulted and belittled and refused to play for Fremantle. Adelaide's recruiter Tim Johnson heard that the negotiations weren't going well, so Adelaide Football Club general manager Bill Sanders contacted McLeod's father to let him know the club was interested in recruiting him. Adelaide and Fremantle negotiated a trade the day before the trading deadline, with Fremantle receiving forward Chris Groom in return. The Crows had to compete for McLeod with Collingwood, who had offered an inducement to McLeod's father if he was able to convince McLeod to sign with them. AFL career First years at Adelaide (1995–1996) Adelaide players initially gave McLeod nickname "Hamburger" because he was seen as chubby, but soon adopted the nickname "Bunji" (which means "Brother") that he had been given while playing in Darwin. He made his AFL debut for the Crows in their Round 6 match against Melbourne, which the Crows won but 8 points, but McLeod spent most of the game on the interchange bench and only touched the ball four times through the game. McLeod was dropped after this game, then played his second game in Round 9 against Hawthorn. Adelaide trailed Hawthorn by 34 points at half time, but launched a comeback in the second half. They were still down by 4 points in the dying seconds of the game. The ball was kicked inside Adelaide's forward 50, and McLeod raced at the ball, competing with Hawk defender Ray Jencke. He was able to recover the ball, evade Jenke's attempts to tackle him, and kick a dribbling goal from a tight angle to win the game for Adelaide. Later in the year, McLeod was nominated for the Norwich Rising Star award, but he discovered towards the end of the 1995 season that he had broken several bones in his feet, and he had to have injections in his feet to