As a child, McLeod supported the Essendon Football Club, and he also had experiences with AFL player and Darwin local Michael McLean.

[7] As a gifted player, he was selected to represent the Northern Territory in the Teal Cup,[2] where he was voted best-on-ground in the team's win against Victoria.

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.

[11][15] McLeod, somehow, miraculously gathers possession of this wet and slippery ball, arches his back, goes one way and then the other and leaves Jenke slipping and sliding in his wake.

Then, against the pressure of time and finding himself in a position to somehow conceive a way to win, he calmly caresses the greasy ball onto and across his boot and dribbles it through the goals in an arc from the boundary.Later in the year, McLeod was nominated for the Norwich Rising Star award,[12] 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 play the last seven rounds without pain.

During pre-season training Blight had the team doing a lot of running, which helped McLeod lose a significant amount of weight.

[11] In the preliminary final against the Western Bulldogs, McLeod, who had been playing primarily as a forward or half-back flanker, was placed into the midfield in the second half by Blight in an effort to spark the Crows side, who trailed by 31 points at half-time.

In the Grand Final against St Kilda, McLeod would take his first significant step in his journey towards joining the game's elite.

[11] Having caught the eye of football followers with his magical feats in the 1997 finals, McLeod would continue to dazzle crowds with his pace and agility in 1998 before being named in the All-Australian team for the first time in his career despite only playing 15 games due to injury.

In a preliminary final rematch against the Bulldogs, McLeod would kick a career-high seven goals while being opposed to Tony Liberatore, who was reputed to be the most ferocious tagger in the game at the time.

In the following game—against Grand Final favourites, the Kangaroos—the Crows would win by 35 points, with McLeod emulating his feats from a year earlier.

Having been made a permanent fixture in the Crows midfield by coach Gary Ayres, McLeod averaged a career-best 24.7 disposals.

[20] McLeod had another fine season in 2002, but he was reported in round 4 for the first and only time in his career due to a late charge on Essendon's Matthew Lloyd.

McLeod received a one-match ban for the incident, playing every other game of the season and amassing 16 Brownlow votes; however, he only finished equal 6th in the best and fairest.

[citation needed] He would lead the 2003 Brownlow medal count until round 15, remarkably having six best-on-ground performances up until that point, according to the officiating umpires of matches McLeod played in.

In 2005, under coach Neil Craig, McLeod made a return to the half-back line to provide his side with run and drive from defence using his sublime skills.

In what became a somewhat spiteful match, Australia would win comfortably, while McLeod was named best player and awarded the Jim Stynes Medal.

[18] Against the Essendon Football Club in round 10 at AAMI Stadium, McLeod played his 250th AFL game, where he tallied 18 disposals while soaring for a spectacular mark in a 138-point demolition of the Bombers.

After round 16, the decision was made for him to undergo surgery to remove the bursa, an operation expected to keep him out for a few weeks.

[24] Prior to the start of the AFL 2007 season, McLeod won the Polly Farmer Medal after being the best for the Indigenous All-Stars in a 50-point loss to Essendon.

McLeod played most of 2007 again as a half-back flanker, sweeping up loose balls and creating his trademark run out of defence with his smooth skills.

Four weeks after returning from a stint on the sidelines due to knee surgery, McLeod celebrated his 300-game milestone with a 63-point victory over Richmond in round 19.

[30][31] Andrew McLeod's retirement announcement: "To the supporters of the Adelaide Football Club, I thank you for sharing my journey and making it a most memorable one.

To all my coaches, I am eternally grateful for passing on your knowledge to make me a better player and a person, And finally to my teammates, past and present, without you guys, nothing I have achieved in footy would have been made possible if it weren't for all of you.