Adelaide's Recent Player Losses

[bulldogtragic]

Phil Davis - Knights - Dangerfield - Gunston - Armstrong - Tippett - Vince - Griffin - Maric (leaving retired guys like Bock off).

If any other team wanted to complain about free agency impacts and talent raiding than they could. That's a hell of a lot of top end talent walking out the door.

[Throughandthrough]

sucked in.

[Throughandthrough]

and this little article may bloom into some big problems for the Crows management team.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/brumbies-controversial-land-sale-at-griffith-and-move-to-the-university-of-canberra-referred-to-act-policing-20150924-gjttk2.html

[The Adelaide Connection]

Rather than start a new thread, thought I would post this here. We should continue the thread by speculating on what players we will plunder from this broken club.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2020-adelaide-crows-training-camp-2018-details-fake-weapons-tied-to-trees-sledges/news-story/41e42c4385c3ff50006e0516f643d70a

AFL 2020: Adelaide Crows training camp 2018, details, fake weapons, tied to trees, sledges
AFL
July 5, 2020 7:36am

Adelaide Crows players were tied to trees, surrounded by fake automatic weapons and sledged with intensely personal details during the now-infamous 2018 training camp, according to an explosive new report from The Sunday Age.

The report, compiled by Sam McClure, details several measures taken on the camp, run by Queensland-based consultancy group Collective Mind, that left the bond between players “torn apart”, according to one player.

Militaristic measures were taken from the outset, with players “petrified” as they gathered in the basement carpark of a Broadbeach hotel.

Crows players were split into three groups prior to heading to the camp, with the most senior group subjected to the most intense of experiences

— The senior group were met by men wearing army fatigues and holding fake automatic weapons before being blindfolded.

— Tom Lynch collapsed during a focus exercise but was told to “get up” by a camp leader; he would later be vomiting and bed-ridden. Lynch was only attended to after teammates demanded club doctor Marc Cesana, who was not allowed to attend the camp, be brought to his aid.

Players in the senior group were taken into the woods to a man known as ‘Wolfgang’, who conducted an exercise where players would harness themselves to a contraption tied to a tree. To escape the harness, the player would have to crawl towards a combat knife roughly 10 metres away. Two teammates were able to offer moral support, while nine others were told to pull the other way. During the exercise, the nine players were told to hurl abuse at the player. Episodes of childhood trauma and domestic abuse were brought up, which players are certain was leaked to Collective Mind staff by club officials they had confided in

Six unnamed players that attended the camp spoke to The Sunday Age.

“It’s not necessarily the specifics of the camp that I think about the most, it’s what it did to us,” one player told The Sunday Age. “We were a team and a group of players in the peak of our powers that was ready to win a premiership. But our bond with the club, with each other, was torn apart at that camp.”

In response to the report. the Crows told The Sunday Age in a statement: “An AFL investigation found the club did not breach any industry rules. However, as we have previously stated, there were elements of the camp that clearly missed the mark and should have been done differently. There has since been considerable changes in personnel, both on and off the field, and the nature of our industry means we must now focus on the current season and beyond.”

The fallout from the camp has been severe, with departures since then including coach Don Pyke, head of football Brett Burton and assistant coach Scott Camporeale.

On a player front, a mass exodus ensued in the aftermath of the camp, including the departures of Eddie Betts, Mitch McGovern (who broke contract), Curtly Hampton (who retired mid-season), Josh Jenkins, Hugh Greenwood, Alex Keath and Cam Ellis-Yolmen.

The Crows severed ties with Collective Mind midway through 2018, which held a press conference in August defending the camp and saying it was approved at the highest levels of the club.

Former club great Andrew McLeod this year took aim at the Crows, saying he didn’t feel comfortable going back there.

McLeod’s comments led some to question the player exodus at the club, which board member and former great Mark Ricciuto responded to by outlining his version of events surrounding several key departures.

First-year senior coach Matthew Nicks faces a challenging road ahead, with the Crows winless from their first five rounds.

The club takes on Fremantle at Metricon Stadium on Sunday.

[bornadog]

Adelaide really is in a big mess and have lost alot of good players over the past 4 to 5 years. Club directors like Rucciuto carrying on in the media over words spoken by club greats, more stories coming out on the infamous camp.

Who is left that we may need? Is Crouch worth pursing?

[The Adelaide Connection]

Adelaide really is in a big mess and have lost alot of good players over the past 4 to 5 years. Club directors like Rucciuto carrying on in the media over words spoken by club greats, more stories coming out on the infamous camp.

Who is left that we may need? Is Crouch worth pursing?

Ned McHenry and Fisher McAsey? Both dogs-loving trade targets of ours.

[The Adelaide Connection]

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/inside-the-camp-that-brought-down-the-adelaide-crows-20200630-p557od.html

The full Age article above. Wow, the Fox article really doesn’t touch the tip of the iceberg to how messed up it was.

An excerpt:

Wolfgang in the woods
It was still dark, somewhere between five and six o'clock in the morning on day two, when players in their tepees were woken by the constant rhythm of a drum. One of the facilitators, still dressed in army camouflage, was walking around the campsite beating a drum.

After getting up, the 10 players and two coaches were taken deeper into the woods where, after stretching and a warm-up, they were introduced to Wolfgang.

Dressed in blue overalls with no T-shirt underneath, and tattoos stemming from his neck, Wolfgang was in charge of the "harness" activity.

He explained and demonstrated that a player would harness himself to a contraption that was tied to a tree. In order to get out of the harness, the player would have to crawl on his hands and knees towards a combat knife that Wolfgang had set on the ground, about 10 metres away.

Each player could choose two teammates in the group to sit on chairs and offer moral support. Nine other teammates were instructed to pull the other way.

As the nine others pulled the player away from the knife, facilitators encouraged them to hurl abuse at him. At first, it was relatively harmless; "Come on, mate. You're weak, you'll give up!"

But as the struggle increased, the insults became more personal.

Episodes of childhood trauma, relationships with partners and incidents of domestic abuse were among the subjects referenced as players tried to crawl across the mud.

In some cases, the information was so sensitive that players hadn't even shared it with their partners.

Players are certain sensitive information confided to club staff had been handed on to Woulfe and Leddie before the camp.

"There's no doubt that private and personal information was used without our consent," a player told The Sunday Age.

The club strongly denies this allegation.

'Our bond with the club, with each other, was torn apart'

[azabob]

I'm sure McClure only go half of what really happened. A really well put together article. Clearly a long time in the making.

Some of the quotes and what happened I shake my head at.

This quote sums it all up.

"It's not necessarily the specifics of the camp that I think about the most, it's what it did to us. We were a team and a group of players in the peak of our powers that was ready to win a premiership. But our bond with the club, with each other, was torn apart at that camp," a player told The Sunday Age.


https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/inside-the-camp-that-brought-down-the-adelaide-crows-20200630-p557od.html

[comrade]

Without knowing specifics, I kind of just thought the Crows players were a bit soft making such a big deal of the tough boot camp, but if the Age article is true and it sounds like it is, this wasn't a run of the mill fitness camp.

It was psychological deterioration with some racial undertones thrown in.

What the hell were the Adelaide brains trust thinking?

You reap what you sow and they deserve to be in mess they're in right now.

[Twodogs]

Adelaide really is in a big mess and have lost alot of good players over the past 4 to 5 years. Club directors like Rucciuto carrying on in the media over words spoken by club greats, more stories coming out on the infamous camp.

Who is left that we may need? Is Crouch worth pursing?

Rucciuto comes across as one of those "lucky that he was good at footy" types. He clearly has no understanding of when it's better to shut your mouth and walk away.

That Latin phrase si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses ("if you had been silent you could have remained a philosopher" or more commonly "if you had kept your mouth shut we would have thought that you were clever" could have been made about him.

[EasternWest]

Rucciuto comes across as one of those "lucky that he was good at footy" types. He clearly has no understanding of when it's better to shut your mouth and walk away.

That Latin phrase si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses ("if you had been silent you could have remained a philosopher" or more commonly "if you had kept your mouth shut we would have thought that you were clever" could have been made about him.

I love you, TD.

[bornadog]

8th loss in a row today. Sitting on the bottom winless

[comrade]

8th loss in a row today. Sitting on the bottom winless

I know things are never as good or as bad as they seem, but damn, it looks bad for Adelaide.

Very little high class talent coming through either.

[azabob]

I know things are never as good or as bad as they seem, but damn, it looks bad for Adelaide.

Very little high class talent coming through either.

This would have to be their lowest point since entering the competition?

[jeemak]

This would have to be their lowest point since entering the competition?

I reckon this era (in which I incorporate the 2017 grand final) and the squandering of their half time lead in the 93 preliminary final stand out.

Couldn't be happier for the smug arseholes.

[Mitcha]

The only player worth pitching off this basket case of a club is probably Doedee and even then I think we have that area of the ground covered. Tough times ahead for this mob.

[Murphy'sLore]

You could almost argue they have a case for suing Collective Whatever-their-name is for damages. That camp has destroyed a football club in one blow!

[jeemak]

Having had a day to take in the details of the camp, I'm really confused as to what they were trying to achieve.

Given I'm having a WTF feeling just hearing some of the details, I can't imagine having to intellectualise actually being put through it.

[Topdog]

Wow that is absolutely shocking.

Leaking information shared with a counselor or doctor is not on at all and considering this leak Adelaide Football Club would not be able to sue anyone.