Buggered if I know whats going on at the Adelaide Crows | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Buggered if I know whats going on at the Adelaide Crows

Adelaide have provided a great example on how not to respond to a bad loss. Instead of acknowledging the effort and achievement in making a grand final especially in light of what the club had been through, they blamed each other then turned to a bunch of charlatans peddling easy answers for a quick fix. The result is a club that is now at its lowest ebb in its history only 3 years after that grand final.

Contrast that with how Richmond handled the preliminary final loss to Collingwood in 2018. While disappointed, Richmond acknowledged the achievements of the year, vowed to improve and moved on because sometimes “*smile* happens”.
 
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I actually feel sorry for the kids that were forced to do it
One of dumbest things ive ever heard a club do to get improvement.
**close 2nd the Footscary team in the 1990's were forced to skydive into port phillip bay and swim back to shore.

The Australian Army don't even do that stuff.
 
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(...continued)

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'

It's not unusual for AFL clubs and other sporting teams to hold pre-season camps, which are often designed to build physical and emotional resilience through commando-style drills, and strengthen the bonds within a team. Some players thrive in such environments, while others resent being dragged away from young families, and come away injured and exhausted.

Jeff Bond, former chief psychologist at the Australian Institute of Sport, believes sporting organisations continue to be fooled by consultants who promise to deliver a mental edge.

"Using people's personal trauma to drive them is so illogical and dangerous it's not funny," Bond told The Sunday Age.
Bond, who has previously worked for Melbourne and Richmond, is now a psychologist for the Brumbies in Super Rugby.

"They take some of these models out of the military for these camps," he said.

"They are put through highly stressful circumstances to be mission-ready in case they get captured and tortured.

"There's good reason why the military performs resilience-enhancing exercises, because it's to protect life. But this is just sport."
The harness activity was spread across the best part of two days. When a player was finally allowed to reach the knife, he could cut himself out.

The point of the exercise, according to Woulfe and Wolfgang, was for players to free themselves of their deepest fears.
When asked about the camp by The Sunday Age, Woulfe said: "We stand by our work with the Adelaide Football Club at that time, but are no longer involved with the club and don't have anything further to add."

When asked about the purpose of the blindfolds on the bus, the harness and the knife, Woulfe did not respond.

During periods of downtime, players were told not to speak to each other. They were also not allowed to access their phones. Some players had pregnant partners and were granted special permission for a few minutes a day.

The final day was deeply emotional for many players. When they met in the common area, many broke down and cried as they waited for the bus to go home.

"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.

Another player said the camp didn't have an impact at the time, but his mind would often revisit it without warning.
"Sometimes, a few of the players would just be sitting around and one would say: 'What the f--- did we just do?' It's difficult to explain. I sort of felt brainwashed."

The camp affected players in different ways. Rory Sloane, now captain, spoke glowingly about it in March 2018.

"I absolutely 100 per cent came back from that camp feeling like a better husband, a better son and a much better teammate than when I was before I left," he said.

Gibbs, the new recruit, admitted it was "cultish" in some quarters but said he had been on "a lot worse camps" at Carlton.

The Sunday Age asked for comments from both club CEO Andrew Fagan and chairman Rob Chapman. Both declined to comment.

In response to a list of questions about the events of the camp, the club said 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."

Pyke declined to comment. Burton said he had "no interest" talking about the camp. Camporeale did not respond.

Horrifyingly disturbing to say the least. I'd imagine some would feel there is nothing wrong with this type of camp however the inherent dangers of opening and exposing a human beings fragility and vulnerabilities without the proper ongoing support is dangerous, immoral, and as can be seen in the last few seasons highly demoralizing and divisive to both the players and the club.
 
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Not a whole lot new in this report except the revelation that players' private lives and issues that they gave in confidence to the club were then exposed without their consent. That's disgraceful and a total violation of privacy.

Contrast that to clubs (like ours) where players could choose to talk about fears and vulnerabilities.
 
How on earth the prez and ceo are still in place after sanctioning that cluster *smile* that ultimately destroyed the fabric of the club says plenty
 
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Adelaide Crows wife-sharing allegation from 2018 pre-season camp nightmare

It has previously been reported some players felt betrayed after personal secrets of childhood trauma were divulged to the club and then used as a form of abuse directed at players during a confronting team building exercise on the camp.

The Herald Sun has now revealed further troubling accusations of players being pushed to breaking point with a torrent of traumatic psychological challenges.

The report revealed the claims of one insider, who says he can recall that some players were told the playing group needed to form a bond “so tight that if a teammate slept with your wife it would be OK”.

The insider says it is hard for players to remember exactly what occurred on the camp.

“We were in such a state of confusion,” he told The Herald Sun.


“It was like a trance, there were times where we would come-to two days after and say, ‘What did we just do?’.

“It’s hard to remember exactly what we did or what was said and we were in different groups.”
 
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I read that headline and was sure it was going to be a Spittle piece.
 
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Let’s close their wooden spoon season with the Richmond theme song echoing in their home ground.
 
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Getting into Essendon territory as far as never ending saga's go.
Mentioned the other day that players had to sign non disclosure agreements so this is going to get really interesting. .... dare I say it, beginning to feel a tad sorry for the poor old crows!

SafeWork SA confirm investigation into Adelaide Crows' camp​

Peter Ryan

By Peter Ryan

December 5, 2020

The Adelaide Crows are co-operating with SafeWork SA after the government body confirmed it was conducting a "comprehensive" investigation into the Crows' controversial pre-season camp held before the start of the 2018 season.
The camp, which took place on the Gold Coast after the Crows lost the 2017 grand final to Richmond, has dogged the club since, with reports of players being taken to an unknown location for a series of resilience-building exercises.
SafeWork SA confirmed the investigation on Saturday in a statement to The Age, after a News Corp report on Friday. Preliminary enquiries had started in July, with South Australian Premier Steve Marshall saying at a press conference at the time that he had found some allegations surrounding what happened on the camp "disturbing".
"SafeWork SA’s comprehensive enquiries into the Adelaide Football Club’s 2018 pre-season camp are continuing. Adelaide Football Club has been voluntarily assisting in providing information as requested by SafeWork SA. As this is an ongoing matter, we are unable to provide any further information at this time," the statement said.
The Crows' former chairman Rob Chapman has previously said that an internal review found that relationships within the football department had been affected by the camp, with the club also conceding from midway 2018 that some aspects could have been handled better and communicated better to the players.

The AFL integrity department did not sanction the club after investigating the camp and the AFL Players' Association did not take action.
The internal review into the club, led by former AFL greats Jason Dunstall and Matthew Pavlich, was held after coach Don Pyke resigned as coach at the end of 2019.
They subsequently appointed a new football manager in Adam Kelly and former Richmond utility Dan Jackson to run leadership and culture programs.
John Olsen recently succeeded the long-serving Chapman as chairman.
There are 19 players from the 2018 list who will be at the Crows in 2021.

The Crows head into Wednesday night's draft with the No.1 pick after finishing on the bottom of the ladder in 2020 under first-year coach Matthew Nicks and will select former Giant Jackson Hately in the pre-season draft.
 
Getting into Essendon territory as far as never ending saga's go.
Mentioned the other day that players had to sign non disclosure agreements so this is going to get really interesting. .... dare I say it, beginning to feel a tad sorry for the poor old crows!

SafeWork SA confirm investigation into Adelaide Crows' camp​

Peter Ryan

By Peter Ryan

December 5, 2020

The Adelaide Crows are co-operating with SafeWork SA after the government body confirmed it was conducting a "comprehensive" investigation into the Crows' controversial pre-season camp held before the start of the 2018 season.
The camp, which took place on the Gold Coast after the Crows lost the 2017 grand final to Richmond, has dogged the club since, with reports of players being taken to an unknown location for a series of resilience-building exercises.
SafeWork SA confirmed the investigation on Saturday in a statement to The Age, after a News Corp report on Friday. Preliminary enquiries had started in July, with South Australian Premier Steve Marshall saying at a press conference at the time that he had found some allegations surrounding what happened on the camp "disturbing".
"SafeWork SA’s comprehensive enquiries into the Adelaide Football Club’s 2018 pre-season camp are continuing. Adelaide Football Club has been voluntarily assisting in providing information as requested by SafeWork SA. As this is an ongoing matter, we are unable to provide any further information at this time," the statement said.
The Crows' former chairman Rob Chapman has previously said that an internal review found that relationships within the football department had been affected by the camp, with the club also conceding from midway 2018 that some aspects could have been handled better and communicated better to the players.

The AFL integrity department did not sanction the club after investigating the camp and the AFL Players' Association did not take action.
The internal review into the club, led by former AFL greats Jason Dunstall and Matthew Pavlich, was held after coach Don Pyke resigned as coach at the end of 2019.
They subsequently appointed a new football manager in Adam Kelly and former Richmond utility Dan Jackson to run leadership and culture programs.
John Olsen recently succeeded the long-serving Chapman as chairman.
There are 19 players from the 2018 list who will be at the Crows in 2021.

The Crows head into Wednesday night's draft with the No.1 pick after finishing on the bottom of the ladder in 2020 under first-year coach Matthew Nicks and will select former Giant Jackson Hately in the pre-season draft.
Talk about farcical.
Obviously the AFL integrity unit n the AFLPA were never going to provide anything more than a quick look under the covers and some stern finger waggling in the general direction of the Crowbaits. Far to incestuous a relationship for anything more.
Two and a half years before Safe Work even commences any sort of investigations is pathetic, half the people involved will be dead of old age before they get round to establishing and reporting any findings.

Wonder if they'll somehow come to the conclusion that it's all our fault 'coz we absolutely destroyed them in the Granny in 17 and all the rest is just ongoing trauma as a result.
 
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Talk about farcical.
Obviously the AFL integrity unit n the AFLPA were never going to provide anything more than a quick look under the covers and some stern finger waggling in the general direction of the Crowbaits. Far to incestuous a relationship for anything more.
Two and a half years before Safe Work even commences any sort of investigations is pathetic, half the people involved will be dead of old age before they get round to establishing and reporting any findings.

Wonder if they'll somehow come to the conclusion that it's all our fault 'coz we absolutely destroyed them in the Granny in 17 and all the rest is just ongoing trauma as a result.
We are up f.or workplace bullying. (How I got through working life without ever being accused of it or being in the receiving end I will never know. Though one year I got a beLow acceptable performance grading, took that as my cue to get a transfer, should have stood my ground and got my boss sacked for insolence)
 
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More revelations about that training camp with the release of Eddie Bett's autobiography:

JHC. Can't believe a club would believe all that nonsense let alone the psychological battering to the players.
 
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More revelations about that training camp with the release of Eddie Bett's autobiography:

Shame, I was hoping the Power Rangers Pose was a Tex Walker idea
 
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Shame, I was hoping the Power Rangers Pose was a Tex Walker idea
Listened to Rancey taking the *smile* out of it on a pod cast.

The Boys thought it was hilarious.

No wonder Tigers ended up beating them up, they were not threatened by the Crows and their antics actually had the Tigers laughing at them.

And we also had Towner ......................
 
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