Adelaide Crows Camp: In exclusive interview with Graham Cornes, Collective Mind directors reveal they didn’t make a cent from the controversial venture

The men who co-ordinated the Crows’ 2018 pre-season camp say they did not pocket any money from the venture which has dogged both the Crows and their business for nearly three years.

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The men behind Collective Mind have revealed they did not make any money from the controversial 2018 pre-season camp they prepared for the Adelaide Crows.

Collective Mind directors Amon Woulfe and Derek Leddie say they distributed every dollar of the Crows’ payment for the camp among external facilitators the company contracted to run the controversial sessions.

The revelation is part of an exclusive interview with inaugural Adelaide Crows coach Graham Cornes in this week’s SAWeekend magazine.

The Collective Mind partners also reveal:

■ They urged the Crows to deal with the mental fallout of the 2017 Grand Final loss to Richmond before the players’ season-ending exit interviews. Former coach Don Pyke instead opted not to confront the demons of that loss until the following pre-season.

■ They have initiated legal action against two Melbourne-based journalists and media outlets for what they say are defamatory reports about the camp.

Collective Mind director Amon Woulfe. Picture: Brad Fleet

Feedback from Crows players and coaches immediately after the camp left them believing the experience had been an overwhelming success.

■ They had collaborated with the Crows to develop a program for the camp centring on “authenticity, resilience and connection”.

■ The scope of the camp was outside the company’s regular sphere of operation, so it outsourced the sessions to external experts.

■ Their frustration at rumours and innuendo to which they had been unable to respond because were still under contract by the Crows, who insisted they did not speak publicly.

■ They retain a healthy relationship with the Adelaide Football Club, and have ongoing friendships with people within the club.

Mr Woulfe and Mr Leddie say the fallout of the camp has hurt both their reputations and their business, which “did not get a cent” from the five-day camp, on the Gold Coast from January 29, 2017.

Collective Mind director Derek Leddie. Picture: Dylan Robinson

“There wasn’t enough money to go around, so we made the decision they (external facilitators) needed to be paid,” Mr Leddie, who lives in Sydney, says.

Mr Woulfe, who lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, says they co-ordinated the camp “for the love of the club”, which they had worked with throughout 2017.

“All that’s come of it is we’ve continued to lose money and suffer brand damage year after year,” he says. “It just keeps giving.”

The pair label as incorrect reports that camp activities included discussions of wife swapping, insensitivities surrounding Aboriginal culture, players being tied naked to trees and being denied medical attention.

“If anyone has ever had any issues or concerns with anything, then the door has been wide open to sit down, have a conversation with either the Crows, Collective Mind or the lead facilitators, and resolve it,” Mr Woulfe says.

“Since the day the story broke, that conversation has never happened.

“We feel like we’ve been caught in the crossfire with this camp,” he said.

“It wasn’t our programs run out there, it wasn’t our IP.

“Yes we oversaw the camp to help create a seamless experience for the club, but we didn’t deliver anything out there. We believe in the quality of the people and programs we brought in, yet we’ve found ourselves defending work that isn’t even ours.”