Analysis: Collective Mind has washed its hands of a ‘bespoke’ program it says the Adelaide Crows asked for

COLLECTIVE Mind has thrown the concern for the Crows’ failed pre-season camp on the Gold Coast back to the Adelaide Football Club by saying it did just as the Crows asked. So will we now have to wait for the tell-all book to get the answers?

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WE will still need to wait for the tell-all book, most probably from Eddie Betts.

Or the mind-blowing television interview, perhaps with retired Crows midfielder Curtly Hampton.

Critically, people will continue to ask: Just what happened at the Crows’ contentious pre-season camp on the Gold Coast in late January?

Collective Mind — the consultants hired by the Adelaide Football Club to find that missing edge, particularly in the mental space, after last year’s AFL grand final loss — on Monday did nothing to clear away the doubt and concerns that come from this camp.

Collective Mind, the consultants hired by the Crows to enhance the AFL team’s mental strength, says the “Crows power stance” used during the national anthem at the start of each of Adelaide’s three AFL finals last season was the creation of Crows captain Taylor Walker. Picture: Julian Smith

In fact, some of the “clarity” the Collective Mind business partners Amon Woulfe and Derek Leddie sought to deliver at the MCG on Monday contradicted some of the answers delivered by Crows football boss Brett Burton and coach Don Pyke at their awkward press conference on June 28.

In a three-page statement and 29-minute media conference, Collective Mind washed it hands of a mess.

Hugh Greenwood has praised the Crows camp, retired teammate Curtly Hampton expressed concerns with aspects of it. Picture: AAP Image/Mark Brake

Collective Mind did put the focus back on Burton, however. This was, Woulfe emphasised, a “bespoke” program — one designed on a “brief given to us by the Crows”.

There were 25 “facilitators”, but no registered psychologist. This is a point that continues to disturb the AFL players’ union. The AFL Players’ Association will soon demand only certified practitioners be involved in such programs as AFL clubs seek to unlock the mental side of sport when fitness coaches cannot deliver any more gains in physical targets.

“This was,” as Woulfe said, “a camp focused on the heart and mind, not the physical.”

This was a well-crafted media conference that will be seen to have been designed to save the “Collective Mind” brand after the Crows pre-season camp has been described as “cult-like” and bizarre with blindfolds and more.

Adelaide Crows players Hugh Greenwood and Myles Poholke take time out on the Gold Coast during the club’s pre-season camp. Picture: Supplied

“We don’t have any visibility over the medical status of the players; we never do. we can’t comment at all,” Woulfe said. “We are skill coaches … in mental skills.”

As far as Woulfe is concerned, he waved goodbye to the Crows players from the Gold Coast where “we did a really, really good job … a great job”.

The stories repeatedly told privately by the Crows players and their parents and partners suggests otherwise. The on-field results with a team that was the AFL pacesetter as the minor premier last year and 12th this season certainly tell otherwise.

And for those who want the finer details of just what happened on the Gold Coast, there will be a short wait until players retire and speak freely of an episode that continue to bewilder.

Certainly, Collective Mind had attention to detail on Monday with PR consultants — to avoid a repeat of the disastrous Burton-Pyke media call at West Lakes in late June.

But what of the Crows players who privately, particularly to their parents, still despise the camp that split the squad in three groups after Collective Mind promised to bring them closer together than ever before. Who deals with the fallout from a camp that has left them with unease and hindered their playing seasons?

Woulfe says the Crows team doctor “cleared all players to participate”. But he would not deal with the question of how the team doctor reviewed the camp. There is a convenient note for the Collective Mind leaders that such details from the camp — that continue to be heavily criticised by experienced staff in the Adelaide high-performance program — are in the Crows’ domain (and perfectly covered by confidentiality).

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