Melbourne recruit Bernie Vince says he didn't want to leave Adelaide

CROWS club champion Bernie Vince insists he did not want to leave the Adelaide Football Club. VOTE now and have your say.

CROWS club champion Bernie Vince insists he did not want to leave the Adelaide Football Club.

His trade to Melbourne last month was forced by the Crows’ need to overcome the Kurt Tippett sanctions denying Adelaide a top-30 draft pick.

“They pushed me out the door,” said Vince, a 128-game player with Adelaide since 2006.

Vince returned to Adelaide from his U.S. holiday on Friday afternoon.

He used his commercial arrangements with television station Channel 9 and radio network TripleM to declare Crows coach Brenton Sanderson and list manager David Noble had forced his move to the Demons.

Teammates shattered at losing Vince

In return, Adelaide has pick No. 23 - rather than No. 46 - as its first call in this month’s AFL national draft that is considered a shallow pool after pick No. 30.

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Vince points to an email he has kept on his mobile phone as the hint his time at Adelaide - where he was contracted for next season - was running out.

“They let me know even if I had a stand-out season next year they weren’t going to re-sign me any further,” said Vince, who would have left the Crows in October as a free agent.

“They were happy to secure pick 23 to be early in the draft.”

Vince, 28, described his “hurt” at being first linked in a trade with Brisbane for midfielder Jared Polec (who preferred to join Port Adelaide) - and then being shopped to Melbourne on the eve of his U.S. holiday.

He revealed his telephone call to Sanderson, who was in London when the Melbourne trade began on October 10, that broke his tight bond with the Crows.

“Things were adding up that it was time for me to move on,” said Vince.

“I called Sando and wanted to know where he stood with things. He did not see me having a long-term future at the Adelaide Football Club.

“Not once did Sando or Nobes say they really wanted me to stay at the club. That was the defining point for me.

“It wasn’t them saying they wanted me to go ... it was them not saying they wanted me to stay.

“It has come out that this was my decision. I don’t think they (the club) want the fans or the media to know they pushed me out of the door. But the full team knows the situation.”

Vince detailed the emotional strain of the trade forced him to at time break away from his team-mates, in particular Jared Petrenko, during the trip to the US.

“Everyone wants to feel wanted,” he said. “When the trade period started with my name thrown out there - with a couple of others - that is what hurt to start with. I honestly thought nothing would come of this.”