Tyson Stengle must buy into new culture to stay at Adelaide Crows, says Matthew Nicks
Adelaide players are backing Tyson Stengle to restart his AFL career as coach Matthew Nicks outlined the standards the out-of-favour forward must meet.
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Adelaide players have rallied behind out-of-favour teammate Tyson Stengle as coach Matthew Nicks called on the forward to meet club standards.
Former captain Taylor Walker said Crows players had to support Stengle “as best we can” after the 22-year-old was stood down in December.
Stengle was thrust back into the spotlight after the Crows received a picture of the young forward standing next to what appeared to be an illicit substance – his third off-field incident in 2020.
Walker said he and a number of teammates were continuing to check in on the young small forward.
“I have a great relationship with Tyson. Obviously it (his future) will play out itself in the near future,” he told The Advertiser.
“But we are just here to support Tyson as best we can, more about the person than his career at the moment and we just want to support him as much as we can.”
Stengle did live at Walker’s house for a period of time last season.
“That’s just what we do at the footy club,” he said.
“We look after our own and show care, support and love to our teammates.”
Wayne Milera also told The Advertiser he was continuing to reach out to Stengle.
“I’ve been in contact with him, just general chat nothing that we don’t normally have,” he said.
“Just checking on him, seeing if he is doing OK.”
Still in limbo, which The Advertiser understands could be for some time yet with no time frame on a resolution, Stengle has been given a fitness program by the Crows to follow as he continues to train away from the club.
Leadership group member Matt Crouch said there was still a lot of love for Stengle.
“I’ve kept in touch with him and he’s been obviously one of our teammates here, so everyone has looked out for him and we still love Tyson,” he said.
It came as senior coach Matthew Nicks said Stengle needed to show that he can live up to the Crows’ standards, and he hasn’t given up hope that the stood-down forward can continue his AFL career.
But Nicks warned him “it comes to a point” where the Crows will “make decisions around who will be inside the (club’s) four walls”.
Nicks said Stengle was not meeting the Crows’ standards.
“We want to make sure Tyson has the best opportunity to succeed and have a crack at AFL level,” he said on Triple M on Tuesday.
“Clearly Tyson did not meet our standards and that is over the last 12 months and unfortunately when you don’t meet standards it comes to a point where we are going to make decisions around who will be inside the (club’s) four walls.
“I’m going to continue to remain in contact with Tyson and support him as much as I can.
“But we have standards that we want our guys to live up to and expect and if Tyson can live up to them over the next 12 months then I believe he is a talented enough footballer and a good enough person and I hope over the next 12 months we can help him get there and help himself get back onto the (Crows) list or onto an (another) AFL list at worse.”
The Crows, the AFL, the AFLPA and Stengle’s management are all involved in working out what potential sanctions the small forward will face for the third off-field incident.
He already has a four-game suspension after he and former teammate Brad Crouch were caught with cocaine in the Adelaide CBD in September.
CROWS STILL WITHOUT STENGLE RESOLUTION
Tyson Stengle’s AFL career is still up in the air, more than a month since he was stood down by the Crows for another off-field incident.
The Crows announced on December 14 that they had stood Stengle down from all duties while they investigated a photograph that had been sent to the club’s hierarchy allegedly showing him next to what appeared to be an illicit substance.
A month on, the club continues to say there is no time frame on when it will decide what penalty Stengle will face as it works with his management, the AFL and the AFLPA, following two other off-field incidents earlier in the year for which he copped four-game bans.
It is understood the forward’s camp is increasingly confident Stengle – who signed a new two-year deal in August – will not be sacked by the Crows for his third off-field incident in eight months in 2020.
Barred from going to West Lakes, Stengle has been provided with his own program from Adelaide high performance staff to follow as he continues to train away from his Crows teammates.
Last week, Adelaide captain Rory Sloane said Crows players were continuing to reach out to Stengle as the investigation took place.
“We’re doing an enormous amount of work with Tyson, like we have all year, just to keep supporting him and helping him out,” Sloane said.
“We’ll continue to look after him, make sure he’s right on track and will support him in every way we can.”
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