Adelaide midfielder Richard Douglas has described the club’s pre-season camp as a disaster
FORGET the spin. Experienced Crows midfielder Richard Douglas has lifted the lid on what Adelaide players really thought of their contentious pre-season camp, describing it as a disaster.
EXPERIENCED Crows midfielder Richard Douglas has lifted the lid on the Adelaide Football Club’s contentious pre-season camp describing it as a “disaster”.
But Douglas has taken some of the focus off the camp at the Gold Coast in late January — that was supposed to make the Crows mentally tougher with external consultants Collective Mind — saying the Crows players also must share the blame for the AFL club’s fall from a grand finalist to also-ran.
Douglas, a 235-game veteran, made a forthright assessment of Adelaide’s demise saying: “The disappointment of losing the grand final (by 48 points to Richmond), which I feel we held onto for too long.
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“That affected us over the pre-season.
“Some of us did not come back in the condition we’d hoped which put us on the back foot straight away.
“Obviously … the camp was a bit of a disaster for us,” added Douglas on radio FIVEaa. “Injuries certainly did not help us from there.”
Douglas’ remarks on the pre-season camp contradict earlier statements from team leaders, many of whom first defended the camp that has been shrouded in mystery.
Crows coach Don Pyke is not totally dismissing a return to the “mind space” to find a new edge for his team.
Douglas admits Adelaide’s on-field form — particularly with fade-outs in several matches this season — highlights the need to work on the players’ mental strength.
“I’d like to see us dig in when the games get tough,” Douglas said.
Pyke does not want to repeat the Collective Mind pre-season camp, but he is not turning away from unlocking the mental edge in sport.
“I haven’t said we are going to go completely away from that space,” Pyke said.
“Every club in the AFL is now looking at how do we actually help with our players’ mental resilience, well-being, all those sorts of things.
“The approach we take might be different, but it will certainly be a component of our program.”
Adelaide (10-10, 12th) will close its home season on Sunday hosting finals hopeful North Melbourne at Adelaide Oval with the Crows out of finals contention but still under intense scrutiny.
This includes an internal review.
“We will be honest — and we will move on,” Douglas said of the player feedback to come for the club review. “There’s a few things (to consider) … and we will look to change a little bit.”
Douglas’ assessment of the Adelaide game plan — that was the AFL pacesetter with the highest-scoring attack — is the need to focus on defence.
“We’ve been too easy to score against,” said Douglas. Adelaide’s average scorecard this season has recorded defence conceding an average 86 points when the mark was 80 points last year. In attack, Adelaide has scored an average 84 points after reaching a 108-point average last season.
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