Heads must roll at West Lakes over disastrous pre-season camp, injury crisis, says Mark Williams
PORT Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams has slammed the Crows over their disastrous pre-season Collective Mind camp and hamstring crisis, saying heads should roll as a result.
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PORT Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams has slammed the Crows over their “frightening’’ pre-season camp and hamstring crisis, saying heads should roll as a result.
Back in Adelaide to commentate Friday night’s EJ Whitten Legends Game at Adelaide Oval, Williams said he caught up with friends in the football industry and “some of the things I heard (about the infamous Gold Coast camp) are really quite frightening’’.
“And there is no chance that I would have allowed it to happen in my time in football,’’ Williams told radio FIVEaa.
“I did hear that grown men were subjected to being tied up nude. I look at that and go that is bullying, it’s humiliating, what are you trying to do here?
“People getting hijacked and blindfolded and all this sort of stuff
“I hope it’s not true but what I heard was said to ‘Sauce’ Jacobs (Crows ruckman Sam Jacobs) was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard.
“I would have left the club that minute if someone said that to me. It was very personal and I understood it more than most.’’
Williams, who coached the Power to its only premiership in 2004 and is in talks with St Kilda over a coaching or development role for next season, said someone must pay the price for what happened.
“Typically that’s what should happen,’’ he said.
“I’m not after anyone, I have no idea who’s in charge and who’s not but the system is broken and someone has to take responsibility for it.
“Certainly they need to say sorry, they need to apologise genuinely to families and friends and it will take some time to get it (respect) back.
“The Crows have ben a standout club for a long time and this occasion has muddied the waters a lot.’’
Williams said Adelaide also needs to make someone accountable for the succession of hamstring injuries that robbed the team of key players this season as it crashed from grand finalist to 12th.
“Their hamstring problems were a disaster and someone needs to put their hand up for that too,’’ he said.
“I can recall at Port Adelaide when a spate of hamstring injuries happened and people got sacked straight away, things changed.
“The fact of the matter is that players have only got a short time in football and you can’t waste a season and put their future, their lifestyle, their families, all this in jeopardy, it’s not good enough.’’
The Crows refuse to get involved in he said, she said discussions about the camp but coach Don Pyke admitted the club had “made some mistakes’’ this year.
“We’re all people — we’re all humans,’’ Pyke said at Adelaide’s club champion dinner on Friday night.
“And we’re all good people. Let’s remember that.
“From a reflection point of viewpoint, it’s important we acknowledge that we made some mistakes. That’s what humans do.
“In our drive to improve in our program, both in our physical and mental side, in hindsight seeking gains, maybe we pushed too far. And that, I regret.
“However, from these mistakes we learn. And that’s allowed us to refocus in the last half of the season and finish 6-3 and to plan for our program going forward.’’
andrew.capel@news.com.au