Adelaide Crows ruckman Reilly O’Brien apologises after tweeting pre-game notes on West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui
West Coast captain Shannon Hurn says Nic Naitanui will use Adelaide big man Reilly O’Brien’s social media blunder – in which he described the Eagles ruckman as “lazy and unfit” – as motivation this weekend.
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Adelaide ruckman Reilly O’Brien could have his work cut out against a fired-up Nic Naitanui who will use leaked pre-game notes as “fuel” against the young Crow when they face-off this weekend.
O’Brien apologised and said he’d “had an absolute mare” after a malfunctioning phone had accidentally tweeted his memos – which he uses to “pump myself up” before matches – that described Naitanui as “lazy and unfit”.
The initial tweet, which has now been deleted, said: “Run off him hard, he is lazy and unfit. Will have a field day getting ball and marking everything.
“Get to front and have grunt around the ground, and get ball on deck, beat him in this area.”
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Crows coach Matthew Nicks said he had spoken with O’Brien following the social media gaff.
“We had a chat straight away, it was an honest mistake,” Nicks said.
“You could see … he was shaken up by it.
“He’s got huge respect for (Naitanui) and the footy he’s playing at the moment is second-to-none when it comes to ruck work, and it’s quite a scary thing to come up against.
“(O’Brien) is a true professional … part of being an athlete is finding weaknesses, finding areas that maybe you can expose in opposition.
“You don’t normally tweet that out, he had some phone issues … now he just needs to get ready for that first centre bounce because Nic Nat will be fired up.”
West Coast midfielder Shannon Hurn agreed that the tweet would “fuel” the Eagles’ ruckman.
“He’s quite competitive and I think that will fuel him a little bit for sure,” Hurn told SEN Breakfast radio.
“Also, it’s not a surprise, he knows that’s what teams try to do against him and they think that’s where they can beat him in that area.
“If we put good pressure on around the ball and get the ball going our way … he’s aware of that but I think certainly he’ll be keen to get out tomorrow and compete.
“I suppose we’ll see what the end result is.”
O’Brien clarified the post on Thursday afternoon and said he had huge respect for his Eagles opponent.
“My phone decided to cark it and I’ve had an absolute mare on my social media today,” he said.
“I tweeted some of my game notes in my notes on my iPhone.
“I take these notes every week before the game to try and pump myself up and get a bit of confidence going into the game.
“Make a few things up, as you can see in the notes, to try and give myself confidence.
“Coming up against this week who I think is the best ruckman in the competition at the moment, Nic Nat, I was just trying to get some confidence and get going.”
O’Brien conceded he’s put extra pressure on himself to perform against Naitanui on Saturday.
“So I have really got to walk the walk and try and get a kick against the superstar that is Nic Nat,” he said.
had a mare, apologies 🤦â€â™‚ï¸ pic.twitter.com/9j2BPe2vD9
— Reilly O'Brien (@reillyob) July 9, 2020
The Crows will not caution O’Brien in any way for the tweet, with the view that it was just an unfortunate occurrence.
O’Brien’s subsequent video explaining the Tweet drew praise from many on social media.
“Good on him for accepting and owning the mistake and not going with ‘my phone was hacked’ could’ve been worse,” Kane Cornes wrote.
His Port Adelaide premiership teammate Warren Tredrea said “I love that he owned it”.
Even the Adelaide Crows account poked fun at their ruckman’s “mare” posting this tweet:
WEST COAST
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) July 9, 2020
âƒcan't bowl
âƒcan't throw
âƒcan really play footy
Reckon it's time to sort you out with a new phone ROB 📱😜#weflyasone https://t.co/2BJzOp7fgq
Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd said the Tweet would mean there would be an increased focus on O’Brien’s contest with Naitanui.
O’Brien is now the Crows’ No. 1 ruckman after the departure of Sam Jacobs to GWS in the off-season.
Originally published as Adelaide Crows ruckman Reilly O’Brien apologises after tweeting pre-game notes on West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui