Adelaide’s on-field leaders wanted coach Don Pyke to leave Jake Lever out of AFL finals teams unless the defender committed to Crows

ADELAIDE Crows defender Jake Lever’s final month – and exit – from the club created unrest among his team-mates at West Lakes.

Crows defender Jake Lever, left, upset senior Adelaide players during the AFL finals series leading some to ask coach Don Pyke, right, to keep him out of the line-up while there was no commitment to stay with the club beyond this season. Picture: Michael Klein.

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JAKE Lever’s exit from the Adelaide Football Club was laced with unrest within the player group well before the uncontracted defender publicly declared his intent to join Melbourne.

The Advertiser has been told senior Crows players approached coach Don Pyke at the start of the AFL final series recommending Lever not play while declining to follow young forward Mitch McGovern’s lead in committing to a new deal at West Lakes.

This coincided with inaugural Crows coach Graham Cornes writing on the eve of the AFL finals in late August — in his weekly column in The Advertiser — that both McGovern and Lever be kept out of finals until they agreed to new contracts with Adelaide.

Taylor Walker and Jake Lever with boxer Danny Green. Picture: Simon Cross

McGovern gave his commitment two days later, after passing up go-home offers at Fremantle and West Coast to extend his deal at Adelaide until the end of 2020. Lever did not, confirming long-held fears at West Lakes that he would seek a trade to Melbourne.

Pyke played Lever in all three AFL finals last month. McGovern missed the preliminary and grand finals with a left-hamstring strain suffered at training.

Adelaide football chief Brett Burton has confirmed the Crows did know of Lever’s intentions for a “couple of weeks” before Tuesday’s public announcement by club and player.

Lever on Tuesday described his telephone calls to his team-mates to tell them of his decision to quit the club — after three seasons and 56 AFL games — was the “hardest thing” to do.

But the response from the leadership group, in particular captain Taylor Walker, was savage.

Former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon yesterday described Walker as “furious”.

“Tex Walker, as the captain of the football club, was furious and let (Lever) know in no uncertain manner,” Lyon said on Melbourne radio SEN on Wednesday. “I’m told it was very aggressive.”

Lever is firm in his intent to take up a four-year, $3.6 million deal with Melbourne. Demons football chief Josh Mahoney has confirmed his club is prepared to put its current first-round draft pick and next year’s second-round call on the table even before the official trade period opens at Etihad Stadium on Monday.

Jake Lever takes on Rhys Stanley in the Preliminary Final. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images

But this falls short of Adelaide’s early hopes of claiming two first-round draft picks for Lever.

Advertiser columnist Kane Cornes says negotiations between Adelaide and Melbourne on Lever have been long running — and the first meeting between Crows and Demons officials highlighted the unease between the clubs.

“This negotiation has been ongoing for a long time,” Cornes said. “That (first) offer was slid across the table to the Crows official. He looked at it, shut his computer, didn’t say a word, got up and left the cafe. Just walked out. No dialogue whatsoever.”

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Originally published as Adelaide’s on-field leaders wanted coach Don Pyke to leave Jake Lever out of AFL finals teams unless the defender committed to Crows