SA Premier Steven Marshall leaves door open for further investigations into the Crows’ controversial 2018 Gold Coast camp
It’s the issue the Crows can’t shake: their infamous 2018 pre-season camp to the Gold Coast. Now, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall says he has found some of the training exercises “disturbing” and that it may warrant further investigation.
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SOUTH Australia’s workplace health and safety regulator, SafeWork SA could be called in to investigate the Adelaide Football Club’s infamous 2018 pre-season training camp, after premier Steven Marshall said he was disturbed by reports that players were put through traumatic activities in an attempt to build their resilience.
Further details about the Crows’ controversial Gold Coast camp came to light over the weekend, with a report in The Age revealing players were told to hurl abuse at a teammate about his childhood trauma while he was also crawling towards a combat knife to free himself from a contraption tied to a tree.
On Monday, Mr Marshall said he found the reports regarding the training camp to be “quite disturbing”.
“I think everybody who goes to any work environment should be safe from bullying or intimidation, so I think that there are some genuine concerns about what went on,” he said.
Asked whether he would support a SafeWork SA investigation into the infamous camp, Mr Marshall said: “Let me just check whether they (the Crows) are subject to that legislation, but I think it would be an interesting thing to explore.”
The camp, which was run by consultancy group Collective Mind, also saw players surrounded by fake automatic weapons, and another instance where an Indigenous artefact was used as a talking stick for a group activity, which Adelaide’s Indigenous players considered insensitive.
The AFL’s integrity unit investigated the camp in 2018 and on October 25 of that year announced that Adelaide would not face sanctions after concluding it had not been a breach of industry rules.
A SafeWork SA spokesperson confirmed that the regulatory body had not received any notifications or complaints against the Adelaide Football Club in relation to the camp.
“SafeWork SA does not have jurisdiction over Queensland businesses, however, where South Australian businesses operate interstate, we may have jurisdiction over activities relating to safe systems of work,” she said.
Crows ruckman Reilly O’Brien, who was on that camp, said the players just wanted to move on.
“It’s obviously been lingering around for a while, but as a group we’ve moved on well and truly from that,” he said.
“We don’t really talk about that anymore, it doesn’t really come up that much, so as a group we’ve moved on … but it’s interesting it’s still hanging around.
“As a group and as a player, I’m comfortable with it being in the past and I’m just looking forward to building something really special with the current group we’ve got.
“We’ve got a new coach, a new footy department, a lot of new players, I feel like we’ve moved on well and truly from that and we’re just looking forward to building together this new group going forward.“
O’Brien said he wasn’t part of the group that was reportedly told to hurl personal abuse at a teammate and instead his “middle tier” group of players were put through different bonding exercises of which he has no ill memories.
AFL Players’ association chief executive Paul Marsh said on Monday that he expected the camp was an issue that would not go away.
“It is obviously an issue that keeps coming up, what I would say is what happened at the camp was clearly unacceptable,” he said on SEN SA.
“Clearly it wasn’t a psychologically safe environment for the players, we spoke to a number of the players at the time and for whatever reason the players (then) didn’t have as strong of view as what is coming out about the camp now.
“It has been investigated by the AFL’s integrity unit, the club has admitted they got it wrong and there has been significant personnel change there.
“I’m not sure what more can be done on this issue, if they had their time again there might have been some things that everyone would have done differently including the players.
“But I think it will be an issue that keeps on keeping on because there seems to be some things that haven’t been said about it.”
Despite concluding the camp had not been a breach of industry rules, the AFL’s integrity unit did determine the Crows did not do enough due diligence in identifying what was going to take place on that camp and it recommended further investment in the club’s integrity area.
The club itself admitted that some of its players felt what happened on the camp was an intrusion of their privacy and were made uncomfortable.
The Crows also pledged to appoint a full-time security, risk and integrity manager following the investigation, with the role previously part-time.
The AFL investigation was prompted when the Crows contacted the league and asked for a probe following Port Adelaide Premiership coach Mark Williams saying on radio a month prior he had heard players were tied up nude on the camp, an allegation that was ultimately unfounded.
However, Crows chairman Rob Chapman told The Advertiser in 2018 that that specific allegation had been the “tipping point” for requesting an AFL investigation into the camp.
He added the AFC board did not sign off on the controversial camp beforehand.
A Crows spokesman said the club had not received any enquiries from SafeWork SA.
Originally published as SA Premier Steven Marshall leaves door open for further investigations into the Crows’ controversial 2018 Gold Coast camp
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