Adelaide Crows news: Collective Mind’s Amon Woulfe on SafeWork SA’s camp ruling, Darren Burgess sets his sights on young Crows
SafeWork SA cleared the Crows over the infamous camp but Collective Mind’s Amon Woulfe is still hurting. He’s always stood by what they did and now asks ‘when’s enough?’.
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An owner of the mindset training company behind Adelaide’s infamous 2018 pre-season camp says he is relieved but still deeply hurt despite SafeWork SA clearing the club of wrongdoing.
Collective Mind’s Amon Woulfe said the workplace regulator’s year-long investigation was extraordinarily detailed and he maintained all along there was nothing to hide.
SafeWork SA last week found the camp, which was run by Collective Mind on the Gold Coast four months after the Crows’ grand final loss to Richmond, did not breach any work health and safety laws.
The camp caused tensions among Adelaide’s squad and aspects of it offended some Indigenous players.
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Woulfe told FIVEaa his company, which he owned with fellow performance-based mindset expert Derek Leddie, responded to everything SafeWork SA wanted to know and “we stand by what we did out there”.
“We’ve all been completely transparent,” Woulfe said.
“This is a government regulator, there’s no biases here, no influences.
“They’ve come to have a really hard look at this and found absolutely nothing.
“They asked everything – every rumour, every accusation that’s been put out there and they also looked at due diligence, player welfare, duty of care.
“I feel relieved (at the outcome) – I’m grateful for the investigation to really just draw a line under this – but not vindicated.
“I think we’re still deeply hurt and have taken a massive amount of damage over this.”
Woulfe said SafeWork SA’s investigation was the third into the camp in three-and-a-half years.
“They went over this with a fine-tooth comb,” he said.
Asked what he would say to those that continued to doubt the happenings of the camp, Woulfe said: “How many more times do we need to go over this?
“How many more investigations do we need?
“When does this stop?
“Are we going to be looking at this in one years, two years, five years, 10 years from now?
“When’s enough?”
Wolfe said the past four years had taken a toll on him, Leddie and their families.
“I’m feeling really pleased for the likes of (former Crows football manager) Brett Burton (ex-coach) Don Pyke and other key figures as well, that they can now move on,” he said.
Wolfe said he had commenced legal proceedings against some media organisations’ reporting of the camp.
“There’s still a road to go with this,” he said.
Fitness guru excited by ‘incredible’ young Crow
- Simeon Thomas-Wilson
New Adelaide high performance manager Darren Burgess says he is particularly excited at the chance to work with young Crows star Riley Thilthorpe and is confident he can help get Darcy Fogarty more involved in games as per Matthew Nicks’ wishes.
After helping Melbourne to its first premiership in 57-years, Burgess has returned to Adelaide to be closer to his two children.
“Anybody with kids would know that you want to be around them and my kids have been in Adelaide while the borders to Melbourne have pretty much been shut for two years,” he said.
“So it has been a really tough year on that front.
“It has just been brutal and I’m sure there are other families that have been in that situation... having the kids in a different state and not being able to be around them has been incredibly tough.”
Burgess has also worked at Port Adelaide and Arsenal and Liverpool in England.
He said the youthfulness of the Crows list excited him.
“The two games that we played against the Crows their workrate was outstanding so credit to the high performance staff who were at the club,” he said.
“Their effort and enthusiasm was outstanding.”
Burgess’ arrival at West Lakes comes at an off-season Nicks sees as crucial for Fogarty if he is to realise his potential.
“When he catches the ball he generally puts it through the big sticks which is nice,” Burgess said about Fogarty.
“The more often Nicksy can get him involved the better so hopefully I can help with that.
“I don’t know where he is at physically but over the next four week’s we will find that out as we connect with each player and see where they are at.”
However it is another young South Australian forward who Burgess is excited about working with.
“The midfield group and their ability to spread has been really exciting to watch from a distance,” he said.
“But it is hard to comment on individuals because I’ve been with the Dees and it’s more than a full time job.
“I really like what Thilthorpe has been able to do in his first year, it has been quite incredible so it’s exciting to get to work with him.”
Burgess, who has applied for a permit to get into SA after returning to Melbourne from Perth on Thursday, has received a fair amount of praise for his work in the Demons’ flag success.
He said there was “no secret sauce”.
“Between myself and the high performance and medical team we were just able to provide the players with resilience and belief in their bodies and provide Goody (Simon Goodwin) and the coaches players who were able to realise his game plan,” he said.
“There’s no secret sauce or anything like that... it was just a great team effort.”
Revealed: How Crows will navigate Tex’s pre-season return
Taylor Walker is expected to return to Adelaide training in early December as Crows list manager Justin Reid says there will be “no integration” of the former captain back into the playing group.
Walker still has three matches to serve from his six-game ban for a racial slur towards North Adelaide’s Indigenous player Robbie Young in July.
Reid said on Wednesday that he expected Walker to be at the club next year.
“Tex is wanted and he will be at the football club next year,” he said.
“There is support around the whole playing group and Tex this off-season and we expect Tex to be at the football club.”
When he fronted the media for the first time since copping the ban, and a $20,000 fine towards an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander charity, Walker said his playing future was not his priority at the time rather it was repairing relationships and learning.
The 31-year-old had only weeks prior to making the slur signed a new one-year deal at the Crows.
Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks used his speech at the Crows club champion award to say that Walker was wanted at the club in 2022.
When it first was revealed that Walker was being investigated for the slur, a number of Crows players were left very disappointed in the former captain.
Reid said he was confident there would need to be no integration of Walker, when he returns as expected to West Lakes on December 6 along with the Crows other five-years and plus players.
“Tex has always been part of the team,” he said.
“There is no integration, he is part of the team.
“I think like all AFL players, the five plus years one are expected back in December across the competition.
“A lot of the younger players are expected back in November and the five plus players will return in December.”
While Walker’s future at the Crows is a lot clearer, the future of out of contract Ben Davis is still up in the air.
When the investigation into Walker was first revealed, and the former captain took leave from the club, Davis trained the next day in a jumper featuring the Crows 2021 Indigenous guernsey – which he designed.
He then wore it while on the bench as the club’s medical substitute in the Showdown that weekend, one of his four appearances this season.
Reid said the scandal involving Walker had not impacted how the 24-year-old or the club was looking at his future.
“No, we treat every individual independently when it comes to their contracts,” he said,
“Ben finished the year really strongly, and he is really clear that it is a bit of a holding pattern until we get through the trade period.
“So we will pick that up again post trade period.”
Davis has played six games for the Crows.
CROWS BOSS CALLS FOR PLAYER JABS
Adelaide chairman John Olsen says running next year’s AFL season will be “complicated” unless players are vaccinated against Covid-19.
Olsen, who has had both jabs, told The Advertiser that getting Crows players and staff fully vaccinated was “a work in progress” and they would soon hold an education session.
The AFL commission is yet to make a call on whether it would introduce mandatory vaccinations next year — a position opposed by the players’ union.
Already overseas a number of NBL franchises have cut players because they were unwilling to get the jabs.
“I would encourage everybody who is involved in the club to get their vaccination,” Olsen said.
“We will have an education session where we will quantify any concerns that people have.
“But it has to be understood for the AFL season to go ahead next year — if for example airlines are mandating that you have to be vaccinated to be able to fly — how are you going to attend interstate matches?
“And when you come to stadiums there could also be a requirement to enter a stadium.
“These are issues that we are working through at the moment.”
There is a view among clubs the 2022 season might be more challenging than this year given the country will open up and more players will be exposed to Covid-19 in the community.
So far only one player – former Essendon defender Conor McKenna – has tested positive to the virus.
Clubs that are not in the grand final have around 80 per cent of players with their first jab.
Olsen said it was “the way forward”.
“It will be so complicated to run a season next year if vaccinations aren’t the order of the day,” he said.
Major sporting leagues such as the NFL, NBA and the English Premier League have chosen not to mandate vaccinations for players.
But they have imposed restrictions on non-vaccinated players.
On Thursday AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the league would work on encouraging players to be vaccinated after Saturday’s grand final.
“Whatever next year throws up we will deal with it, we have very resilient players and coaches and clubs,” he said.
“It was different last year in hubs, we surged mostly avoiding hubs this year and we will deal with what it looks like next year.”
New AFL competition management boss Laura Kane has a portfolio that includes Covid management after spearheading the vaccination of the entire Kangaroos football department in her role at the club.
Last week she said she believes players understand they must be vaccinated to play next year even if there is not a league-wide mandate.
“I think there’s a way to go,” she said of an AFL mandate.
“We are just encouraging people to get vaccinated on their own accord.”
Crows gun takes crucial step on comeback trail
Wayne Milera says he is on track for a return to training after Christmas, after a second season cruelled by injury.
After a foot injury limited him to only a handful of games in 2020, after he signed a five-year deal at Adelaide, Milera then tore his patella tendon in the a pre-season hitout against Port Adelaide in early 2021.
He has started running out on the Crows’ training ground as he ramps up his latest return to action.
“About three weeks ago I started running on ground,” he said.
“I started on the Alter G and just built up slowly from there maybe three weeks prior to that and then build to on-ground running.
“The first couple of running sessions out there were a bit awkward because I hadn’t run for about five or six months so it was a bit weird.
“But now it is starting to feel a bit more natural again.”
Milera will go on a small break with partner Nina and new child Carter but will return to West Lakes quickly to keep up his rehab.
“We will go away and get some sun but then I’m back in here,” he said.
“I think it is important to be here and get it right, I would rather hang around and get it right then be back where I was.
“It’s only a few months until the boys are back so hopefully I can get that training under my belt and hopefully I can have a good crack after Christmas (at joining the main group).”
He is hoping his time in the rehab group will soon be behind him.
He said he had learned a lot patience being away from the game for so long.
“For sure, five months of pretty much being in the gym not seeing any sun or outdoor environment really,” he said.
“I was stuck there for most of the year.
“It has been pretty challenging not being able to play and spending a lot of time in the rehab group away from the main group.
“(But) some of the things I have learnt over the past two years is to look at the positive side of things.”
Milera will be a welcome addition to a Crows side that has been crying out for his skill and speed.
He has been thrown between forward, midfield and defence in his Crows career to date but would add some pace and creativity to the Adelaide engine room.
Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks did hint in 2020 that he saw Milera, 24, as a midfielder.
Crows prepare to lock in ‘next-gen’ coach
Adelaide is preparing for off-season talks with Matthew Nicks on a contract extension, with Crows chairman John Olsen saying he wants to back in the “next-generation coach”.
Nicks’ contract at West Lakes expires at the end of next year, but Olsen told The Advertiser he had been so impressed with his performance that he wanted to explore a new deal.
“From the outset, as I have got to know and observe Matthew Nicks, I have been really impressed as to the quality of the person he is, the focus that he has and the prioritising of others,” Olsen said.
“In my mind, he is a next-generation coach that is bringing that skill set to our playing group at this stage.
“We would be looking in the off-season (at) reviewing forward contracts and the board will discuss that matter, no doubt.
“And that will depend on the negotiations between him and his management.
“But I would like to stress that I have been really impressed with Matthew Nicks and where he is taking the culture and the playing group and the buy in from the playing group to him and the direction of the club.”
With legendary Alastair Clarkson now on the open market Olsen said not even the four-time Hawthorn premiership coach would impact his belief that Nicks was the right person for the Crows.
“We won’t be making a phone call to Alastair, (because) one, he has made it clear he is not available, and two, I have been really impressed with Matthew Nicks,” he said.
“And I think Matthew has to be given the full opportunity to realise the outcome that he is trying to achieve with our group.
“I want to back him in 100 per cent for that outcome and the journey that we are on.”
Adelaide scored a big win this week with wantaway Sydney Swan Jordan Dawson nominating the Crows as the club he wants to go — trumping fierce rivals Port Adelaide.
Olsen said it was the first step in his dream for the Crows to become a destination club.
“The fact that Jordan looked at both South Australian clubs and chose the Adelaide Crows we were obviously pleased with that,” he said.
“We did present to Jordan on the culture of the club, the fact that we are on this rebuild with the talent that is being developed at the club.
“We are on a good journey and him being a part of that would be good for him, personally and for the club.”
Dawson was impressed by a visit to his home town Robe from board member — and football idol — Mark Ricciuto, who met with the Swan’s family.
“That certainly helps,” Olsen said.
“But our endeavour is to make the Adelaide Crows a destination club going forward.”
D-Day looms on Crows new HQ
Adelaide is expecting to find out next month if the club can establish its headquarters at the former Gasworks site in Brompton.
The Crows, along with Melbourne-based developer Pelligra have submitted a proposal as part of Renewal SA’s tender process for the 6ha disused gasworks site.
It is one of two sites the Crows have zeroed in on for a new home, with Adelaide chairman John Olsen saying Thebarton Oval was still an option for the club.
Olsen and Crows chief executive Tim Silvers will tour Fremantle’s facility this week when they fly to Perth for the grand final.
“We’ve had a look previously at West Coast’s facility and given we are in Perth we will have a look at Fremantle’s because they have a fairly substantial relationship with the local government body there,” he said.
“We won’t be attempting to put in the infrastructure they have … just simply to check what we have submitted to Renewal SA in our proposal for the site at Brompton for example that we maximise our opportunities there.”
Olsen said the club was expecting to find out if it could progress its plan for Brompton next month.
“The original timeline we understood it was a month to submit an expression of interest, which we’ve done,” he said.
But despite this Olsen said Thebarton was still just as live an option.
“We are still doing work on the Thebarton site, we have in tandem undertaken assessments of both sites,” he said.
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