Adelaide Crows: Club says assistant coach Ben Hart will avoid an internal sanction for potential training breach in Barossa Valley
Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks says assistant Ben Hart will not receive an internal sanction from the potential training breach in the Barossa Valley.
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Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks says assistant coach Ben Hart will not receive any internal punishment for the potential breach of the AFL’s strict training protocols saying “this is not one person’s fault”.
The Crows announced on Thursday that a portion of a training session involving interstate players self-isolating at the Novotel Resort at the Barossa Valley may have breached the AFL’s protocols of no more than two players together at one time.
Hart, who went to Melbourne after the AFL season was shutdown because of COVID-19 was supervising the training session with 16 of the Crows players who went interstate on a sectioned off area of the adjacent Tanunda Pines golf course.
Nicks told The Advertiser as a result of some of the wording in a kicking drill towards the end of the session, around eight players ended up close to each other rather than the approved two.
Nicks spoke with Hart and the players in the Barossa on Friday.
“To be honest they are doing it quite tough, our intention was to go in there and get it right and we got it wrong,” he said.
“I guess there is disappointment from the club point of view, I’m disappointed that our communication around the session was not up to scratch and I’ve put my hand up and unfortunately for our young playing group it is a really tough time for them, they don’t have the experience that some of us do.
“I’ve spoken to Ben a number of times, Ben is doing whatever he can to support the group … and we will support Ben in anyway that we can as well
“No, none whatsoever (whether Hart could face any club action). This is not one person at fault, this comes back to a number of things such as communication, by no means does this come down to one person.”
The 16 players at the Barossa Valley are mainly made up of the club’s first to fourth year players, many of whom went back interstate during the shutdown.
Leadership group member Tom Doedee is also at the Novotel as is Kyle Hartigan.
Nicks said the difficulties with the residential situation of many of the young players was why they were out at the Barossa Valley.
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“A couple of issues that we have with these players is that we have a lot of young guys, a lot of first and second players who have come back from interstate,” he said.
“A lot of those guys they live with house parents, we have people who help us look after those players and if they are to go back and try and move into those houses we are starting to put those people in an (uncomfortable) position.
“And part of the reason why we went down to the facility in the first place to try and do what we could for the community and keep our players isolated.
“If it gets to a point if there is no benefit from our players being there then we will have to look at it, especially from a mental point of view how our players are handling it in isolation there and not at their own properties.”
The AFL was tipped off about the Crows training session on Thursday afternoon, prompting the league to contact the club.
The club investigated the claim and, after speaking with the AFL, self-reported the incident to SA Police.
On Friday, Nicks said the realisation the players had potentially crossed the line in a kicking drill took some time to sink in.
“When that drill finished, we had some communication not until later in the afternoon where we were speaking with (assistant coach) Ben Hart and we decided we should investigate this and there was a fair bit of news coming through,” Nicks said.
“It is one of those things, we hadn’t realised as a playing group we had overstepped the mark. When you look back on it, it was players kicking in pairs that were coming too tight together.
The AFL is set to announce potential punishments for the breach of league training protocols tomorrow.
The club has been spared punishment by SA Police, with the state’s top cop describing the incident as “what you might describe as an honest mistake”.
Before the incident, the Crows had told the AFL and SA Police that 16 players returning from interstate – mainly first to fourth-year footballers – would isolate with Hart at the Novotel resort.
Nicks said the initial agreement with SAPOL gave the club “the authority for those players to be there and spend time training together in pairs”.
But towards the end of the first training session – on a sectioned-off area of the Tanunda Pines golf course – they formed a group of eight.
“Coming towards the end of the session in the end we had around eight players that were kicking footballs in the near vicinity of each other,” Nicks said.
“We were supposed to be in pairs and that wasn’t how it finished.”
The Crows players were still at the Novotel on Friday. They were only seen retrieving food left outside their doors by a club dietitian.
Nicks said the players would go into a “slightly stricter isolation … just because we want to get things right”.
Police commissioner Grant Stevens said he understood it was an inadvertent mistake by the Crows.
“At this point, my advice is that they’re being dealt with in an educated way rather than a punitive way,” he said on Friday.
“So, we would certainly be hoping if they are provided this advice and education that they would comply going forward, otherwise we will see a different outcome.”
Commissioner Stevens added the educational approach is one that has been taken with “so many people” across the state who have needed guidance on adhering to self-isolation laws, and the Crows were no different.
Originally published as Adelaide Crows: Club says assistant coach Ben Hart will avoid an internal sanction for potential training breach in Barossa Valley