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A corporate “mind performance company” has shifted blame for the Adelaide Crows’ poor season onto the AFL club, denying key complaints aired during the year about a controversial pre-season camp.
Key points:
- “Mind performance company” Collective Mind held pre-season camp for Adelaide Crows
- The club and the company parted ways in June after concerns from players
- Collective Mind has now spoken out, denying responsibility for Crows’ poor season
In a press conference held this morning, Collective Mind owners Amon Wolfe and Derek Leddie finally broken their silence about the controversial mind training regime.
The Melbourne-based business denied playing the Richmond Tigers theme song during the camp.
The company also said Crows captain Taylor Walker was the one who came up with the idea of players taking their now infamous “power stance” while the national anthem was played during last year’s finals series.
Mr Wolfe and Mr Leddie said they only heard positive feedback about the camp from Crows players immediately after it was held on the Gold Coast in January.
“Some said it was the best camp that they had ever been on, some said it made them a better husband, others said they wished they did it earlier,” Mr Wolfe said.
The Crows announced in June that they had cut ties with Collective Mind after signing a two-year deal with the mind training company last year.
The team finished 12th in the AFL this season and missed the finals, after making the grand final last year and losing to Richmond.
Decision to part ways mutual, company says
Collective Mind said it had opted to stay quiet until after the season “out of respect for the players and the club”, with Mr Leddie saying they were not “dumped” by the Crows.
“We initiated the conversation and we agreed to part ways,” he said.
The pair denied the Tigers’ theme song was played while players were blindfolded on a bus, a rumour which started soon after the camp.
“Contrary to speculation, the Richmond theme song was not played on loop — it was not played at all,” Mr Wolfe said.
“Absolutely it was not played,” Mr Leddie added.
He said it was up to the Crows to work out what went wrong with the season.
“We’re one part of a very large high-performance program at the club,” he said.
‘Digging stick’ a mistake, but ‘power stance’ Walker’s idea
One element Collective Mind admitted to getting wrong was using an Aboriginal digging stick instead of a talking stick during sessions at the camp.
“[One player] was concerned about whether that was the appropriate use of that implement for that use,” Mr Leddie said.
But he said using the digging stick had been approved by an elder as okay three days later.
The camp came after Crows players stood with their legs apart and arms by their sides, staring at their opponents while Advance Australia Fair played ahead of final matches last year.
Mr Leddie said the Crows had been taught about “presence” during the 2017 season, but the “power stance” was Taylor Walker’s idea.
“It was not our idea,” he said.
“From that training, the captain decided to take that onto the field.”
The Crows declined to comment today.
In June, Crows football general manager Brett Burton said there had been “some good impact with the program” in 2017 but in 2018 “it hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to”.
“We don’t need to go into all the specifics because I don’t think that’s fair … but what I will say is that there are no lingering issues from the camp,” he said.
“That is categoric — there are no lingering issues with our playing group and with our staff from that camp.
“That’s all our fans need to know … we’ve got a playing group that is happy.”
Topics: australian-football-league, sport, psychology, adelaide-5000, sa, melbourne-3000, vic
