Ricciuto prepared to walk
ADELAIDE powerbroker Mark Ricciuto says he will step aside if he can’t help rescue the club from its downward spiral.
But Ricciuto, the Crows’ football director and the club’s only Brownlow medallist, said he was committed to help the club rise from “a rotten couple of years”.
“If we can’t do it, then I’m happy to pass the buck to someone else and give them a go to try and turn the club around,” Ricciuto told Triple M yesterday.
“We know we have had a rotten couple of years. We’re more unhappy than you could imagine about it.”
The Crows have missed the finals in consecutive seasons since their 2017 grand final loss to Richmond.
An external review at the end of last season resulted in the departures of coach Don Pyke, football manager Brett Burton and assistant coach Scott Camporeale.
Adelaide has also lost a swag of high-profile players since the grand final loss and, in recent weeks, been criticised by club great Andrew McLeod for a poor culture.
Ricciuto on Wednesday detailed the losses of many players including forward Mitch McGovern, who walked out at the end of 2018 to join Carlton, and defender Jake Lever, who left for Melbourne after the grand final loss.
Ricciuto said both departed for more money than the Crows were willing to pay. McGovern’s manager Colin Young hit back, saying McGovern wanted out because of the Crows’ controlversial mind-training preseason camp in 2018.
“I wasn’t trying to offend Mitch McGovern or Jake Lever, because if they get a contract offer that is higher and they get some security over a longer term, then good luck to them for taking it. ” Ricciuto said.
“That’s what most people in society would do if they get a couple of hundred grand more a year for five years.”
Ricciuto’s comments come as Adelaide prepared to fly to the Gold Coast to play its next three games in Queensland while staying in a hub. mer Geelong Falcons premiership mentor Dan O’Keefe.
The ex-Sydney listed player and Geelong VFL assistant made the move to Carlton at the end of last year into a fulltime development position, keen to take the next step on his journey in the football industry.
A former Blues supporter, O’Keefe admits his entry into the AFL system has been far different to how he had expected it would be, but says the new compact football department at Carlton — as is the case across the AFL — has the potential to advance his development even quicker.
“It is vastly different to how I thought it was going to be,” O’Keefe said.
“It has certainly been a very interesting first year in the system as a full-time coach. But I think having come back in the initial 24 to return to the club in the football department has increased my responsibilities and with that comes a better opportunity to gain experience. So I am extremely grateful to be back, but also excited about the opportunities.
“The club is incredibly wonderful and I grew up as a Carlton supporter so that makes it cooler from my end as you have an emotional attachment to the club.
“It is exciting looking back at all of the history of Carton because it is a very successful club. When you enter into a club you understand the enormity of it with its corporates and the member base, and to be part of this club moving forward — and we do feel we are moving forward — is really exciting.”
O’Keefe has been charged with looking after the Carlton “reserves” team in 2020, which will feature non-selected players on the AFL list competing against whomever the Blues face on any given weekend.
As someone with a background in development of young talent, it is a role that suits him to a T.
But it also means he is spending little time with his former captain at the Falcons, Sam Walsh, who has established himself in Carlton’s best 22 and is now a member of the team’s leadership group.
O’Keefe says his relationship with Walsh remains strong and, while he speaks to him less than previously, he has loved watching his progress since being drafted.
“It is a very different role with Sam to what I had previously and a lot less contact,” he said.
“He is a senior player and my role is more with the development of the younger players and reserves players.
“Sam is not in that group clearly, so it is not like when we were at the Falcons when he was my captain and I was his coach and we were talking every day, but to sit back and watch from the side, it is wonderful to see how he has grown not just as a footballer but also as a character.
“He is in the leadership group this year which is testament to someone so young, but he is worthy of that. He is a