Taxi ride drug bust fury

Gutted, angry Adelaide look at sanctions for C rows duo

ADELAIDE is unable to explain why star players Brad Crouch and Tyson Stengle were pulled over by police in a taxi in the city just after 5am on Monday and found with drugs, which has threatened their future sat the club.

The pair will not be charged by police but will face counselling and a club sanction.

They were stopped by police on Grenfell Street and found in possession of an illicit substance – believed to be cocaine – a week after their season ended.

It is the second time St eng le has been involved with police this year after he was charged with drink-driving in April. He is due to face court in October.

Adelaide football manager Adam Kelly would not reveal what drug the players were found with or whether they had used it, saying they had a right to a degree of privacy.

“They were in a taxi and police obviously had a reason to pull them over. I’m not aware of what the reason was, but when they were pulled over they were found to be in possession of an illicit drug,” Kelly said.

“They are still two members of the community who are entitled to some privacy around the matter and it’ s not for us to disclose (what drug they were found with). Put simply it’s an illicit drug, it’s illegal and not meeting community standards and the standards of the football club.

“I’ m not aware of what state they were in at the time … as you can imagine they are embarrassed and disappointed, they feel like they’ve let the club down, their teammates down, our members and supporters, which they have.

“I’m not going to adopt a position without the input of the club leaders, but what I can say is they share the same levels of disappointment… it’ s fair to say on what happened earlier this year and the last 24 hours, a club sanction would appear to be inevitable.

“We know it’s a societal issue but they should be held to a higher standard being role models in society, that’s part of thegame.”

Kelly said he was “gutted, disappointed and angry” with the pair’s actions but initial inquiries did not reveal that other players were involved with them at the time.

Free agent Crouch’s management was meant to be meeting with the Crows to discuss his contract on Monday afternoon but instead Kelly was holding a press conference where he said those talks had been put on hold. “We need to work through these issues before we start talking about contracts ,” Kelly said.

Stengle faces an uncertain future despite signing a twoyear deal in August.