Adelaide Crows rocked by bizarre ‘wife-sharing’ advice during horror pre-season camp 

‘What did we just do?’ AFL club is left rocked by a bizarre ‘wife-sharing’ slur during a horror pre-season camp – amid claims players were ‘tied to trees and told to cup their testicles’

  • New revelations have been uncovered about Adelaide Crow’s horror 2018 camp
  • A club member recalled how players were told they should be ‘OK’ to share wives
  • Players were also asked to cup their testicles and make powerful statements 
  • The disastrous pre-season camp has been blamed for their recent slump in form

New revelations about the Adelaide Crows’ infamous 2018 pre-season boot-camp have emerged, with a club insider recalling how players were told they should be ‘OK’ with sharing their wives with teammates.

The bizarre ‘cult-like’ training program was supposed to strengthen the mental resolve of players after their 2017 Grand Final drubbing to the Richmond Tigers.

But insiders say the bizarre four-day affair traumatised the squad and is the main reason the club is now on the cusp of its worst-ever start to an AFL season.

New revelations about the Adelaide Crows’ infamous 2018 pre-season boot-camp have emerged. Pictured: Crows players leave the field dejected after their Round 5 loss to the Fremantle Dockers

One club member recalled how players were told they should be 'OK' with sharing their wives with team mates (stock)

One club member recalled how players were told they should be ‘OK’ with sharing their wives with team mates (stock)

Upon arrival, The Age reported players were blindfolded and confronted by men in army fatigues, carrying fake automatic weapons.

They were then told to board a bus as deafening heavy metal music was played.

Mobile phones were confiscated and all contact with the outside world was banned.

It has also been claimed that players were tied to trees for long periods and asked to cup their testicles while making ‘powerful statements’ to the playing group.

Players were told they needed to be ‘so tight that if a teammate slept with your wife it would be OK’, an insider claimed. 

‘We were in such a state of confusion,’ an unnamed club member who attended the camp told The Herald Sun.

‘It was like a trance, there were times where we would come-to two days after and say, What did we just do?

‘It’s hard to remember exactly what we did or what was said and we were in different groups.’

Crows players are pictured after their Round 2 loss to their cross town rivals Port Adelaide Power

Crows players are pictured after their Round 2 loss to their cross town rivals Port Adelaide Power

Players were told they needed to be 'so tight that if a teammate slept with your wife it would be OK', an insider claimed (stock image)

Players were told they needed to be ‘so tight that if a teammate slept with your wife it would be OK’, an insider claimed (stock image)

Following the debacle, an exodus of players requested transfers from the club including Eddie Betts who once said: ‘That [camp] was one of the main reasons why it was so hard to enjoy footy.’

Players were encouraged to share deep personal trauma which camp organisers believed would strengthen the playing group. The tactic backfired. 

‘(Players) were given personal information that the players didn’t think would be shared to use as forms of abuse. That’s what broke some of the players,’ AFL identity Sam McClure told Channel 9’s Sunday Footy Show.

‘Once you isolate certain members of the team and break their trust, it’s very hard to get rid of it.

‘I’ve had multiple players in tears while talking about what happened on the camp.

‘I think to use people’s past trauma they’ve experienced in their lives, use it against them, all for winning games of football is beyond the par.’

If the Crows go down in their seventh-straight loss to St Kilda on Monday, it will be the club's worst-ever start to a season

If the Crows go down in their seventh-straight loss to St Kilda on Monday, it will be the club’s worst-ever start to a season

Although the actions of the club were investigated by the AFL, the integrity unit cleared the Adelaide Crows of any wrongdoing but did say the planning of the camp lacked ‘due diligence’.

The Crows have had a diabolical start to the coronvirus-interrupted 2020 season and are currently in last position on the ladder.

If they go down in their seventh-straight loss to St Kilda on Monday, it will be the club’s worst-ever start to a season.

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