The 2018Adelaide Crows pre-season camp was a summer camp undertaken by players of the Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the "Crows", from January 29 to February 2 in the lead-up to the 2018 AFL season. Run by Collective Minds, a consultancy group based in Queensland, the camp was designed to strengthen the mental strength of the players, the lack of which was blamed by the Adelaide's head of Football Brett Burton and head coach Don Pyke for their loss in the 2017 AFL Grand Final. However, instead, the camp, described as "Cult-like", caused longstanding trauma, which was regarded as one of the main reasons for the precipitous decline of Adelaide from grand-finalists in 2017 to missing the finals in 2018, and continued poor performance in later seasons, as well as the departure of many players and senior officials from the club, including both Burton and Pyke.
Background
The Adelaide Crows had had a successful year in 2017. Having faced numerous hardships throughout previous seasons such as the murder of coach Phil Walsh and death of former coach Dean Bailey, as well a salary cap scandal involving former star Kurt Tippett, Adelaide finished as minor premiers at the end of the 2017 Home-and-Away season. Captain Taylor Walker was widely regarded as one of the best in the league, and the shock and pain that had been felt by many in the club as a result of the murder of Walsh had been routed into a strong desire to honour his memory by winning a premiership. However, in the Grand Final, when they faced the Richmond Football Club, Adelaide were soundly beaten. Instead of the close match many were anticipating, Richmond won by eight goals, and dominated the entire match. The large loss demoralised the playing group, with many being unable to face the media. Nevertheless, there was a strong feeling that Adelaide would bounce back from the loss and perform well again the next season.
Collective Minds
Collective Minds is a consultancy group based in Queensland, which is "hired by sporting teams and businesses to build a mentally resilient culture", had worked with Adelaide throughout the 2017 season, and had generally been perceived as effective, if unorthodox. On one occasion after the Grand Final loss, they had gotten every player to run successive 100-metre sprints while the theme song of the Richmond Football Club played on repeat over loudspeakers. Collective Minds and the Adelaide Football Club had a multi-year regimen with each other.
The Camp
The camp, run by Collective Minds and masterminded by Head of Football at Adelaide Brett Burton and Amon Woulfe, a self-proclaimed "coach, facilitator and trainer", who is not a registered psychologist, took place at a forest about an hours drive away from Broadbeach, Queensland, a suburb of Gold Coast. It was run with the intention of strengthening the mental capabilities of the players, which had been blamed by senior staff as the cause for their Grand Final loss. The players were not told where they were going prior to the trip. Players were divided into three groups, based on their playing experience, prior to the journey to the camp. Group One, consisting of the more senior Adelaide players, namely Eddie Betts, Matt Crouch, Richard Douglas, Bryce Gibbs, Kyle Hartigan, Josh Jenkins, Tom Lynch, Rory Sloane, Daniel Talia and captain Walker, were the target of the most severe regimen. The second group, consisting of Mitch McGovern, Curtly Hampton, Paul Seedsman and Brodie Smith, had a less severe experience, though it was still described as "weird". The third group, consisting of the more junior players, were subject to what was deemed to be a regular fitness camp. Players were housed in tepees for the duration of the camp.
Experience of Group 1
Upon entering the bus that was to carry them from Broadbeach to the camp, Group 1 was alarmed to greeted by men wearing combat uniforms and holding what appeared to be Automatic firearms, though the guns were revealed to be fake. The players were then blindfolded, and were driven for an hour until they arrived at the camp. Upon arrival they had their blindfolds removed, and were greeted by roughly 25 camp workers, who refused to reveal the location at which they were at. Among the first exercises performed by Group 1 was an exercise in which players were told to find a partner and stare at their eyes, alternating which eye they were staring at. During the middle of this exercise, Tom Lynch collapsed. He was taken to a bed, where he started to vomit. Despite his condition, camp workers refused to call for medical attention, claiming that he was only suffering from dizziness. Lynch was only given medical assistance upon the demands of the players, and club doctor Marc Cesana, who was not at the camp and did not know where it was located, was contacted and made to drive to it and bring Lynch back to Broadbeach to provide medical attention.
Experience of Groups 2 and 3
Groups 2 and 3 were subject to a less severe experience than Group 1, with them arriving a day after Group 1 did. They were not blindfolded on the drive there, though they were ordered to keep their heads down for the entire trip, while heavy metal music played over loudspeakers.
During the first night of the camp, all players were asked to publicly divulge their weaknesses using an Aboriginal Australiandigging stick as a Talking stick. Eddie Betts, Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Wayne Milera and Curtly Hampton, all of whom are aboriginal, found this action culturally offensive, and it only contributed to their distaste for the camp. Collective Minds has admitted that using the digging stick in the way that they did was a mistake.
Wolfgang
Before sunrise on the second day of camp, players were woken up and taken to a worker in the woods, who introduced himself as "Wolfgang". One by one, players were then tied with to a tree. The only way for a player to free himself was to crawl to a knife located 10 metres away. While they were attempting to reach the knife, nine of their teammates would hurl abuse at them. This abuse was deeply personal, with barbs calling back to childhood trauma, relationship issues and domestic abuse that had been gleaned from info leaked to the runners of the camp without the consent of the players, derived from confidential disclosures players had made to Adelaide staff. In some, cases, this information was confidential to the extent players had not divulged it to their spouses. Jeff Bond, former Chief Psychologist for the Australian Institute of Sport, told The Age that "Using people's personal trauma to drive them is so illogical and dangerous it's not funny". Bond also compared many of the measures taken in the camp to ones used for training commandos in the military.
Social interactions
Social interaction at the camp was extremely limited, players were ordered not to talk with each other when not performing exercises, and as all phones had been confiscated most players had zero contact with the outside world. The only outside contact allowed was for players who had pregnant spouses, who were allowed a few minutes a day to speak.
Aftermath
The camp was not effective in improving the results of the Adelaide Football Club. Adelaide had a poor 2018 season, finishing 12th on the ladder and missing the finals. Midway through the 2018 season, Adelaide cut all ties with Collective Minds, who claimed that the decision was mutual. After the cutting of ties, Adelaide coach Don Pyke admitted that the camp was a failure. Collective Minds and Adelaide have both denied that the camp has significant negative effects. Pyke stepped down as coach at the end of the 2019 season after another poor performance, with Brett Burton and Scott Camporeale, an assistant coach, being sacked a month later.
Effect on players
The camp had a substantial negative effect on the Adelaide players. One anonymous player told The Age that; Several Adelaide players left the club over the next few seasons. Among the most notable departures were Eddie Betts, who had declared "That was one of the main reasons why it was so hard to enjoy footy", who returned to his old club Carlton. and Mitch McGovern, who left the club after the 2018 season, also to play for Carlton. In June 2020, McGovern's manager Colin Young singled out the camp as the singular reason for McGovern leaving the club. All in all, 8 out of Adelaide's best 22 players in 2017 have left the club as of July 2020, a turnover amount described as an "exodus".
