ADELAIDE CEO Steven Trigg has defended the way his club handled the forced resignation of former recruiter Matt Rendell, saying it had to act quickly to avoid accusations of racism.

Trigg also denied the AFL ordered the resignation of Rendell.

"Quite clearly there was a very, very strong and angry reaction from the executive and from Andrew (Demetriou) once they had known about it from Jason (Misfud)," he said on Adelaide radio station 5AA.

"That was communicated to us very strongly as you can imagine. [But] was that [an order to] deal with it in a certain way? No, it was 'you deal with it'."

Adelaide has been criticised for forcing Rendell's resignation too swiftly after last Friday's revelation, but Trigg said that the speed with which the former recruiter's comments came to light meant the club had no choice.

Trigg said he became aware of Rendell's comments last Wednesday and by Friday morning the issue was on the front page of Melbourne newspaper The Age.

"If we hadn't been dealing with it straight away, in our view…we'd be perceived as being racist," he said.

Trigg also rejected criticisms that has implied the club refused to support Rendell.

"I know that criticism is out there today, but I reject it," Trigg said.

"I'd like to think that over many years we have stood by him; there have been a few hiccups along the way....

"This particular one, in terms of the circumstances, it just couldn't be worked through or couldn't be forgiven. It is not in keeping with our club values."

Rendell appeared on a television program on Monday night to explain his side of the story, but Trigg said, ultimately, it didn't matter whether his comments had been taken out of context.

"He (Rendell) doesn't a hold grudges. He's not a racist, he's not any of those things and we can all put our hands on our heart and say that," he said.

"[But] if language gets loose, or if it's interpreted poorly, the outcomes can be so dire and that's unfortunately what's happened in this situation."