Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has taken full responsibility for the training breach that occurred while quarantining in the Barossa Valley.
Sixteen Crows players returned to South Australia earlier this week and were relocated to the Novotel Barossa Valley Resort to complete a mandatory 14-day isolation period.
On Thursday, players were spotted training in groups of more than two - a violation of the AFL’s training rules.
Nicks told Triple M’s Roo & Ditts everyone involved - including himself - had “let ourselves down”.
“We’ve had some poor communication which has come to a point where unfortunately our players were in a position where we had more than two players training at once,” Nicks said.
“Part of the approval was that we had the right to train in pairs and the intention was always to train in those pairs.
“(But) our communication wasn’t strong enough to keep them apart.
“We got it wrong… it’s our mistake and we’ll own that mistake.”
Regarding the breach, Nicks made it clear “the buck stops with me”.
“I’m in charge of our football department and on this occasion I’ve dropped the ball when it comes to communication,” he said.
“It comes back to I’m responsible for that and I will own that mistake.”
The Club was given approval by the AFL and SA Police to train at the resort, providing it adhered to strict social distancing and training protocols.
Nicks stressed, however, that the mistake was solely the responsibility of himself and the Club.
“It’s an honest mistake we’ve made and the issue relates solely to us,” he said.
“It shouldn’t be a representation of broader industry because this is a mistake we’ve made.
“We understand that we’ll cop it and we understand the AFL need to do what they’ll do.
“We’re just really disappointed.”
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