The Crows waited until August last year to address ongoing speculation All Australian centre half-back Nathan Bock had agreed to terms with Gold Coast.
Bock denied reports he'd already signed with the Suns, but came clean with the club about his intentions to join the AFL's 17th team on a lucrative deal in 2011.
The defender was immediately asked to clear out his locker at West Lakes and was barred from selection in the final two rounds of the season.
Former Geelong coach Mark Thompson took a different approach with out-of-contract star Gary Ablett.
Frustrated by constant questioning about Ablett's future, Thompson called the Brownlow medallist into his office as early as April to ask why he hadn't re-signed with the Cats.
Ablett told his one-time mentor he didn't feel comfortable discussing the issue and the confrontation led to an argument between the pair, which resulted in coach and player barely speaking to one another for most of the season.
Walker is one of a growing number of players to be linked to Greater Western Sydney and, like Melbourne-based target Tom Scully, has put off contract talks with the Crows until the end of the year.
Craig conceded there was no 'right' way to handle the delicate situation of a player agreeing to switch clubs mid-season, but said delaying negotiations only made it harder for the player involved.
"To a certain extent, it's a personal issue that has to be dealt with between the player and the club, but as a coach you need to monitor it and if you believe that it's having a negative effect on the individual player's performance, you would probably address it.
Certainly, if it were having a negative effect on the team's performance you would address it," Craig told afl.com.au.
"I would hate to be a player in the situation where there's going to be innuendo every week. For people to say, 'I'm going to put contract talks off until the end of the year, so I can concentrate on football', well good luck.
"It makes it worse. It doesn’t make it better."
Craig has called for players to be honest with their clubs if they are considering offers from rival teams, but concedes that honesty needs to be a two-way street.
Craig denied his decision not to play Bock after the announcement of his defection would be a template for the Crows, saying the impending introduction of free agency meant clubs would have to get used to the idea of fielding players, who might be wearing different colours to their own the next season.
"I think the best policy for everyone in this situation is to be honest, but to be honest there needs to be an environment of trust. Let's say a player has signed with another club or is going to sign, if they put that on the table with their current club, they need to know that it's not going to cost them their career that year or cause them to be ejected out of the football club," Craig said.
"If it happened next week, what are you going to do? It's been happening in rugby league, rugby union and soccer since nearly day one. It's part of their culture…and I think we can learn from those other sports from their administration and their players."
