On Monday, the leadership group recommended that Vince and Jaensch be stood down for a week, after both players defied teammates’ requests to go back to the hotel and stayed out “beyond a reasonable time” following the Crows’ loss to North Melbourne on Saturday night.
Johncock, who is nursing an AC joint sprain, did not travel to Melbourne with the team but still managed to fall foul of the leadership group.
The defender failed to front up for a rehabilitation session over the weekend and will serve his one-match ban when he’s cleared to play by the club’s medical staff.
On Tuesday assistant coach David Noble said he was extremely disappointed with the three players, but said it was important the club upheld its standards in the wake of a disastrous start to the season.
“It would’ve been very easy for the leadership group to know that information (about Johncock, Vince and Jaensch) and to sweep it under the carpet,” Noble said.
“At 1-7 we thought it was a very courageous and honest decision from the leadership group to come to us and say, ‘these standards aren’t what we’re about’.
“We would love to have all three of those players in the team this week, but the standards are what we need to enforce and that’s the way it’s been presented.”
Noble declined to elaborate on Johncock’s explanation for missing the rehab session, but denied alcohol was the issue in either case.
All three players have a history of misdemeanours.
Vince was banned for one game after breaking a club-imposed curfew in 2007, while Jaensch cost himself a chance of being drafted as an 18-year old when he was dumped from the South Australian U18 squad for drinking too much at a club function.
In 2008, Johncock was sent back to the SANFL and ordered to undergo a lifestyle-management course after failing to meet the necessary standards of preparation to play AFL football.
In 2005, he was fined $1000 and disqualified from driving when he crashed into two parked cars and lied to police following a night out.
Noble said the trio was running the gauntlet by continuing to display unacceptable behaviour.
“When you get a mix of different personalities coming into the footy club sometimes it takes guys longer to understand what the standards are around the place than others,” he said
“But if they don’t improve (their behaviour) we have to remove them from the system. If those players are constantly going butt heads against your culture in that way the ultimate decision is that they’re not at your footy club and they understand that.”
Vince has struggled for form and fitness since taking out the club’s best and fairest award last season and Noble said the midfielder’s actions on Saturday night could be viewed as a sign of frustration.
“It (the indiscretion) is an indication that Bernie’s preparation hasn’t been as sharp as it should’ve been. When you start to get into that (elite) bracket everyone is after you on the field. Therefore, your preparation has to be that much better in order to gain the smallest margin of improvement,” Noble said.
“Bernie gets tagged every week. I guess over the period of time that can tend to grind away at you.”
In better news for the Crows, onballer Scott Thompson has been upgraded to a ‘test’ on the club’s official injury list.
