Craig Angers League By Saying Win Not Top Priority
The Age
Friday February 8, 2008
ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig has riled the AFL by telling local journalists here that beating Collingwood was not a priority for the Crows in the build-up to tomorrow's NAB Cup season opener.
With the AFL ploughing massive resources and corporate dollars into trying to sell out the desert game, Craig's comments have provoked the league executive overseeing the game, with broadcasting and commercial operations manager Gillon McLachlan to reprimand Crows chief executive Steven Trigg.Craig told the Gulf News: "A victory here is not on top of the priority list for us during this match. Most clubs would normally treat such a match as an opportunity to experiment. We, too, are inclined towards experimenting with some of the players by giving the youngsters a chance to prove themselves in certain positions. If we wanted to win the match outright, then we would have opted for our first-choice squad."Craig told The Age yesterday he had not intended to talk down the game to be staged at the Ghantoot Racing and Polo Club at Abu Dhabi tomorrow. "I probably didn't get my point across, but an Adelaide Crows team without Nathan Bassett is obviously not going to be a full-strength team," he said. "Whenever we take the field, we are trying our best to win but this will be an opportunity for some of our younger players and that's important, too." AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, who said he had not seen Craig's comments, added: "Everybody knows what the NAB Cup is about and how valuable it is to the competition. Everybody, I am certain, should want to win it."The prizemoney for the pre-season competition has been increased from $220,000 to $350,000 for the winner. Only the two grand finalists, however, will receive any financial reward this year, with the loser of the Collingwood-Adelaide clash being sent to Albany in Western Australia for an NAB Challenge practice game.While McLachlan told Trigg of his disappointment in Craig's comments and only half-jokingly instructed the coach not to repeat his published sentiments at yesterday's promotional press conference at the Dubai Press Club, Crows chairman Bill Sanders said he had chosen not to admonish the senior coach."Neil probably didn't convey his thoughts all that well, admittedly, but he was interviewed straight off a plane and he probably didn't get his point across the way he would have liked," Sanders said."However, put it this way; the Crows administration did not see any reason to take Neil to task about it."Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse, who flew into Dubai yesterday with his team following more than a fortnight in South Africa, joined Craig and Crows captain Simon Goodwin for yesterday's first official attempt to sell the AFL game to the local media.Malthouse, who described the United Arab Emirates as a second home for Collingwood, said he was moved at the prospect of football's journey over the past three decades.The AFL's ground operations manager, Jill Lindsay, and former Telstra Dome curator Tony Hemmings, now working in Dubai, spent much of yesterday at the expanded polo field undertaking a rigorous ground inspection. McLachlan said he believed the temporary ground's capacity of 6000 would be achieved.NAB CUP SQUADS Collingwood: Leon Davis, Alan Didak, Nick Maxwell, Paul Medhurst, John Anthony, Scott Pendlebury, Shane O'Bree, Shannon Cox, Dale Thomas, Shane Wakelin, Chris Egan, Nathan Brown, Martin Clarke, Ben Reid, Rhyce Shaw, Anthony Rocca, Tarkyn Lockyer, Josh Fraser, Ben Johnson, Danny Stanley, Ryan Cook, Travis Cloke, Brad Dick, Alan Toovey, Dane Swan, Sam Iles, Heath Shaw, Chris Bryan.Adelaide: Brad Moran, Kris Massie, Kurt Tippett, Scott Thompson, Nathan van Berlo, Tyson Edwards, Jarrhan Jacky, Michael Doughty, Robert Shirley, David Mackay, Brad Symes, Ken McGregor, Bernie Vince, Graham Johncock, Ivan Maric, Chris Knights, Andy Otten, Andrew McLeod, Brett Burton, Ben Rutten, Richard Douglas, Scott Stevens, James Sellar, Bryce Campbell, Brent Reilly, Simon Goodwin, Jason Porplyzia, Nathan Bock.
© 2008 The Age
