Adelaide football director Mark Riciutto has backtracked on his stunning ultimatum to Crows fans- either trust the up-coming review of the club, or don’t barrack for them.
The Crows have only won three games from the final 10 matches of the year, costing themselves a spot in the finals for a second year in a row.
They finished their season with a 34-point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Mars Stadium in Ballarat, leaving supporters fuming at what could have been.
It was a huge fall from grace for Adelaide, who were sitting at 3rd after round eight, and fourth after round 13.
With a comprehensive review of the Crows coming up, Ricciuto had urged supporters to either trust the process, or not barrack for the club.
“Whether it’s the coach, the assistant coaches, the footy manager, the list manager, the high performance manager, the CEO, the chairman — every person you know is trying 100 per cent. Now it doesn’t always work out, but the club is bigger than any individual,” Ricciuto told Triple M on Sunday night.
“People throwing accusations around about looking after each other is just ridiculous. It just won’t happen and it will not happen at the Adelaide Football Club — and I don’t think it happens at every AFL football club.
“Whatever decision has to be made from the top to the bottom will be made for the betterment of the football club. The supporters should back the people in — and if they don’t, well then maybe they don’t need to barrack for the footy club.”
However, Ricciuto would backtrack from his comments only hours later after being slammed with criticism, tweeting out that he his words had not come out in the way he had hoped.
Im sorry for my choice of words at the end they definitely didn’t come out as intended. I respect 99% of Crows fans & their opinions, I also love the club as much as anyone possibly could that’s why I do the role I do at the club. Listen to the full interview if you have time.
— Mark Ricciuto (@markricciuto) August 25, 2019
Ricciuto would also go on to explain how the Adelaide list needed to change on Sunday, explaining that every part of the football department needed to be looked at.
“The club have stayed true to a group of players that (almost) played in a premiership two years ago. I, for one, thought last year might’ve been just one bad year, complete a good pre-season and they’ll be right back there being a contender … obviously they’re not,” he said.
“The list needs to change. You need to have a look at everyone from the coach down and the whole way through the football department.
“Every part of the department needs a look at. It needs a look from the inside and it needs a look from the outside. It will get a look from both then that will be put together and then you’ll get some information and then you’ll make whatever call needs to be made from the top to the bottom.”
