Mark Ricciuto is determined to hold onto his position as Adelaide’s footy director, reports SEN’s Sam Edmond.
Ricciuto, a club great, is under increasing pressure to hold his spot following the revelations of former players about the club’s infamous 2018 pre-season camp.
Respected broadcaster Gerard Whateley told SEN’s Crunch Time on Saturday: “Anyone who had a position of authority at the time and had oversight for what happened for what transpired or played an active role in the cover-up, has to be removed from their position.”
Ricciuto was in his current position at the time of the camp and has been a defender of the camp’s intentions in the past.
Former president Rob Chapman and CEO Andrew Fagan have both since departed the club, as has coach Don Pyke and head of footy Brett Burton, who were all present in 2018.
It leaves Ricciuto as one of the few remaining figures who is still at the Crows from the time of the camp.
The Adelaide Crows board met on Saturday to address the fallout from the Eddie Betts/Josh Jenkins revelations on the infamous camp. Sources say footy director Mark Ricciuto is defiant and determined to hold his position on him. There is a lot of angst among the Crows alumni.
— Sam Edmund (@Sammy__Edmund) August 7, 2022
“I can tell you that the Adelaide board met on Saturday morning to discuss its next course of action over what many former players are describing as the most shameful chapter in the club’s history,” Edmund told SEN Breakfast.
“Now, there’s a lot of pressure on a club great, Mark Ricciuto as the footy director and his ongoing position at the club given he has been among the strongest defenders of the camp with a previously very stern, ‘nothing to see here’ mentality .
“But those close to him say he’s absolutely defiant, he’s determined not to step down no matter the pressure that comes his way.”
Ricciuto addressed the fallout from Eddie Betts’ biography on Wednesday morning, telling Triple M Adelaide: “Player welfare is always No. 1, no matter what’s going on. You always want everyone to be happy and all that, so it’s very sad that Eddie has written that.
“I think the club’s been on record at times to say that they acknowledged that it wasn’t handled perfectly and had all good intentions, but it didn’t go perfectly.
“We all love Eddie and hopefully Eddie’s getting over that. That was four years ago, certainly the club’s moved on from that and looking towards the future and made a lot of ground since back then.”
Whateley was scathing in his analysis of Ricciuto’s statement.
“I listened to Mark Ricciuto and it made me wildly angry. The lack of humanity in understanding what has transpired here, don’t worry about the judgement, that’s enough. A basic human instinct to people under your care who suffered from this experience under your watch, that’s it,” he said.
“It doesn’t have to be more than that, and if you don’t front up to it, the organization will never adequately recover.”
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