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“Sustained rumours and unfounded speculation”: Collective Mind issued apologies for Crows pre-season camp coverage

A pair of reporters have apologised to the consultancy group, who have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Published by
Mitch Keating

Collective Mind, the high-performance consultancy group that directed Adelaide's famous 2018 pre-season camp, have been issued apologies from a pair of The Age reporters and the Nine Network.

Journalists Sam McClure and Caroline Wilson have apologised and had published articles and broadcasted interviews that investigated the Collective Mind camp retracted.

Collective Mind directors Amon Woulfe and Derek Leddie began legal action against Wilson, McClure and Nine following their reporting of the Gold Coast camp.

Nine will retract a total of 13 publications, including video interviews, with Wilson and McClure apologising if their coverage “caused hurt and offence to Mr Woulfe, Mr Leddie and Collective Mind".

Mr Woulfe and Mr Leddie stated their acceptance of the apologies.

“This outcome is also a vindication for all those involved, both at the Club and our partner organisations, who can now finally move on and put this unsavoury chapter behind them,” they said, per Adelaide Now

“Large media organisations and journalists don’t apologise easily, so this is clearly a significant victory for our personal reputations, our brand and our business.”

Collective Mind released a statement following the resolved matter, expressing their delight in having the "sustained rumours and unfounded speculation" brought to an end.

"The Nine Network, The Age newspaper and journalists Caroline Wilson and Sam McClure have apologised, issued retractions, and agreed to pay all legal costs to high-performance mindset training specialists, Collective Mind – and its directors, Amon Woulfe and Derek Leddie – after a series of articles and interviews were broadcast and published by the media outlets about the 2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season training camp," the statement reads.

"After lengthy legal discussions, the two media entities and high-profile journalists now acknowledge "that the camp was run in good faith and with the players’ interests front of mind".

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Crows and Tigers players line up for the national anthem during the 2017 Toyota AFL Grand Final match between the Adelaide Crows and the Richmond Tigers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 30, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)

"They have all apologised and expressed regret, if the articles and publications “caused hurt and offence to Mr Woulfe, Mr Leddie and Collective Mind".

"Nine will now retract 13 publications, including two video interviews published between 2018 and 2021, including Sam McClure and Caroline Wilson’s feature stories and TV interviews in July 2020.

"After four years of sustained rumours and unfounded speculation about what took place at the 2018 camp, Collective Mind was formally cleared of any wrongdoing after an investigation which took more than a year to complete by workplace safety investigator, Safework SA."

Nine and The Age are set to publish their apologies in the coming days, with Collective Mind and Adelaide having already been cleared by the AFL's Integrity Unit.

Published by
Mitch Keating