Nine Network, The Age’s Caroline Wilson, Sam McClure issue apologies to Collective Mind over Adelaide Crows camp stories

The Nine Network and two football journalists from The Age have issued apologies and retractions to Collective Mind for articles and broadcasts about an Adelaide Crows pre-season camp. They have also agreed to pay legal costs. Collective Mind – a high-performance consultancy business – and its directors Amon Woulfe and Derek Leddie launched legal action against Nine and journalists Caroline Wilson and Sam McClure for their reporting of the 2018 Gold Coast camp. In a statement Collective Mind said that after lengthy legal discussions, the media company and journalists now acknowledge “that the camp was run in good faith and with the players’ interests front of mind”. The statement also said the Nine network, Wilson and McClure had expressed regret if the articles “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 McClure and Wilson’s feature stories and TV interviews in July 2020. Collective Mind co-director Amon Woulfe said while the apology was welcome, his business suffered during the time. “It’s been a pretty drawn out legal process, and I’ve just been reflecting this morning, it’s been four years in two days since day camp was run, so what a saga,” he told 5AA Adelaide. “It was sort of a completely unmanageable situation for everyone involved.” Mr Woulfe said responses from his company to allegations of what unfolded at the camp “weren’t believed or were twisted in to something else”. He said the media outlets responsible “manufactured outrage”. “The rumour mill just went insanely crazy, and everything was viable and on the table,” he added. “I think the most disappointing thing for us, you know, all through this whole four years is that no one’s picked up the phone to have a chat to us.” Mr Woulfe and Mr Leddie said the apologies from the media company and journalists was vindication but was an overdue acknowledgment of the truth of the matter. “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. “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.” The pre-season camp on the Gold Coast was heavily received heavy speculation, especially about just what happened at it, especially as the Crows fell away from grand finalists in 2017 to missing finals in 2018. Nine and The Age will publish statements on page 3 of the Sunday Age on February 6 and on Nine’s the Wide World of Sports website and The Age website on Monday, February 7 for a week apologising and expressing regret if they caused Mr Woulfe and Mr Leddie any hurt or offence. The camp by the Crows and Collective Mind was investigated and cleared by the AFL’s Integrity Unit and SafeWork SA.