Kane Cornes believes the new Adelaide Crows regime has not handled the Tyson Stengle situation well at all.
Stengle, 21, was pulled over when driving an unregistered car and was subsequently breath tested, returning a 0.125 blood alcohol reading.
The Crows did not make a statement until Friday, April 17 despite the fact the incident occurred on Thursday, April 9.
The club suggests they did not find out about the mishap until the Saturday afternoon and then kept it quiet because Stengle wanted to address the playing group before it was made public.
It is a situation Cornes finds very odd considering the new administration said they would be more transparent and upfront with their communications to their supporters, the media and the wider public.
“It’s just not good enough,” the Port Adelaide games record holder said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“For a club that has said and been committed to being more transparent after the big external review it undertook which saw a captain stand down, it saw a coach get sacked or walk away, it saw a senior assistant coach walk away, it saw a footy boss got sacked as well.
“They said they were going to be more transparent and more upfront after everything that went on with the camp and how murky everything became at the Adelaide footy club and you just couldn’t trust what they were telling you to be truthful.
“When a big incident and the first test comes their way, this is how they handle it.
“They knew the facts from Thursday at 2am, now why has it taken so long for this to be released?
“It’s not good enough at all and they’ve failed the first test they’ve had when it comes to being more transparent with their fans.”
Cornes continued, questioning why the club sat on the information for so long before finally making it public.
He cannot quite understand how this was not dealt with much earlier than it was, especially from a playing list perspective.
“They’ve made an error here,” he added.
“A big error really in terms of losing the trust with your supporters and the media.
“As I’ve said, Adelaide have done a great job with their improved transparency since the new regime has been undertaken at the start of pre-season since the review.
“Clearly that came out that the club lacked transparency, the supporters were frustrated by it and it could be from big things like the camp and what went on there and the lack of information, to little things like injuries that they haven’t been upfront with.
“So the first opportunity they have to basically show they’ve turned over a new leaf, they’ve waited eight days to inform their supporters of the biggest incident that has faced the club since the camp.
“It’s just not good enough. To use an excuse that he wanted to wait for a scheduled Zoom meeting on Friday to tell his teammates before we could inform the public…
“The players aren’t doing anything, they’re at home. It takes one email to say, ‘Hey boys, got a pretty important Zoom meeting that we need to do, jump on the computer, it’s in relation to Tyson Stengle, he wants to have a chat with you. Can everyone be on in five hours’ time?’
“That should have been done last weekend. Instead they’ve waited. This happened 2am on Thursday the 9th, and they’ve waited to tell the public on (the following) Friday at 6pm, when the news bulletins have done their leads, when the newspapers have been printed, when Lachie Hunter has just come out and that’s been completely buried in that situation.
“The first opportunity Adelaide had to show that it was a new regime that were going to be more upfront, they were going to be more transparent, this is what they’ve delivered.”
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