Adelaide’s young gun Josh Rachele has been axed for repeatedly failing to adhere to the AFL club’s team-first values.
Crows coach Matthew Nicks said Rachele’s dumping wasn’t solely related to the past two weeks when the 21-year-old has been central to on and off-field controversy.
“It’s not isolated, it’s not a moment, it has got nothing to do with this week,” Nicks told reporters on Friday.
“There’s a lot more to this than a period of time.
“It’s about values, about the standards that we are looking to uphold consistently. Central to that is being team first.
“Josh and I have had a number of conversations, that’s not isolated to recent events.
“This is something we’ve been working on for a long period of time, not just Josh and I, but the team and what is it we stand for.”
Rachele angered his club and Port Adelaide with inflammatory comments leading in to last Saturday night’s Showdown between the South Australian rivals during a paid radio spot.
“I did mention before that the Port supporters don’t have many teeth. I shouldn’t have said that,” he told radio station 5AA.
During the game, which developed into one of the most fiery clashes between the arch foes, Rachele kicked a goal in the second quarter and celebrated by sprinting to the boundary, pointing at his teeth.
Nicks said that celebration wasn’t the tipping point in dropping the third-year forward rated among one of the league’s brightest talents.
“There are a lot of things that Josh is doing that we just love,” Nicks said.
“We love his energy, we love his enthusiasm, he brings an incredible passion to our group.
“I’ll make it clear: this has nothing to do with the way Josh celebrates.
“In fact, we love the way Josh goes about his footy and the enjoyment he brings to the footy, it does send a real vibe through our group.”
Nicks denied turning his back on the 56-gamer, who is contracted at Adelaide to the end of the 2029 season.
“For Josh, he knows I’ve got his back. I’ll always have Josh’s back,” Nicks said.
“In fact, at the moment when a kid’s in a tough time, as it is now, there’s a lot of attention around, a lot of noise around at the moment, and the reason for that is because Josh is such a liked player, he’s a high-profile player.
“I’ve got no doubt he’ll be a leader of our footy club in the near future and going forward.
“And so right now, we’re working on making sure that he is a leader that we want others to follow.”
Meanwhile, Nicks denied Irish-born defender Mark Keane has walked out of the Crows.
Keane is considering a fresh contract from the Crows while also canvassing offers from rival clubs in Melbourne.
The key backman returned to Ireland on Thursday for what Nicks said were personal reasons and will miss Adelaide’s last game of the season, against Sydney on Saturday night.
Asked if the 24-year-old had walked out on the Crows, Nicks replied: “I can guarantee that is not the case.”
