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.
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.”
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.
In a statement in September 2021, Safework SA said “There is no evidence of any breach of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 relating to the camp,” and there were “no findings” or action necessary and the “investigation is now closed”. This is the highest level of clearance the top South Australian regulator on workplace safety can give.
The Adelaide Football Club also declared in a statement that neither the Club “nor any other person or organisation” breached any Work Health and Safety laws during, or in relation to, the camp. The camp was also investigated and cleared by an AFL Integrity Unit investigation in 2018.
For Collective Mind owners Amon Woulfe and Derek Leddie, the apologies from the media giants and journalists come as a welcome, yet overdue, acknowledgement 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. 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.” said Mr Woulfe and Mr Leddie.
The statements to be published 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, read: