Nine Network and reporters forced to apologise to Collective Mind over Adelaide Crows pre-season camp articles

The Nine Network and two journalists from The Age have apologised to a high-performance consultancy business and will issue retractions over content published relating to the Adelaide Crows’ notorious pre-season training camp.

Collective Mind and its directors Amon Woulfe and Derek Leddie took legal action against the television network and journalists Caroline Wilson and Sam McClure over their reporting of the camp, which was held in early 2018.

In a statement issued on Friday, Collective Mind said legal discussions had led the media outlets and journalists to acknowledge “that the camp was run in good faith and with the players’ interests front of mind”.

The statement also said the media parties have expressed regret if the content published had “caused hurt and offence” to the business and its directors, who believe “these public apologies now finally set the record straight”.

Nine will retract 13 publications that were published between 2018 and 2021.

Woulfe and Leddie said the apologies “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,” the Collective Mind directors 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.”

Statements will be published in the Sunday Age on February 6 and on Nine’s Wide World of Sports website and The Age website on February 7 for a week.

The camp in question was held on the Gold Coast during the pre-season campaign after Adelaide’s 2017 grand final loss to Richmond.