Embattled Adelaide chief executive Steven Trigg says he’s trying to protect the Crows as AFL investigators scrutinise the club’s books in their probe into the Kurt Tippett controversy.
Investigators arrived at the Crows’ West Lakes headquarters on Friday morning as they continue to explore the circumstances surrounding Tippett’s deals with his former club.
Tippett faces possible deregistration as an AFL player and the Crows could be fined and lose draft picks after admitting they had a secret deal with the star forward, who wants to be traded to Sydney.
“Everything we are doing is in the best interest of the footy club and protection of the footy club,” Trigg told reporters.
Trigg said Adelaide “initiated the investigation”.
“The extra examination is really because what this whole situation throws up is doubt and we want to eliminate doubt,” he said.
“We’ve invited the AFL to send in their forensic guys, work through the whole lot and make sure, so that at the end of it, we can sit there and we can say ‘right, everything is clear’.”
Tippett was left without a club as Friday’s 2pm (AEDT) deadline came and went.
The 25-year-old will now likely be pitched into next month’s national draft, where the Swans may be trumped by rivals to secure his services.
The Crows last Friday confessed to the AFL they struck a secret deal in 2009 with Tippett and his management to trade him to the club of his choice for a second-round draft pick.
The deal was also believed to include an agreement to pay Tippett an extra $200,000 when his contract expired.
But the Crows didn’t tell the AFL of the deal – on the surface, a breach of the league’s rules.
Trigg’s future was in jeopardy given he helped broker the deal.
“There is lots of pressure on all sorts, but in terms of specifics, don’t want to talk about it,” he said.
“The investigation is still going – you’ll ask me about people’s roles and sanctions and be asked about potential outcomes, I just can’t give it to you at the moment.”
The AFL has not put a timeframe on completing its investigation.
