Tough times ahead for the Crows: Rory Sloane might be sharing a lighter moment with coach Brenton Sanderson but the Adelaide club faces many difficult days further down the road. Source: Getty Images
THE decision by Adelaide to cough up draft picks could be a prudent one. Plea bargaining might soften the blow. And it might not. It should not.
The AFL should not be fooled into employing any sense of warmth and forgiveness ahead of next week's hearing into how, when and why and how much the Crows entertained Kurt Tippett with payments outside the cap.
Until yesterday, the Crows were allegedly dirty, rotten, stinking, salary-cap cheaters.
"Allegedly" can now be dropped.
By formally approaching the AFL Commission and offering up their first two selections in tonight's draft - picks No.20 and No.54 - the Crows have admitted their guilt.
Why else would they do it?
They hope to somewhat appease the AFL Commission by throwing themselves on their sword, and hope the decision-makers of the game, the upholders of all that is good and right about the game, feel some sympathy.
But what have they really given up in a compromised draft? Pick No.20, which is not exactly pick No.5, and a third-rounder.
They were expected to be lost anyway before this week's hearing was delayed.
The Crows' decision smacks of desperation.
They called it a "goodwill gesture" and a "common-sense initiative".
Mostly always, however, when a wrong is admitted to, there is a sense of mercy.
The AFL said yesterday the decision by Adelaide chairman Rob Chapman to contact them on Tuesday night, and probably with hand on heart and a handkerchief in the other, would be taken into count in Adelaide's favour.
"I think it's the right move," AFL football operations boss Adrian Anderson said yesterday. "I think they should get credit for that."
Clearly, the Crows' move has already made inroads.
The AFL must be mindful, though, that deliberate salary cap cheating and tanking are the two main scourges of the game, and that plea bargaining involving either of them should not be entertained.
For three years, it has been reported, they paid Tippett outside the cap.
So, banishment from three drafts - this one by their hand, and 2013 and 2014 - is a possibility. Next year's draft is a necessity. Plus a fine. Plus banishment from the game for persons involved. As for deliberately losing ... that's even worse.
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