AFL Trade Radio’s Damien Barrett has slammed Adelaide’s "rubbish" public stance on wantaway midfielder Brad Crouch.
The Crows on Wednesday afternoon opted not to match St Kilda’s free agency bid for the on-baller, which ends a two-year saga that almost saw him traded to Gold Coast last year.
They will now receive pick 23 as compensation for the best and fairest winner.
Adelaide has publicly maintained Crouch could return to the club if a trade couldn’t be achieved in the event they matched the offer.
But after Adelaide opted to let him walk to Moorabbin, Barrett was strong in his criticism of their approach to the deal.
“The Crows didn’t want him and he didn’t want them,” he said on AFL Trade Radio’s The Late Trade.
“For this rubbish they’ve been trotting out for two years about ‘he could come back and play and he doesn’t want to leave’, he’s been trying to get out for two years.
“They were happy for him to go last year and they just couldn’t strike the deal, we now get to this year and we’re going to thump our chest out as much as we can for weeks and months … 5pm comes and goes and they’re copping pick 23.”
Adelaide will receive a second-round compensation pick as a result of Crouch’s departure, which currently stands at pick 23.