Roo's painful learning curve

Leigh Adams suffers a season-ending shoulder injury against Melbourne. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

LEIGH Adams was hurting in more ways than one when he watched North Melbourne's 2012 season end with a 96-point elimination final loss to West Coast.

He was tucked up on his couch in Melbourne and the pain he suffered from watching the fade-out to what had been such a season of good achievement mirrored the pain he had in his shoulder.

Adams had just had "bone block" surgery on his left shoulder. And he knew that within a month he was going to have the same thing happen to his right one - the one that Chris Judd wrenched back in a "chicken wing" tackle.

"It wasn't the best experience," Adams said this week from the Kangaroos' training camp to Utah.

"It was disappointing to see the way the boys got smashed the way they did. But it was probably a good learning curve to show we are still a fair way off the pace and need to keep improving.

"There was a bit of talk in the week after whether it was the best thing for us to make the finals, but I think it just showed us what we have to do to.

"If that sort of thing doesn't drive you to go out and have a big pre-season and come back better, then you shouldn't be out there."

AFL Round 6 - West Coast Eagles vs North Melbourne Kangaroos, Patersons Stadium, Perth. PICTURED- Eagle Josh Hill celebrates a goal in the final term. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: Herald Sun

Adams was one of the reasons behind the Kangaroos' outstanding second half of 2012 resurrection.

The consistent, hard-nut midfielder played a key role in lifting the Roos off the canvas after a slow start.

But just as the club was progressing towards its first finals berth since 2008, his shoulders gave out.

In the Round 18 game against Melbourne, he again had shoulder issues, but this time it would end his season.

"It was pretty frustrating to play most of the season (18 games) and see your team get on a good run and play finals footy, but you are not a part of it," he said.

"To not be a part of the finals was pretty shattering. I've still never played in one."

Adams, 24, has played 62 games for North Melbourne since coming onto the rookie list in 2007. He played two games that season - in Rounds 4 and 5 - but did not play in the club's three finals.

He missed the entire season with a knee injury the following year, costing him a final.

To not be a part of the finals was pretty shattering. I've still never played in one.

Cruelly, injury meant he missed out again this year, but Adams is adamant his finals luck will change - and that the double shoulder surgeries will mean they will stand firm in 2013.

"We want to play finals footy next year, for sure," Adams said. "We know we have to keep improving to keep up with the other clubs.

"But we have a good group of about 35 players who can step in and good teams have great depth.

"The young blokes will have natural improvement and we've been able to add some new players since the end of the season."

North Melbourne midfielder Leigh Adams tries to break Richmond Steven Morris's tackle at the MCG. Picture: Getty Images Source: Herald Sun

Adams insists his shoulders will be fine next year, saying the 'bone block' surgery means they should not cause him trouble as they did this season.

"You do lose a little range in the highest point of your arm, which isn't going to affect me too much with my high marking," he joked.

"But if I do my rehab properly, I should be right to do the competitive stuff after Christmas and will be right to go in the NAB Cup and Round 1."

Adams said the Kangaroos' third trip to Utah had been a success, with the club enjoying the experience as well as getting in some quality training.

"It's been tough, but we have had three or four days where we have been eased into it before being smashed," he said.

"You ask anyone who comes to Utah and they talk about the beautiful scenery, but we get to see a fair bit of the ground because we are working so hard.

"But we know how important it is for us in terms of what we want to achieve next year."

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Riewoldt's hits and missus

St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt wants to play for at least two more seasons. Picture: Michael Dodge Source: Herald Sun

NICK Riewoldt is only half joking when he talks about himself as almost "an adopted American".

But if you are a Saints fan, don't despair. He's staying with St Kilda for at least another two seasons and, if he has his way, for a good deal longer as well.

It's just that Riewoldt is an unabashed fan of so much of what happens in the US - from a personal and a professional sense.

Speaking from the club's high-altitude training camp in Boulder, Colorado, Riewoldt explained his passion and how he has learnt so much from his experiences overseas.

"I'm a huge fan of the States," Riewoldt said. "My wife is American and I'm sort of an adopted American.

"I've spent a lot of time over here in the last few years, getting to know Catherine's home and her family.

"It is a great place and they do a lot of things over here that I think we can learn from."

Riewoldt married Texan Catherine Heard in a lavish wedding at a riverside property of her parents in Waco in October.

There were more than 250 guests, with the 95 Australians who made the trip comprising family, friends and fair allotment of past and present Saints.

He has long enjoyed holidaying in the US - with his teammates in the past and more recently in getting to know his wife's relations, as well as the seamless integration of his Australian family and American in-laws.

He is a massive fan of US sport, particularly NFL, in which he supports the Houston Texans.

He even harbours the dream of one day living in the US and helping to develop future AFL footballers.

But for the moment he is hoping the experiences he and his St Kilda teammates - the young and the not so young - are having on their training camp right now at the University of Colorado might provide the catalyst for future success.

"I was ecstatic when I found out we were coming over here," Riewoldt said. "The pre-season can be a bit of a grind and to do something like this to break up the monotony is great.

"Culturally as well, it is a great experience for the group to come here and spend time together, and to see a different culture."

Part of that experience has been immersing the players within the Boulder community, as well as being given access to the college team's gym.

And Riewoldt, coach Scott Watters and a handful of players were welcomed to Denver Broncos training session yesterday.

"That was something I was really excited about," Riewoldt said. "I'm a huge fan of the sport. To be able to get into the inner sanctum and to be able to watch someone like Peyton Manning up close is a great opportunity."

St Kilda players Nick Riewoldt and Sam Dunell joke with Denver Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard. Source: Getty Images

There have been hikes through the mountains; plenty of team bonding which could prove invaluable given St Kilda's young list; the benefits of altitude training; and connections made with the people of Boulder and the University of Colorado students.

"You really get the chance to immerse yourself in the way of life over here, and that's great for some of our young players," Riewoldt said. "And for some of the older ones, too."

The energy and enthusiasm in the 30-year-old's voice down the telephone line is instantly recognisable.

It's fair to say that Riewoldt is a very good place right now.

Geographically, and metaphorically.

Certainly that has a fair amount to do with his relationship with his wife, which dates back almost four years since they met in Las Vegas.

"Catherine and I are really enjoying our life in Melbourne at the moment and all that goes with it," he said.

Pic gallery: Saints meet the Denver Broncos

He speaks enthusiastically about the wedding, even joking on the club's website about having "little father-sons" at some stage.

"They put on a pretty good show over there ... it really blew me away," Riewoldt said of the October wedding.

"The southern hospitality was amazing, I think we can learn a thing or two about it from them."

He confirmed his bride wore cowboy boots underneath her dress - "yep, 100 per cent" - and that the locals had never quite experienced a night like it before with all of the Aussies in town.

Nick Riewoldt and Catherine Heard at their wedding. Source: Supplied

That settled private life has extended to his football as well, with Riewoldt saying he enjoyed much about the 2012 season - except for the fact that the Saints missed the finals for the first time since 2007.

"I really enjoyed my footy this year and I think my performance reflected that," he said. "And I am really excited about the new year.

"It was a pretty consistent year for me and that's something that I have taken pride in throughout my career.

"Each year brings its different challenges. In 2009 performance-wise I had a really good year and the team had an exceptional one and just fell short.

"2010 brought its own challenges with the injury. And 2011 was a bit of a train wreck.

"So 2012 was really satisfying with a new coach and bringing the group together again.

It was good to come out and put the innuendo that I was 'done' to bed. As a proud athlete, that is something that can grind on you a bit.

"There is just a good vibe around the place. Towards the end of the 2012 season we were close to playing finals.

"There were probably a few games earlier in the season that we could have won, but didn't. Ninth is ninth. We know the other teams will improve, but we are very comfortable with the direction we are going."

Riewoldt said he was motivated by many things this year, not the least of which was some critics who wondered if he was past his best.

"It was good in a lot of respects to come out and put the innuendo that I was 'done' to bed," he said. "As a proud athlete, that is something that can grind on you a bit."

Riewoldt kicked 47 goals for the Saints from his 19 games this year, with his season ending prematurely in Round 20 after a knee injury against Melbourne.

A post-season clean-up means he is still in the rehabilitation group, but he believes he will be right to go early in the new year.

"I have just turned 30 and it is all about managing myself as best as I can while maintaining a high level of performance," he said.

But the overwhelming driving force for Riewoldt is chasing that elusive premiership - for the football club and for he and his teammates who came so close in 2009 and in 2010.

"For sure, that's the thing that still burns, that ambition and that hunger," he said. "We sat down at the end of the season and spoke about the teams that performed well this year and Sydney are just that great model of consistency, leadership and discipline.

"They are all controllables, and the ball is in our court."

And he hopes what the Saints are doing in Boulder this week will take them a step closer to turning that dream into a reality.

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Trigg fights to regain trust

Adelaide Crows chief executive Steven Trigg says he offered his resignation to the club but they declined it.

Adelaide Crows chief executive Steven Trigg will be banned from attending AFL matches, training and functions for six months from January 1. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: adelaidenow

ADELAIDE chief executive Steven Trigg has conceded it could take years for him to regain the trust of the public after the Crows' board yesterday unanimously decided he was they wanted him to return after he's served his suspension.

There is also ground to make up with his employer, the club's board.

Trigg, exhausted after six weeks of the Kurt Tippett salary cap breach and draft tampering scandal, said he understood why people called the club hypocritical by keeping him after summarily sacking senior recruiter Matthew Rendell for his controversial comments earlier this year.

He has spent weeks debating with himself whether his position remained tenable with the club

"I can understand people being somewhat polarised by these things," Trigg said. "I think it will be on performance.

"Unfortunately, it's going to take a little while for me in the new year to get back to that."

Trigg's immediate fire from the public aside, it will take time to win back trust from the board members. Many of them -- including chairman Rob Chapman -- were kept in the dark for years over the handling of the Kurt Tippett 2009 contract and side deals that plunged the Crows into trouble with the AFL.

"It has to be that there has to be a little chip in that level of trust," Trigg said. "And I need to earn that back.

"So look, their actions in supporting me and Phil (Harper, football operations manager) tell a story.

"But there's certainly some accountability and a bit of trust that needs to be rebuilt, no question."

Disgraced Crows CEO keeps his job

Trigg has accepted his reputation has taken a hit, along with that of the club.

But said his decision to be talked into staying was not for individual reasons.

"It'd be trite to suggest that you're not thinking about yourself at some stage through the exercise, but I've genuinely tried to take the position at all time that if it is best for the club at any stage for me to back away then that's what'll happen.

"And that's happened with the full board and with (chairman) Rob (Chapman) separately.

"If it was best for the brand of the club, the operation of the club, the future of the club ... I'd have no hesitation."

Trigg was aware of the obvious attacks that will follow the announcement.

Matt (Rendell) had lost the support (of the board). Fortunately for me in this situation I've got support.

Would he have kept his job if he had made the same blues in the corporate world, be it in banking, mining of finance?

"I think it depends on what sector you're in," Trigg said. "This hasn't broken a corporation law; it hasn't broken a civil law.

"It's been a breach of the rules and I take full and complete responsibility for it.

"It is different to the corporate world. But no corporation's law broken, no common law broken doesn't mean I feel any better about it. But it's different."

Tippett blames Crows for 11-game ban

Trigg understands the obvious comparison to the Rendell case, in which the senior recruiter was sacked over sensitive comments regarding the recruiting of indigenous kids even though he immediately sought to explain he had never meant to be insensitive or in any way racist.

The similarity between Rendell's mistake and Trigg's was that Trigg had maintained the confidence of the board.

"I do -- I understand completely," Trigg said. "If I was sitting out there, I would ask the same question.

"But I think there is a perception that it was a me-decision and a knee-jerk decision (to sack Rendell).

"What I want people to understand that when you're talking about senior recruiting positions and CEO roles, they're board appointments. They're not my appointments.

"So in that one, it was a board decision and unfortunately Matt had lost the support. Fortunately for me in this situation I've got support.

"That's the essence of it."

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No grudge over chicken wing

Chris Judd pulls Leigh Adams' arm back. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

KANGAROOS midfielder Leigh Adams bears no grudge towards Chris Judd, despite his injured right shoulder needing post-season "bone block" surgery.

Judd laid his "chicken wing" tackle on Adams' strapped shoulder in Round 16 this year.

But Adams says he wouldn't chase retribution when the Kangaroos tackled the Blues in their one clash of 2013 - in Round 17.

"I couldn't see myself going out and trying to head-hunt him or anything like that," Adams said from the club's training camp to Utah this week.

"At the time, it was just a bit of a shock to the system. I just didn't really know what was going on, to be honest.

"It (the incident) didn't help me, that's for sure. But it was a split-second thing that always looks worse when it was slowed down and played three or four hundred times."

He admitted Judd's tackle was an "interesting" move, but said he "probably would have got the shoulder (surgery) done anyway".

Adams said Judd called him to say sorry the day after the Carlton captain was handed a four-match suspension.

"He did call the next day to apologise for what happened," Adams said.

"It was just one of those things that happens. You move on and there are no hard feelings at all on my part."

Adams had surgery on both shoulders after his season ended.

He had "bone blocks" on both, which will hopefully prevent further issues with them in the future.

"It means they shouldn't pop out now," he said.

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Riewoldt adds year to contract

St Kilda players Nick Riewoldt and Sam Dunell joke with Denver Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard during a visit to Broncos training. Source: Getty Images

Nick Riewoldt tries out his throwing arm during the Saints' Denver camp. Source: Getty Images

EXCLUSIVE: ST KILDA star Nick Riewoldt has agreed to play on until at least the end of 2014 to help foster the next generation of Saints.

Riewoldt, who has just turned 30, recently reached an agreement with the club to add an extra year to his current contract, but hopes to play on for even longer.

In good news for the Saints, who are currently on a high-altitude training camp in Colorado, the skipper said he and several experienced teammates wanted to play a part in the club's transition.

"I am really pleased to get it all done and locked away," Riewoldt said. "I was always signed up for 2013, but it's great to get the extra year.

"I'm really excited to have at least another two years with St Kilda and hopefully more.

"I can't afford to look too far ahead. I will attack the next two years and then hopefully re-assess after that.

"But that hunger is still there to play for as long as I possibly can."

Riewoldt, who enjoyed a strong return to form this year, said he wanted to make a lasting impression on the young crop of Saints being brought through by coach Scott Watters.

"Lenny (Hayes), 'Milney' (Stephen Milne), 'Joey' (Leigh Montagna), 'Dal' (Nick Dal Santo), Jason Blake and myself have been at the club for a long time now," he said.

"We are really excited with the transition of the club and we want to be a part of it.

"We were very fortunate when we started that Robert Harvey, Stewart Loewe, Nathan Burke, Aaron Hamill and Fraser Gehrig played a strong role in our development.

"We understand the position the club is in now and what we need to do to help."

In a wide-ranging interview, Riewoldt also:

SAID he would guided by Watters on the captaincy next year, though he is happy to continue if the club wants him to.

STRONGLY backed defender Sam Fisher, amid claims that he could be dropped from the leadership group for alleged off-field issues.

URGED St Kilda fans to back the team by buying memberships, from which the revenue can assist the club go on more pre-season camps like the one the Saints are currently on in Denver.

SPOKE of his disappointment that his close mate Brendon Goddard left for Essendon, but insisted the club had a "plethora" of future leaders

Pic gallery: Saints meet the Denver Broncos

Riewoldt said Fisher had been a "fantastic player" for the club over a number of years.

"You can't reach his level of performance without being a professional," he said.

Watters also backed Fisher on SEN this week, saying: "From my perspective I see the way Sam prepares, I see what he does at the football club, I see his leadership. I can't fault him on any of that."

"The club has not spoken to him, not at all. When you read that (allegation) in the paper, it sort of knocks you off your chair a bit."

Riewoldt said of the captaincy: "I am 100 per cent comfortable with what the club wants to do.

"The captaincy is a great honour and I have a lot of respect for the position.

"I will sit down with Scotty and talk through what's best for the club."

- with JAY CLARK

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Tough time for family, says Joel

Joel Tippett says the salary cap saga has been tough on his family. Picture: Simon Cross Source: The Advertiser

KURT Tippett's brother Joel has broken the family's silence after the drawn-out salary cap and draft tampering crisis ended at AFL House on Friday.

Joel, who studies human movement in Adelaide, said the Tippett family had got through the tough time by staying together on the Gold Coast but conceded it had tested everybody's patience.

They were disappointed when the sentence was handed down for Kurt - an 11-match suspension and a $50,000 fine - but had now vowed to move on.

"The main thing is that it's behind us now," Joel said.

"We're just looking to move on now. But it's been a difficult time."

Joel, who had an outstanding year with West Adelaide in the SANFL, missed out on being selected at the Gold Coast draft but will have another chance for a second AFL break in the rookie draft on December 11.

Several clubs have expressed interest in Joel through Bloods coach Andy Collins and Joel's manager, Peter Blucher, who also handles Kurt's affairs.

Ideally, the brothers would love to play together, like everybody once thought when Joel was playing for the Suns and Kurt was contemplating his next move.

Tippett blames Crows for 11-game ban

There has been speculation both of the Tippetts could end up at the Swans in 2013, but Joel will have no say in where he ends up, unlike Kurt who can put a price on his head. And if he's rookie-listed, Joel has to weigh-up his future.

He nominated for the national draft, which in effect means he nominates for all drafts, but he also has aspirations outside of football.

After Joel finishes his human movement course, he has thought of adding a teaching element to qualify to be a physical education teacher. He has also looked into joining the fire service.

If he is not picked up by an AFL club, there's also the option of staying at West Adelaide, which was chuffed with his contribution this season.

"I'll have to decide after the draft," Joel said. "At my age (24) ... when I wasn't picked up in the draft, I thought maybe that's it for me. I'll have to have a really good think about it."

Joel has been rookie-listed three times: by Brisbane in 2007 and 2009 and by the Gold Coast in 2011. He played two games for the Suns in 2011 but was delisted at the end of that year and shifted south to join West Adelaide and be close to Kurt.

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Footy heavyweights back Trigg

Crows chief executive Steven Trigg speaks to the media at Crows HQ the day after the AFL Commission. Picture: Dylan Coker. Source: Sunday Mail (SA)

BESIEGED Crows chief Steven Trigg has the backing of the Adelaide football community, with heavyweights Leigh Whicker, Bill Sanders, Malcolm Blight and Graham Cornes all applauding the club's decision to retain him.

SANFL general manager Whicker said the state league fully supported the decision of the Adelaide board.

"Steven Trigg is an outstanding administrator," Mr Whicker said.

"From the SANFL point of view, we strongly support Steven's continuation in the role he has been so successful in.

"Steven has been very forthright and open through this process. I've known Steven for a long while and his integrity is unquestionable.

"There's a very fine line in all sports that you can step over. I don't think a person's career and long term future should be severed due to one oversight. In general life and business people do make mistakes.

"I think the penalty has been very severe.

"I think the Adelaide Football Club is on the cusp of delivering something very special in the next few years. Once the ball is bounced in March, the fans will be there behind the club."

Inaugural chief executive Sanders said the decision was in the best interests of the club.

"I'm very pleased for Steven's sake," he said.

"Any decision the board makes must be in the best interests of the football club and I'm sure that would have been their major consideration.

"Steven has done an excellent job for the Crows."

Sanders backed Chapman to get the job done during Trigg's absence, but conceded the suspension came at a tricky time for the club.

"The contingency they have in place with Rob Chapman stepping in should cover it.

"It is not an ideal time, particularly given the issues that are in front of the club at the moment - the license and Adelaide Oval just to name two.

"However they have got to make the best of it and overcome it with the best ways and means possible."

Inaugural Crows coach Cornes said he absolutely backed the club's decision to stick by Trigg.

"I thought the penalty handed down to Steven Trigg (by the AFL) was just ridiculously excessive," he said.

"As the tribunal has indicated, this is not a hanging offence.

"Steven Trigg stood to gain no personal benefit."

Dual premiership coach Blight said also he was pleased for Trigg.

"The board are put in place to adjudicate all those things and if they see fit (to keep him) good on them," he said.

"I'm pleased for Steven."

AFL media manager Patrick Keane said the league had stated on Friday it would back whatever the board decided.

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Good CEOs are hard to find: Chapman

Adelaide Crows chief executive Steven Trigg says he offered his resignation to the club but they declined it.

Adelaide Crows chairman Rob Chapman at the press conference after the AFL Commission hearing. Picture: Michael Dodge. Source: Getty Images

ADELAIDE chairman Rob Chapman has defended the club's decision to maintain chief executive Steven Trigg after a specially convened board meeting unanimously decided he was the best man for the job.

Chapman was prepared for a torrent of criticism after he came out of the specially convened meeting late morning but told The Sunday Mail and was fully aware it was not a populist choice - but he is convinced it was the right one.

The obvious analogy in the criticism is that had Trigg acted the way he allegedly did in the corporate world, he would be shown the door.

But he was backed by both the AFL and the Crows to stay and Chapman said there were parts of the Tippett saga that would and could never been established because the warring factions could not agree on a set of facts.

"We're giving Steven the benefit of doubt," Chapman said.

"It wasn't an easy decision and it wasn't the populist decision but it was the right decision.

"We're not afraid to make the tough decisions that we believe are right for the club.

"The easy decision would have been to accept his resignation when he offered it."

Chapman called Trigg yesterday to let him know the board wanted him to use the six-month penalty received for his part in the Kurt Tippett affair constructively and then get on with it.

Chapman could already imagine the angry phone calls to radio sports shows and the buzzing of angry Internet comments.

Disgraced Crows CEO keeps his job

To Chapman, it was an expected reaction, and an natural one.

"I understand why people are raising the points that they're raising, because without having the full context of the events and the history of what happened, you'd ask those questions," Chapman said.

"Without having a full set of facts, it's hard to draw any other conclusion.

"But the all of the facts aren't going to come out because they commission couldn't agree on one set of facts - there were two: one from us and one from the Tippett camp.

"What happened from there was that we accepted a range of sanctions."

Trigg addressed the media yesterday in a confrontingly honest manner, speaking of his self doubt and his thoughts of just walking away.

There have been long and testing conversations between him and Chapman, with Trigg continuously asking whether he'd be doing the club a disservice by staying.

But Chapman had been unflinching and there was not an ounce of doubt in his voice as he lined up the reasons for keeping Trigg to The Sunday Mail.

"I and the board are backing Steven to be the best person to lead the club forward.

"Why keep him? Good CEOs are hard to find in the AFL.

"There are only 18 of them and they all have a job.

"It would take more than several months to recruit, select and induct a new CEO and why take that risk when we have an excellent CEO who has all the corporate knowledge of years of planning for the move to Adelaide Oval, knowledge about the transfer of the license (from the SANFL to the club), the work that's gone into a seconds team?"

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Trigg stays but still packs his bags

Adelaide Crows chief executive Steven Trigg says he offered his resignation to the club but they declined it.

Adelaide Crows chief executive Steven Trigg speaks to members of the media at Crows HQ in West Lakes, the day after the AFL Commission. Picture: Dylan Coker. Source: Sunday Mail (SA)

• Tell us: Have the Crows been dealt with fairly by the AFL?

CROWS boss Steven Trigg says he considered stepping down "every day" for the past six weeks but was swayed against falling on his sword by yesterday's unanimous backing from the club's board.

Adelaide backed Trigg to continue as the club's chief executive despite his six-month suspension imposed by the AFL for his part in the Kurt Tippett scandal.

Less than 24 hours after Adelaide chairman Rob Chapman declared himself a "personal supporter" of Trigg, the eight other elected members of the club's board voted to retain Trigg when his ban is lifted on July 1.

"The board is united on this," Chapman said.

"All decisions of the board are based on putting the club first and ensuring the best overall outcomes for the club."

Football manager Phil Harper, who inherited the dirty deal built by Trigg and former football boss John Reid in 2009, also won unanimous board backing to retain his role.

Harper received a two-month ban, keeping him off Adelaide's books until March 1.

Dodgy deal the Tippett of the iceberg

But it was the decision to retain Trigg that raised eyebrows in a football community that was predicting a sacking or a voluntary dismissal.

On Friday, the chief executive copped a six-month, unpaid ban from holding any position within the AFL or clubs.

He was also fined $50,000, and faced speculation his position at the club was no longer tenable.

Breaking his silence since the sanctions were handed down on Friday, Trigg revealed he had offered his resignation during several meetings with Chapman after details of Tippett's contract began surfacing during a tumultuous trade period.

Kurt Tippett leaves the AFL Commission with his legal counsel David Gallbally. Picture: Norm Oorloff Source: adelaidenow

"It's been an unbelievable six weeks," Trigg said.

"If I said to you there wasn't a day go by where I didn't think about stepping down you'd probably believe me.

"But particularly in the last week there's been a couple of occasions when I've had that formal discussion with our chairman, and I think reflective of their decision today is the proposition that I can still continue to add value and make sure that we go forward as a footy club."

It is understood Trigg's involvement in ongoing negotiations surrounding the club's move to Adelaide Oval for 2014 and a push for a reserves side were among key planks that won the board's backing.

Despite a wave of outcry at his retention on talkback radio yesterday, Trigg was adamant the stain of his role in the Tippett affair did not affect the viability of his job with the club.

"I've always said I'd love to stay in the role," he said.

"I want to stay in the industry and I want to stay in the role.

"People find that extraordinary given the circumstances, and I understand that as well. I've made some blues, we've buggered up some things, no question about that, and I take complete responsibility.

"But for me, do I want to stay in the role? Absolutely.

"For me it's a question of does the board want me to stay in the role.

"They've put a position where they're really strong, no ambiguity, so it's on that basis that I stay in the role."

Tippett blames Crows for 11-week ban

Trigg learnt of the board's decision in a phone call from Chapman late yesterday morning, immediately after the board meeting.

He was uncertain whether his AFL-imposed ban meant he was allowed to attend games before the suspension ended on July 1.

Trigg said during his enforced lay-off he planned to launch a fact-finding mission with other national and international sporting organisations.

"Apparently I've got a few jobs to do around the house," he said.

"I do need a spell and after 11 years in this role where you're just going flat out the whole time there is a little bit of upside in having a spell. I didn't want it to be this way.

"What I really want to do at some stage is get out, under my own steam and my own cost, and go and look at some world sport so I can learn some things, bring them back here and put them into place.

"Whether that's other codes, other clubs, other sports, I'll spend a bit of time doing that. It needs to be mapped out, I don't want to waste it."

THE PENALTIES

- Adelaide Crows fined $300,000 and stripped of their first and second round picks in the 2013 national draft.

- Tippett fined $50,000 and suspended for the 2013 pre-season and first 11 home and away games, with a suspended sentence for the remaining 11 home and away games.

- Steven Trigg fined $50,000 and suspended from any involvement in the AFL for the first six months of 2013, with a suspended sentence for the remaining six months.

- Former Crows football operations manager John Reid suspended from any involvement in the AFL for the first six months of 2013, with a suspended sentence for the remaining six months.

- Crows football operations manager Phil Harper suspended from any AFL involvement for the first two months of 2013, with a further four-month suspended sentence.

scott.walsh@email.com.au

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Sun rises again for Brennan

Jared Brennan trains with the Suns at Metricon Stadium. Picture: David Clark Source: Gold Coast Bulletin

FROM the back of the bus to the front of the plane.

Jared Brennan's road to redemption is all but complete.

The mercurial 28-year-old was on the brink of quitting the AFL after a horror 2012 season in which the high-priced recruit was twice dumped to the Gold Coast reserves.

Disillusioned and questioning if he still had the passion to play at the top level, a reclusive Brennan withdrew from the pressure-cooker environment of the AFL knowing his career balanced on a knife's edge.

But the former Lion was a new man during the Suns' two-week high-altitude camp in Arizona.

He trained the house down to the point where he was voted by his peers as the best performer in the US - and was rewarded with a seat in business class for the long flight back to Australia.

"He's backed it up (since returning home)," Suns coach Guy McKenna said.

"The big test is coming back to sea level and putting your head down and working hard.

"Jared has shown a real appetite for that hard work. He hasn't missed a beat. His enthusiasm is up, his passion is up, all indicators to do with his training are on the up."

Brennan said he would have regretted pulling the pin.

"I've still got a few good years left in me. If I gave up now it was probably the easy way out," he said.

"(And) I don't want to be known to take the easy way out."

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