UPDATED: The Adelaide Football Club has “categorically denied” suggestions by ousted Carlton coach Mick Malthouse the Crows “stitched up” gun forward Eddie Betts 18 months before his defection from the Blues.
Betts’ manager has also rebutted Malthouse’s claim the Adelaide cult hero had agreed to sign with the Crows well before he left the Blues.
Betts made the switch in 2013 after Carlton decided not to match the Crows’ four-year deal.
During an explosive interview with Melbourne radio station SEN, Malthouse said Blues chief executive Steven Trigg told him the Crows had Betts “stitched up 18 months out”.
Trigg previously held the same role at Adelaide.
In a statement released late today, the Crows said the club “categorically denies any inappropriate dealings regarding the signing of Eddie Betts”.
“We are extremely disappointed by comments made to the contrary today,” the statement reads.
Betts’ manager also refuted the claim.
“That is 100 per cent incorrect,” he tweeted.
The AFL appears set to investigate the claim.
An AFL spokesperson told the league’s website: “”We would make an inquiry to see if we need to do anything that would require us to investigate further”.
READ UPDATED STORY: Carlton sacks Mick Malthouse.
Malthouse, who was sacked today, made the remarks while discussing Carlton’s playing list, which he described as “shallow”.
He said the list had been slashed by 50 per cent, and while he thought the Blues had some promising young players on deck he wished they had retained other more experiences stars including Betts.
“I’d still love to have a number of players here, Betts is the most classical one because he’s a goal kicker,” Malthouse said.
“But Steven Trigg assured us when he arrived here, ‘Don’t take it too personally’. He said, ‘We, being Adelaide, had him stitched up 18 months out’.
“So it’s very, very difficult when you come to the football club and a bloke like that plays cautious football because his heart and soul, or certainly his mind, was everywhere else.”
Betts has produced stunning form this season for the Crows, slotting 29 goals after eight rounds to make him the second-highest scorer to West Coast’s Josh Kennedy.
During his final season at Carlton he kicked 27 majors, compared with 48 and 50 in the two seasons prior.
