Phil Walsh’s coaching mentor John Worsfold will join the Adelaide Crows for the remainder of the season as coaching director, while assistant and Carlton premiership player Scott Camporeale will take the reins as interim senior coach.

The club this morning confirmed the coaching revamp brought on by what its chairman Rob Chapman described as “a crisis unprecedented” – the tragic murder of first-year coach Phil Walsh, allegedly stabbed by his 26-year-old son Cy.

Walsh served as an assistant under Worsfold at the West Coast Eagles for five years from 2009, before returning to Adelaide as a strategist for the Power in 2014.

A former premiership captain and coach, Worsfold was instrumental in each of the Eagles’ three flags. Earlier this year, he stepped in to help his mate Walsh by overseeing the coaching structure during the Crows’ pre-season campaign, giving the club a resounding tick.

Crows CEO Andrew Fagan said he approached Worsfold on Sunday, although a media barracking campaign for his services had already begun before then, with an article in The Age urging him to help continue Walsh’s unfinished campaign.

“John is a premiership coach who already has an understanding of our football program, given he was briefly here on Walshy’s invitation earlier this year,” said Fagan.

“We are thrilled that he has agreed to join our club for the remainder of this season.”

Fagan declared Camporeale a “respected figure with an astute football brain”.

Scott Camporeale. Source: afc.com.au

“Nine months ago we set out on a journey with Phil Walsh at the helm,” he said.

“We are all determined to continue pushing down that path, guided by his values of elite standards, hard work, attention to detail and a team-first attitude.”

Camporeale found himself in the spotlight last month after television cameras caught him in a heated telephone exchange with midfield star Patrick Dangerfield during the last quarter of the Crows’ loss to Hawthorn, an incident he later shrugged off as part of coaching.

Fagan said the new interim coach would be “well supported by (current assistants) David Teague, Darren Milburn and Matthew Clarke”, with and Worsfold adding “further experience and insight”.

Crows players, coaches and staff will continue to be offered counselling as the club prepares to play its first match since the tragedy next Saturday. Ironically, they will take on Worsfold’s former charges, the Eagles, in Perth.