Adelaide Crows chief executive officer Steven Trigg speaks to the press. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: adelaidenow
Kurt Tippett is also facing charges over his 2009 deal. Picture: Simon Cross Source: The Advertiser
ADELAIDE will keep all its picks in this year's draft after the AFL agreed to delay its hearing into claims of salary cap cheating.
A new hearing date is yet to be set but the league advised today next Thursday's national draft "will go ahead as normal".
The Crows, expected to be stripped of picks as a penalty for illegal payments to forward Kurt Tippett, have selections 20, 54 and 64 in this year's draft.
The club, Tippett and officials Steven Trigg, John Reid and Phil Harper face a total of 11 charges relating to an alleged secret agreement with Tippett when he signed a new contract in 2009.
The deal allegedly involved third-party payments of up to $300,000, unapproved third-party deals with Crows sponsors including Balfours pies, and a promise to trade Tippett to a club of his choice for a second-round draft pick when the three-year contract expired.
The deal ran out this year and Tippett shocked the club by asking to be traded to Sydney. The Crows stalled on the Swans' offer of a late first-round draft pick and fringe forward Jesse White, plunging the club into crisis.
The latest charges were laid yesterday and the club and Harper requested more time to prepare their defence.
The Crows, football manager Harper, chief executive Trigg and former football operations manager Reid will all be represented separately at the commission hearing.
"The AFL has today advised the Club and Mr Harper, as well as Mr Trigg, Mr Reid and Adelaide Crows-listed player Kurt Tippett, that the Commission will provide the requested extra time, and that the hearing will not proceed on Monday as previously scheduled, to ensure that natural justice is provided," the league said in a statement.
"A new hearing date is yet to be set, but will be advised to all parties, the media and the wider football public as soon as it is determined.
"The 2012 NAB AFL draft will proceed as scheduled next week, Thursday November 22. The AFL has no further comment to make at this time."
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Adelaide has been trying to prepare its case in recent days, including finding witnesses who will appear before the commission.
The AFL confirmed witnesses would be allowed provided the commission was notified and they were relevant to the charges.
The club released a statement to key stakeholders yesterday that said in part: "We look forward to the hearing next Monday and then being able to explain directly to you and all our members, sponsors and supporters exactly what happened, why it happened and how it happened."
The statement was co-signed by chairman Rob Chapman and Trigg.
Adelaide is currently sorting through its list of witnesses to key events during the Tippett crisis, which has left the club under threat of being excluded for the draft for up to four years and handed heavy fines.
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Law firm Kelly & Co's Peter Campbell said witnesses of fact were a priority.
"You'd think it's people that can either corroborate a version of the facts or dispute it," Campbell said.
"If the AFL has put forward a particular version and they (the Crows) want to bring people across to say that that's not how it happened, and that's why there can't be any penalties or fines on that, that would be the most likely."
Sticking points are expected to be who was present at important meetings, who put the pressure on whom to orchestrate a deal and when key people became privy to the matter.
The hearing will not proceed on Monday as previously scheduled, to ensure that natural justice is provided.
The battle is likely to be over which party can best prove its version of events as the most accurate.
There are expected to be several versions.
"They'll try to construct a whole factual chronology of it," Campbell said. "And I assume they'll bring witnesses up to back that up."
Monday's hearing is expected to spill into Tuesday. Cross-examination is expected to be intense, with both Tippett and the Crows hiring high-profile silks to mount their case.
Tippett has retained prominent QC David Galbally, who has vast experience in AFL matters.
The Crows hired David Edwardson QC, who successfully defended Perth barrister Lloyd Rayney in one of the most high-profile cases in Western Australia's history.
The Advertiser reported Edwardson had also represented hit-run lawyer Eugene McGee, but to clarify, he acted only temporarily for McGee around the time of his arrest.
Jeff Gleeson SC will represent the AFL.
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