‘It troubled me’: Lethal irked by young star’s axing

AFL icon Leigh Matthews has given Adelaide a clip for “public admonishment” of young player Josh Rachele.
The Crows last week dropped Rachele for their final game of the season.
The axing came days after the 21-year-old was roundly criticised for an inflammatory act during the Showdown in which he ran towards Port Adelaide fans and pointed to his teeth.
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The bizarre goal celebration came after he accused Power supporters of lacking teeth. Power great Kane Cornes labelled Rachele the “laughing stock of the competition” for his actions.
After dropping the youngster from the team on Thursday, Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks denied it was a direct result of his Showdown antics.
Leigh Matthews was “troubled” by the treatment of Josh Rachele. Nine
“When you’re dealing with values it’s important you get everyone on the same page. It’s such a fine line between what we accept and what we don’t as a football club and football team,” Nicks said.
Rachele later apologised for his actions and said he was remorseful.
But Matthews has turned the blowtorch on Nicks and the club for making a public show of the situation.
“The Rachele thing I thought was interesting,” Matthews said on Nine’s Footy Furnace.
“I’ve got to say, it troubled me a little bit. I always think public admonishment is a bad thing, it’s a last resort.
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“You assume there must be some softly softly talk going on with Josh Rachele, as in just fitting into the team vibe and the team values.
“Leaving someone out of the team, that’s fine, but almost saying he’s left out of the team because he wasn’t living up to the team values… that’s a last resort that they’ve moved to.”
Matthews is one of the best coaches in Australian football history, and dealt with many varied personalities during his career.
But he says he would not have made a public example of Rachele like Nicks did last week.
“It just seems like whatever is going on behind the scenes, they’re not comfortable with and not happy about,” he said.
“And going into the last game (they decided) to make the big statement, but whenever you do it publicly… it’s a last resort situation.”
Rachele was also not publicly supported by teammates before or after being axed.
Rory Laird and Jordan Dawson also spoke publicly last week following the fiery Showdown.
“I think Rachele handled the doorstop the best out of the four of them,” Bartel said, referencing an interview Rachele did with 9News.
“I think he owned his behaviour, he said what he needed to work on, and I think he outperformed the other three.”
The Crows finished the season in 15th spot after winning just eight games.