The Adelaide Crows have done a back flip on the Tyson Edwards retirement. Neil Craig the coach has promised Edwards he will get a farewell match against Fremantle next week and admitted to getting it wrong in terms of applying his strict selection criteria to the Fremantle game, therefore being unable to guarantee Edwards a place in the team initially.
After a public out cry in support of Edwards craig held discussions with CEO Stephen trigg and then later with Edwards himself and determined that it was in the best interest of the club and its supporters to allow a tribute game for fans to farewell one of the clubs champions.
"After discussion with Tyson reasonably late last night, in the end I've come to the absolute conclusion that it's appropriate for Tyson to play in a farewell or tribute game against Fremantle," Craig said.
"In our initial discussion regarding an appropriate exit for Tyson ... we did discuss a farewell game, but when I pulled back to selection criteria and the principles that I use, I was unable to in real terms guarantee that it could actually happen, even though we were keen to try to make it happen to the best of our ability.
"About 6.30 last night I knew that in this particular instance with the circumstances involved and the calibre of player we're talking about, is that the decision should have been based on what's best for the club rather than what's best on the selection principles that I uphold.
"It's a great opportunity for our football club in an industry where it is cutthroat, highly professional and where there's very little sentiment shown in a lot of situations, that in this particular situation we have the capacity and circumstance to still show care and a sense of belonging to one of our people."
AUDIO: Listen to full press conference here