Adelaide Crows great Rory Sloane has opened up on how he nearly joined St Kilda in 2018, revealing the innovative and secret way that the club had contacted him over the proposed move.
On Tuesday night’s edition of Footy Classified, the panel stopped to discuss the news that West Coast Eagles captain Oscar Allen had met with Hawthorn boss Sam Mitchell.
The talks have been aired in public and there is speculation that Allen could leave the struggling Eagles this year and follow former West Coast defender Tom Barrass to the Hawks.
Allen’s controversial move to open up a meeting with Mitchell considering his position at the club has garnered some scrutiny from former players and commentators.
Sloane, meanwhile, raised issue with how the talks were conducted explaining he would not have engaged so publicly with a league rival and would have instead just set up a FaceTime or a phone call instead of a face-to-face meeting.
But when pressed on whether he would entertain offers while he was the club’s captain, he said: ‘Definitely not as captain.’
Rory Sloane revealed that he once used a burner Instagram account to hold talks with St Kilda back in 2018
It comes as West Coast Eagles captain Oscar Allen had held talks with Hawthorn boss Sam Mitchell over a potential move to join the Hawks
‘I would have waited until later in the year. In 2018 I was a leader, a pivotal leader in our footy club.’
The two-time Malcolm Bright Medallist, who played 255 games for the Crows and returned 136 goals, was appointed co-captain of the Adelaide Football Club in 2019. He was later promoted to club captain in 2020 and retired from footy in 2024.
But then he revealed that he had spoken to St Kilda via a burner account on social media.
‘I spoke to St Kilda but we did it through a burner account on Instagram later in the season,’ he said.
‘A burner account on Instagram! They did a full presentation of this is what you expect from St Kilda – but that was way later in the season.’
He then explained what he meant by a ‘burner account’.
‘Like a burner account like you were just talking to them on your phone,’ Tom Morriss asked.
Sloane responded: ‘On Instagram, I followed an account and they presented through [it].’
Sloane revealed that he would never have spoken to a rival AFL club when he had been captain
But the Crows great explained that he had previously held talks with St Kilda before he was appointed as captain of the club and did so in a covert manner
Eddie McGuire added: ‘So no one could trace it?’
‘No one could trace it, Sloane,’ added.
West Coast have stood by their captain and key forward Allen after calls have been made for him to stand down following his talks with Mitchell.
Don Pyke, Eagles chief executive, said that the key forward should not feel the need to let go of the captaincy after being handed the honour alongside half-back Liam Duggan in March.
McGuire, meanwhile, made his feelings on the matter clear during Footy Classified: ‘It’s a really hard one.
‘Because we all know, these things happen. But, I really feel hard about this. I said last week, if Oscar Allen is not fair dinkum, don’t be captain.
‘I said West Coast have to stand for something. If Hawthorn are going to fly in, laugh at them, have breakfast with their captain, tickle him up and take his mind off the job… Somebody has got to do something.
‘Sometimes that can be the president.’
Allen has been criticised for meeting up with Mitchell by several former players including Eddie McGuire
He then revealed what he would have told Allen if he was a powerbroker or coach at the club.
‘I would have said: “Mate, you are not captain anymore”. He should resign, or sign a new contract and get it done.’
On the matter, Pyke said to SEN Radio: ‘I think we’re working in a world now that’s changed from times gone past.
‘I don’t think it’s unusual for clubs to meet with players and if that is the case, then clearly we’ll keep talking with Oscar about his position at the club. We’d love to obviously keep him here and we’re working towards that with him and his management.
‘That came to bear overnight, I guess, and we’ll work through that as we do with everything.’
