The league did not think that what transpired, at least for several players at the camp, would pass muster for the all-purpose crime of “bringing the game into disrepute” – the charge that was laid against Essendon and James Hird in 2013 in the midst of the injection scandal.

From Adelaide’s vantage, however, the price that has been paid is considerable. The senior coach, football manager, chief executive and president from that period have all departed.

The brand damage to the Crows is even greater, bearing in mind that they carry the stain of the Taylor Walker incident from last year. They are seeking to improve in the Indigenous space, which all clubs (and media) must.

Consider that Collingwood commissioned a devastating self-examination in the Do Better report on racism, largely for events that took place up to 2014. How would the Crows fare, if subjected to the same forensic examination of handling race and Indigenous culture in particular?

They stumbled at first on Wednesday, when Mark Ricciuto, the board member and ex-great, said he hoped Eddie could move on from the camp – a comment that misread the room and which Ricciuto would surely like to revisit with a larger slice of empathy and regret.

Then, chief executive Tim Silvers struck the more fitting note by issuing an on-the-spot apology to Betts – intentionally offered before the media rather than in a statement – and to any others who had experienced distress.

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The AFL issued a careful comment, which acknowledged the “hurt” felt by Betts, his family and “by extension all Indigenous players” via the disastrous camp, and then went on to outline all the changes that had come to pass since those days – such as vetting any “external provider” of pre-season camps or the like and getting clubs to hire Indigenous welfare officers. In essence, the league was saying that it had corrected what was awry.

The AFL Players Association, meanwhile, hinted on Wednesday that it hadn’t done enough to act because “players felt pressured into remaining silent”. Really?

Perhaps the player delegates to the union felt a stronger obligation to the club than to some traumatised teammates. Or that they misguidedly felt their experience was fine, so the camp wasn’t so bad.

No one – not the club, competition, leaders of the Crows, the players’ union, nor even much of the media – emerges well from what Betts, to his credit, has laid bare. His soul included.

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