"Jake and I had a good laugh": Goodwin scoffs at Ricciuto comments

They might be great mates, but Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin isn’t happy with fellow Adelaide legend Mark Ricciuto.

Goodwin is disappointed with the Crows’ powerbroker for revealing sensitive information about Demons defender Jake Lever’s exit from Adelaide at the end of 2017.

Ricciuto, one of the most revered players in Adelaide’s history as its only Brownlow medallist, spoke at length on Wednesday about a number of ex-Crows players who have left the under-siege club in recent seasons.

Adelaide’s football director claimed Lever signed with Melbourne on a deal worth between $800,000 to $850,000 a year and declared he was “probably a $500,000 player”.

Goodwin labelled the talk “unfair” and claimed his 1998 premiership teammate’s details were wrong, saying Lever was not on a contract worth more than $800,000 a year.

“Mark is a pretty good mate of mine. He’s very passionate about the Adelaide footy club and he’s very parochial,” Goodwin told reporters on Thursday.

“Clearly he’s thought he was going to be doing the right thing to come out and justify those decisions.

“We actually love Jake. We want him at our footy club and we’d probably pay him whatever we want to pay him now to have him.

“There were some things in those discussions that were put out there that just aren’t right.

“It doesn’t happen around the industry much where you get out there and talk about specifics of player’s deals.

“Jake and I had a good laugh about it this morning once I got the information and just reassured him.”

Ricciuto told Triple M on Thursday he never meant to offend the former Crows players, namely Lever and now-Carlton player Mitch McGovern.

The 312-game former Adelaide captain said he was just trying to give Crows fans an insight into the club’s list management strategy.

“People want people to tell the truth, people cry out for it, then when you try and give them a bit more of an insight, you get a whack (for it),” he said.