Adelaide assistant coach Ben Hart has accepted his sanction for his role in the Crows’ AFL training rules breach and apologised for his actions.

Hart supervised a training session that breached COVID-19 protocols with 16 Adelaide players who were quarantining in a hotel in the Barossa Valley after returning from interstate.

Players were working in pairs – as permitted under the AFL’s league-wide training rules – when they moved into two larger groups of eight for the final 16 minutes of a two-hour training session.

On Monday, Hart was stood down from coaching duties for six weeks and will not be able to access club facilities or have contact with players until 22 June 2020.

“I would like to apologise for the part I played in breaching the AFL’s training protocols which are in place due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent postponement of the competition,” Hart said in a club statement.

“I am also accepting of the penalty handed down.

“It was unintentional and purely an innocent mistake but nevertheless it was a breach.”

Hart expressed his remorse for involving 16 players and said he was thankful they only received a suspended one-match sanction, in place for the remainder of the 2020 season.

“I hope this minor breach does not impact on the broader AFL industry and cause too much angst during what are unprecedented and anxious times,” he said.