Coach Neil Craig, a man of immense character, will feel betrayed, but Crows fans will be the least forgiving.
However, when the dust settles there doesn’t have to be a loser from Bock’s decision.
The man himself will be painted the villain, and for years will be remembered as the first who put his hand up to join the new club.
Some will use words like traitor and defector. That’s unfair.
Put yourself in his shoes.
It may be your last chance to make some serious money, to set yourself and family up before having to give it all away.
A rival employer is offering you, let’s say, 50 per cent more than what your current boss can pay to do exactly the same job.
And there may even be other benefits at your new job location. The weather’s great; perhaps you’re feeling a little stale and in need of a new challenge.
We all love to think loyalty exists across the board, but when factors like those come into the equation, it’s a tough decision for anyone to make.
Right now that will be hard for angry Crows fans to come to terms with.
The one-time Crows hero is no doubt in for a frosty reception if he and his Gold Coast teammates travel to AAMI Stadium next season - news of Bock’s walkout on Tuesday will no doubt have given Simon Lethlean and his fixturing team at AFL House plenty to think about.
Before this week, an Adelaide-Gold Coast meeting in 2011 might not have seemed so enticing. But Bock returning to Adelaide in different colours?
Remember the hype around the Judd-West Coast and Fevola-Carlton rematches? Expect more of the same, especially given the hostility now coursing through Adelaide.
The City of Churches will be a most unholy place when that little showdown takes place.
But as livid as those at West Lakes are feeling, the anger should pass. It must pass when news of compensation arrives.
Everyone in the AFL knew that during this extraordinary period of expansion clubs would lose players.
There had to be a first. Unfortunately for the Crows, they were it. Bock was the first, but he won’t be the last.
As the AFL has said throughout the process, those clubs that do lose players will be compensated.
Adelaide has lost an All-Australian best and fairest winner who represented his country at International Rules and will turn 28 in March. That’s probably worth a late first-rounder.
Earlier this year the League formed a list management group, comprising representatives from several AFL clubs, to determine what clubs who lost players to expansion teams would receive in return.
Crows chief Steven Trigg was a member of that working group and would therefore have a fair idea what his club will get in return for its star centre half-back.
A pick in the vicinity of 26 to 30 was floated on Tuesday, but that’s if the Crows are in a hurry to use it in the next two years. Why the rush when you get five years to use it?
Should Adelaide be compensated with a selection at the end of the first round - which perhaps Trigg seems to think will result going by his comments on Tuesday - then perhaps it’s better holding off given the restrictions of the next two drafts.
By holding off the Crows could have, a pick in the vicinity of 18-20 in the 2012 or 2013 draft, plus their earlier first-rounder for that year. That would build on a list that already has plenty of promise.
By that stage they’d hope Phil Davis and Daniel Talia are holding up the back end and Kurt Tippett and Taylor Walker, perhaps with Shaun McKernan, will be the key forward planks.
In the midfield Bernie Vince, Patrick Dangerfield and Rory Sloane should be really cutting loose. Who knows how good ‘Danger’ might be by then?
It’s a nice list. And with a good chance of a guaranteed two first-round cracks coming up in one draft - at the expense of a guy who’ll be 28 at the start of the 2011 season - perhaps some shrewd recruiting could see the Crows return to the upper rungs of the ladder.
Over to you, Matt Rendell.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
