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‘People yell and scream’: Friction at Pies amid change, but no fracture

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(L-R): Justin Leppitsch, Craig Kelly and Brendon Bolton. Pictures: AFL Photos

LIFE is never the same for those who secure an AFL premiership.

The public adulation, the private satisfaction, the parties change everything. Feelings of accomplishment and fulfillment can distort a competitive reality. Distractions, some welcomed and others unwanted, to a high performance life can enter daily routine and thoughts.

When it’s a Collingwood premiership, multiply the disturbances and the frenzy by 10, maybe 20, and when the flag defence begins with two losses, murmurings outside the club lead to valid questions within it.

>> Check out the latest from Damian Barrett 

Collingwood people – players, coaches, administrators – are convinced they have not taken shortcuts in 2024 preparations.

CEO Craig Kelly, a naturally and proudly combative leader when he feels the need to protect his people, begins a conversation with AFL.com.au about the club’s early 2024 landscape with a version of mock laughter. He had just finished one of his regular chats with coach Craig McRae, the two aware of what is already unfolding in the public narrative.

“Externally people don’t understand what goes on internally,” Kelly said. “All of us understand the game we are in, all of us understand when you play two good sides, you will try to pick it apart and look for reasons and try and talk things up.”

To Kelly’s point, there are obvious reasons for the Magpies’ tardy start. Greater Western Sydney (a 32-point winner in Opening Round) and Sydney (a 33-point winner in round one), are very good football teams, with the Giants having already pushed the Pies to a one-point result in last year’s preliminary final, and the Swans beating the Pies by the same margin in the 2022 preliminary final. Both teams are expected to finish high on the 2024 ladder.

Then there is the indefinite absence of Nathan Murphy, who hasn’t played since the first quarter of the 2023 Grand Final and who continues to be assessed by concussion experts, and which has had a profoundly negative impact. The ripple effect of his unavailability has changed the attacking dynamic of the Pies’ backline.

A big hole has formed in the forward line, too, with Dan McStay’s latest knee problems causing many problems inside 50.

The long-service leave being taken by renowned football department head Graham Wright, and the flow-on effects of those now empowered to fill his void, is another problem.

Kelly himself will be playing active roles in the running of certain parts of the football department, including involvement in big picture discussions on the composition of the Magpies’ list, an understandable role given that prior to becoming CEO in January 2023, he had established the biggest sports talent and marketing agency in Australia.

It is known there has been friction, particularly between Brendon Bolton and Justin Leppitsch, as the new football department roles assigned to cover Wright are being bedded down.

Craig McRae with assistant coaches (L-R) Hayden Skipworth, Brendon Bolton and Justin Leppitsch after the R10 match between Collingwood and Carlton at the MCG on May 21, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

Bolton had his responsibilities bolstered in the new portfolio breakdown, and retained status as director of coaching. Among Leppitsch’s new roles are the overseeing of the Magpies’ football, strategy and innovation.

Clare Pettyfor, general manager operations, has recently told the club she would be returning to a media role with Melbourne.

Wright offered to resign when he made Collingwood officials aware of his need for a lengthy break from football. The long-service leave which he has taken was suggested to him by president Jeff Browne and Kelly. He will return to the club in early September.

“It’s white noise – he (Wright) will be back for the back part of the year and then we will sit down and talk long term,” Kelly said.

“He came in and wanted to do it that way (resign) and after that we just said to him, ‘you don’t have to do it that way’. That is how it happened. We rang the AFL, and they were very supportive.”

Craig Kelly (right) embraces Jordan De Goey after Collingwood’s win in the 2023 AFL Grand Final. Picture: AFL Photos

While denying any relationship problems between Leppitsch and Bolton, as well as any major issues relating to Wright’s exit, Kelly said elite sports organisations were not for people afraid of confrontation.

“In high performance environments where a lot of stuff happens, people yell and scream,” Kelly said.

“Bolts and he are heading down a good path, and they want to head down that path together.

“He (Leppitsch) is a better manager now, and he will be good at this list stuff, and how he is going about it with Derek (Hine) and I is exciting.

“I am spending time helping Bolts, and Leppa, and with list management meetings – I will assist Derek. I won’t be sitting in on selection or (sitting) on the benches (during games), just supporting key people.”

Collingwood recruiting boss Derek Hine speaks with media during the 2023 AFL Draft on November 21, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

Again reverting to a strong defence of the club he loves, Kelly, who knows first-hand the outside effects of a premiership at Collingwood after playing a key role as a key defender in 1990, wanted it known that change was part of his leadership mantra.

“Look, we made more changes for last year than this year,” Kelly said.

“And we want people to be challenged, we want balance, we want people to go on long-service leave and we will put people in different roles.

“Some will work, some won’t. We just want to get better and seek to get better, and we need to get better because everyone else is also wanting to get better.

“Fly (Craig McRae) and I … we will shake every year and see if we need to change, we want balance and a workplace where people are challenged, and where people can keep moving forward.”

Craig McRae during Collingwood’s match against Sydney at the MCG in round one, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos

McRae knew the premiership hangover talk would come at some stage of 2024. He flagged that it would be levelled at the club in a wide-ranging interview with AFL.com.au in February.

What he wouldn’t have expected, though, even with the learnings and wisdom that comes with 29 years as a player, assistant coach and coach in the AFL, was that the hangover topic would be generated before the new season even started – by the legendary Leigh Matthews.

“Revisiting something that happened six months ago, to me that’s never helpful,” Matthews said of the late February-early March release of “Take The Steps”, a documentary which premiered at Hoyts Melbourne Central.

McRae hasn’t detected hangover symptoms. But his demeanour did change in the post match media conferences from Opening Round to Round 1. He remains comfortable that his entire team classily soaked up and celebrated its stunning 2023 success, and that the early 2024 problems can be rectified with a return to the basics at the core of his two full seasons in charge.

But he and Kelly have also been around long enough to know that unless they start winning, their words will present in hollow form to the public. It’s why they found themselves unexpectedly laughing when talking about the outside-club observations on Tuesday.

St Kilda awaits Collingwood on Thursday night at the MCG, Brisbane the following Thursday at the Gabba. And as complex and sophisticated and educated as football now is, there is still only one thing guaranteed to make the negative talk disappear – wins.

New AFL team Tasmania Devils exceeds membership target

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AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)

Star Sun bolts into Brownlow Medal frame with odds slashed after two games

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Matt Rowell’s Brownlow Medal odds have been slashed following his blistering start to the year.

With Damien Hardwick as his coach Rowell has made a remarkable start to the 2024 AFL season in putting up video game numbers in wins over Richmond and Adelaide.

Across the two contests Rowell, still only 22 years old, has racked up a combined 62 disposals, 46 contested possessions, 29 clearances, 15 tackles and a further 991 metres gained.

The next best midfielder in the competition had 17 clearances to his name, while Rowell is some 15 clear in contested possessions.

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Rowell also leads the competition in ground ball gets,

It’s seen his Brownlow quote shorten from as much as $51 prior to Round 1 into $9 currently with Sportsbet.

The 2019 no.1 draft pick famously picked up three votes in three of his first four AFL games before suffering a season-ending should injury against Geelong in Round 5.

Rowell has since taken his AFL games tally to 64, but just 16 Brownlow votes have come in his last 59 appearances.

The criticism on Rowell has always been the lack of an outside game, but the inside bull is proving his doubters wrong again in 2024. He could be on six Brownlow votes after Round 1 having taken just two marks so far this year.

Rowell is third in the Brownlow Medal market behind Nick Daicos ($7) and GWS midfielder Tom Green, who has also charged into single figures at $8.

Green was also taken in the 2019 National Draft and has elevated year-on-year but now looks to be firmly in Brownlow considerations.

The 23-year-old has been near the Giants’ best player in GWS’ two wins to start the 2024 season, with his ball use notably improving this season.

Green’s disposal efficiency this year is at 71.6 per cent, an equal career high and up from 66.4 per cent last year.


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The verdict is in: Hawks skipper learns his fate at Tribunal

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Hawthorn defender James Sicily has faced the AFL Tribunal on a kicking charge

James Sicily walks off the field after the R1 match between Hawthorn and Essendon at the MCG on March 16, 2024. Picture: Getty Images/AFL Photos

HAWTHORN captain James Sicily will play against Melbourne after his kicking charge was downgraded from a ban to a fine at the Tribunal.

Sicily was facing a one-game suspension for kicking Essendon opponent Andrew McGrath, but the Hawks convinced the tribunal the impact should be low, rather than medium.

The All-Australian defender, who pleaded guilty to the charge, was fined $2500.

Tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson KC said the panel agreed with Hawthorn advocate Myles Tehan that the risk of injury from the kick was “relatively low”.

Tehan had argued, using a golfing analogy, Sicily’s kick had “no long backswing” and if he’d kicked a football with the same motion, it probably would not have gone 10m.

But the Hawks’ bid to downgrade the penalty started badly with Gleeson disallowing their application to call McGrath as a witness.

The Bombers star had gone in to bat for Sicily on Monday, telling SEN the contact was “pretty innocuous” and he was not bruised.

The old ‘players’ code’ means the tribunal now generally does not take evidence from victims and Gleeson said this did not qualify as an exception to that.

But Tehan argued successfully there was “no sensible way” the Sicily kick should have the same impact grading as an incident last season when Geelong’s Tom Atkins was charged with kicking St Kilda’s Jimmy Webster.

That incident, which left Webster writhing in pain, was graded as medium and resulted in a fine for the Cats player.

The medical report from Essendon presented to the tribunal backed up McGrath’s comments. 

Meanwhile, Essendon coach Brad Scott has conceded his club would not have been able to overturn Mason Redman’s one-match suspension for striking at the Tribunal.

Redman was charged with striking Hawthorn’s Jai Newcombe in an off-the-ball incident during the Bombers’ 24-point win on Saturday.

The contact was deemed as intentional and high contact, with low impact.

It resulted in an automatic one-match ban that means Redman will miss Essendon’s tough assignment against Sydney at the SCG in round two.

Bombers coach Scott felt the club owed it to their fans to consider challenging the Match Review Officer’s decision in a bid to clear Redman to face the Swans.

But Scott, who was the AFL’s general manager of football before taking the Essendon job, felt it would have been a futile exercise.

“The AFL have really reverse-engineered this rule and they’ve written into the guidelines that an open hand can constitute a strike, and anything high and off the ball will be graded intentional,” Scott said on Monday night.

“You go through the guidelines and they’ve sort of made it so that we have absolutely no grounds or legal grounds for an appeal.

“We can on principle appeal it, but we’ll lose.”

Newcombe wasn’t seriously hurt by Redman in the second-quarter incident.

Gold Coast’s Malcolm Rosas Jr and Western Bulldogs recruit James Harmes have accepted one-match bans for headbutting opponents in round one.

Sicily earns Tribunal reprieve for kicking McGrath

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Hawthorn captain James Sicily is free to play Melbourne in Round 2 after having his kicking charge downgraded at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday afternoon.

Sicily and the Hawks had taken a one-week ban to tribunal with the belief the incident involving Essendon’s Andy McGrath on Saturday didn’t warrant a suspendable action.

The kick, which came after Sicily upended the 25-year-old, was graded intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact, triggering a one-week suspension.

Hawthorn successful argued the impact should instead be graded as low, earning Sicily a reprieve in the form of a fine.

McGrath wasn’t permitted to provide evidence in the case. However, speaking to SEN on Monday, the Bombers vice-captain gave an indication of the impact.

“It was pretty innocuous. I think a few of us got into him (Sicily) a little bit after (Matt) Guelfi kicked the first goal on him, it was just one of those heat of the moment things,” McGrath said on SEN Breakfast.

“I didn’t even really realise that he put his foot into the back of me, which sort of suggests how severe the kick was. Not very at all.

“But I guess they’re stamping that out of the game and we’ll see where that lands.

“After every incident our club doctor calls us to see if there are any medical ramifications or any soreness, my report to him was that there’s nothing, I’ve got no bruise, no nothing.

“Hopefully that stands up in the appeal if there is one.”

The Hawks skipper was physically targeted by Essendon in the Round 1 four-goal loss and finished with just 11 touches and two marks.

With Hawthorn already missing several players in its best 22, Sicily’s availability comes at an important time and against an opponent fresh off pummeling the Western Bulldogs.

Hawthorn and Melbourne clash from 4:35pm AEDT at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

‘Wouldn’t have gone 10m’: Hawks’ bid to have victim defend Sicily rejected over ‘players code’ – LIVE

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Hawthorn captain James Sicily is back at the AFL Tribunal once again, this time challenging a one-game suspension for kicking. Live updates below!

The superstar defender kicked out at Essendon’s Andrew McGrath after the Bombers backman ran at him during the early stages of their Round 1 clash at the MCG.

The Hawks only moved to contest the impact grading – which was medium, along with intentional conduct and body contact – and if the impact is downgraded to low Sicily would be fined.

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They asked to call Andrew McGrath for evidence, which Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson questioned, because of what the Hawks’ lawyer called the “players code”.

“There is a inevitable human motivation to not say anything or do anything that would negatively impact the prospects of a fellow player playing the next week’s game of football,” Gleeson said.

McGrath said on SEN on Monday morning he felt the impact was “pretty innocuous” and he “didn’t even really realise that he put his foot into the back of me, which sort of suggests how severe the kick was”, and the Hawks believed his answers to the Tribunal would be similar.

The AFL argued leave should not be granted to permit the “victim player” to be called, with Gleeson pointing out when the victim is called there is often “pressure” on them to defend the player charged.

The Hawks were not allowed to call McGrath, nor to put the transcript of McGrath’s SEN interview into evidence.

James Sicily is back at the Tribunal.Source: FOX SPORTS

Representing the AFL, Sally Flynn said: “Kicking another player is an inherently dangerous act that has no place in football.

“That has the potential to cause a much more serious injury, particularly in the case where the victim player should not be reasonably expecting or be reasonably prepared for contract.”

St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy’s The First Crack that “I don’t know if this is really worth a week.

“I think there’s a little bit of ‘James Sicily tax’ in that.

“It’s a sweeping little brush to his thigh, I don’t think that deserves a week. I think (it’s) because it’s James Sicily.”

But AFL 360 host Mark Robinson angrily declared kicking is “one of the real low acts in football”.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Robinson said.

“They shouldn’t challenge (the suspension). James Sicily deserves to get suspended for that.

“‘I didn’t kick him hard’, what sort of defence is that? It’s absolute rubbish.”

The hearing gets underway at 5pm AEDT – follow live updates below.