Media Street: AFL’s embarrasing Stuart Dew blunder, Mark Stevens, Mick Malthouse relationship
They had one job. Someone inside AFL headquarters made a huge error at the season launch — and it didn’t go down well with the Suns.
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Someone inside AFL headquarters is copping the following spray right now: “You had one job”.
That job was to get the correct spelling of the Life Member recipients who were presented with their certificates at Wednesday night’s season launch.
There were 11 inductees including Gold Coast Suns coach Stuart Dew. The problem was that according to his Life Member certificate he wasn’t inducted, it was actually ‘Stewart Dew’.
Generally if you’re receiving this accolade it means you’ve been around the game a long time so getting your name right would be expected.
Stuart – not Stewart – Dew played 180 games at Port Adelaide before retiring in 2006 only to be lured off his couch by Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson.
He then went on to play a brilliant cameo in the 2008 Grand Final, turning the game on its head in the third quarter to inspire the Hawks to the premiership.
If that wasn’t enough to remember how to spell his name, he then went about making inroads as an assistant coach at Sydney before being named senior coach of the Gold Coast Suns in 2018.
Generally the names of the 18 coaches in the AFL are well known but clearly Dew is out of sight out of mind for some at AFL headquarters.
The embarrassing blunder didn’t go down well with the Suns who are trying their best to be taken seriously in a defining year for the club and Dew – the one named Stuart – who is out-of-contract at the end of the season.
Stevens and Malthouse break bread
While the world is anxiously following the war in Ukraine, a media cold war seems to be over.
Spies tell us that coaching legend Mick Malthouse and former Channel 7 chief footballer reporter Mark Stevens have broken bread.
The pair became almost the highlight of Friday night football a few years back when Stevens would be front-and-square at the post-match press conference against an agitated Malthouse.
They had several memorable blow-ups but we hear that all changed recently during Malthouse’s regular morning walk around the Fitzroy Gardens.
The Collingwood premiership coach spotted Stevens doing a piece to camera for Sky News and called out with the pair warmly shaking hands.
After a few minutes of chit chat, Malthouse went on his way with Stevens left slightly stunned with the sudden thawing of the cold war.
FORMER DEES SKIPPER JOINS RADIO STATION
SEN is set to unveil former Melbourne captain Nathan Jones as its big-name recruit.
Jones, who has dabbled in radio previously with RSN, will be the main voice of Friday night football for SEN.
He is also set to feature in the commentary box for Channel 7 at various times throughout the season.
Jones will balance his media commitments with a new career in property development.
A much-loved figure at the Demons, the 34-year-old was the hard luck story of Melbourne’s premiership win.
He didn’t feature in the senior line-up after round 15 and missed the Grand Final after leaving Perth to be at the birth of his twins.
Jones, who was captain of Melbourne from 2014 to 2019, won three consecutive best and fairests (2012-2014) and became just the second Demon to play over 300 games.
He announced his retirement after 302 games in the lead-up to last year’s grand final.
There will be some tweaks in SEN’s football coverage with AFLW star Daisy Pearce and Hawthorn premiership star Jordan Lewis set to scale back their radio commitments.
KEY SEN STAFF JUMP SHIP
There are some leaks appearing behind-the-scenes at Craig Hutchison’s SEN ship with two key producers jumping overboard.
Last month Trent Masenhelder vacated the executive producer’s seat of the ‘Garry & Tim’ breakfast show which caused a flurry ahead of the new year.
The position has been a revolving door of recent times with Joel Brooks, who runs SEN’S AFL Nation, having to take over at the last minute.
And now Gerard Whateley’s main man, Ross Flegeltaub, has also departed.
Flegeltaub has been a mainstay at SEN, chalking up 18 years at the station in various roles including running its AFL content and in more recent times he’s been executive producer of the highly regarded morning show.
Ironically both Masenhelder and Flegeltaub are set to land at SEN’s rival RSN.
Flegeltaub is the new program director at the station which is undergoing a rejuvenation after being taken over by Racing Victoria – who outbid Hutchison last year for ownership.
GREAT JOINS CHANNEL 7 IN TV SHAKE-UP
Shaun Burgoyne describes it as a nervous transition.
Nerves aren‘t something football fans have associated with the man known as ‘Silk’ who for two decades seemed to have ice going through his veins during his extraordinary 407-game career.
But going from being in the action to talking about it has some butterflies in Burgoyne‘s stomach.
The four-time premiership hero is Channel 7’s star recruit for the 2022 season and he will be behind the microphone at next week’s grand final rematch between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.
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“I‘m pretty excited, it’s going to be new and different,” Burgoyne said. ”It’s a bit of a nervous transition but at the end of the day it’s still football.
“I have grown up playing football, I then played football for a long time so really it‘s just adding comments about the game you see.
“It‘s an easier transition than if I would have transitioned to a completely different industry.”
Burgoyne, who bid farewell to Hawthorn on the same night as coach Alastair Clarkson last year, says he‘s still adapting to life away from club land.
“I‘m still adapting to be honest,” he says. “Still adapting to life with relatively no rules so to speak. Now there are no rules about skinfolds, body weight, being here at this time, being there at that time, being told what to wear.
“Now I don‘t have to worry about my weight, I don’t have to stress about those things and performing as well.”
Burgoyne understands the importance of continuing to build the indigenous footprint in the AFL away from the field.
“You would like the representatives on TV to reflect the community, we have a multicultural Australia now, and it‘s great to have more indigenous people stay in the industry,” he says.
“Players transition out to become coaches or media personalities, not that I‘m saying I’m that, but to have more people on TV it gives people in the community, especially young kids something to look up to.
“Because if you see it, you can be it.”
Burgoyne, 39, has dabbled in the media with appearances on the Marngrook Footy Show and some radio commentary on Triple M and ABC.
He is planning on catching up with former teammate Luke Hodge, another member of the Channel 7 team, to get some tips on the caper in the coming weeks.
Now based in Adelaide where he works as Port Adelaide‘s indigenous liaison officer, Burgoyne will predominantly cover games in the City of Churches.
And he doesn‘t have to wait long before any loyalties to his old team will be tested with Hawthorn travelling to Adelaide Oval in Round 2.
“It‘s going to be interesting to see them when they come over,” he says. ”I’m in regular contact with some of my teammates who are still at the Hawks.
“I must admit I don‘t miss the training and I don’t miss that sort of stuff but I do miss the general banter, hanging out with your mates in the locker room. Some of those blokes are mates for life and I miss their day-to-day humour.”
He is backing new coach Sam Mitchell to quickly put his own stamp on the Hawks.
“All new coaches would want to do is come in with new ideas, their own ideas and put their stamp on the footy club the way they want to go forward,” he says.
“Clarko had his style for many years and Mitch has obviously learnt the game as a player for many years and as assistant coach for a couple of years.
“It‘s now time to put his ideas into practice with the group he has and the players at his disposal. It will be very interesting, the only way is up, the last couple of years haven’t gone to plan and it has been well documented that the last half of last year was very messy with the departure of Clarko.
“I think the pre-season gives you a chance as players and coaching group to actually bond and address any issues that have to be addressed, good and bad and then move forward.
“You get a new bunch of draftees come in and that adds a bunch of excitement to the group, you then work hard over pre-season and hit the ground running.
“Who knows where they will go with their season but it will be entirely up to them and how they go about things.”
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Originally published as Media Street: AFL’s embarrasing Stuart Dew blunder, Mark Stevens, Mick Malthouse relationship
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