Collingwood has a long list of off-field incidents involving players during Eddie McGuire’s presidency
A very long list of off-field incidents, including drug bans, violence and alocohol, have marred Collingwood’s on-field success and it’s all happened under president Eddie McGuire’s watch. Is he part of the problem? See the full rap sheet.
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Collingwood president Eddie McGuire didn’t mince his words describing the state of the club he inherited on October 29, 1998 — the day he turned 34.
“The joint was rat-infested,” McGuire declared in a 2006 rant aimed at former coach Tony Shaw’s regime.
“The club was in disarray. The playing culture was appalling — off-field, on-field, every field.”
But almost 22 years on, rats in the ranks continue to plague McGuire’s own long-running reign at the top of Australia’s most famous sporting club.
Incidents involving star forward Jordan De Goey and vice-captain Steele Sidebottom — and the spectre of the Heritier Lumumba racism investigation — are just the latest in a litany of off-field scandals at the Magpies under McGuire’s watch.
Few clubs, if any, can match the Pies for such a sustained run of serious misconduct.
Since May 2000, more than 50 separate incidents involving Collingwood players have made headlines linked to drugs, alcohol, violence and gambling.
Many have been repeat offenders.
One of them, 2010 premiership star Dane Swan, explained last week that McGuire would privately rip through players who made the news for all the wrong reasons.
“(But) once he got that out of his system, he was very supportive in trying to get you out of what you are in or the best way to manage the situation,” Swan said.
“No matter what you do, he will come out to bat for you.”
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As far back as 2006, when Chris Tarrant and Ben Johnson escaped suspension over a 4.30am brawl, McGuire has been taking bullets — and making excuses — for his players.
“When these kids start to go off the rails … I tend to think that’s when you stand by them and you put your arm around them rather than publicly humiliate them and castigate them,” he said.
McGuire is loved by the Collingwood faithful. He is one of the most influential figures in the game’s history, and among the first league boss Gillon McLachlan sounded out when the COVID-19 crisis hit.
The majority of talk back callers on 3AW last Sunday sprung to his defence.
He helped rebuild a broken club, masterminded the shift to Olympic Park and has one premiership cup from five Grand Final years.
But he has also heaped untold pressure on the club thanks to a series of gaffes in his other job as a media commentator, none more damaging than his 2013 suggestion that Adam Goodes be used to promote the musical King Kong.
Those who dare question the culture at Collingwood, as Tony Shaw attempted to do again two years ago when De Goey was charged with drink-driving, cop a savage dose of McGuire’s wrath.
“Tony’s a great supporter of the club, a great friend, one of our greatest-ever people but has no insight at all as to what’s going on in the club. That’s dial-a-quote stuff,” McGuire said of the 1990 Norm Smith medallist.
Ex-premier John Brumby, a Collingwood supporter, ruffled feathers in 2008 when he suggested there was something wrong with the club’s culture after Heath Shaw and Alan Didak brazenly lied about a drunken car crash.
“Didak will be accused of the Kennedy shooting next,” McGuire famously said when asked if Didak was in the car.
His other favourite line in fending off controversy is that nothing can sell a newspaper like a Magpies yarn.
“Whenever there’s a Collingwood situation, clearly there’s a headline. I’ve been around long enough to know that,” he said after Sam Murray tested positive to cocaine during a match-day drugs test two years ago.
In June 2004, after a group of players overindulged at a Mooloolaba hotel in Queensland — with one defecating and another vomiting on a balcony where a young family was staying — McGuire said his club had taken steps to “make sure it never happens again”.
But four years later, after rookie Sharrod Wellingham was arrested for drink-driving at Lorne, McGuire again flatly denied that his club had a problem.
“There’s a situation out there since time immemorial with people drinking too much,” he said.
“There’s a far bigger alcohol problem with journalists than there is with footballers. I know because I’m involved in both sides of the ledger there.”
McGuire’s go-to defence — almost always aggressively prosecuted — is that a story about Collingwood or its players is a beat up or driven by people who “run agendas”, but the same standards are often not applied when he’s talking about another club or its players.
Brisbane Lions great Jonathan Brown this week said McGuire’s public comments and defence of Sidebottom after he was picked up by police drunk and half-naked on the streets of Williamstown was “hurting” Collingwood.
“I’ve been involved in these campaigns and it can quickly tip over,” Brown said.
“You need to keep them smooth as possible and administrators especially need to stay as much as they can out of the football side of things.”
The Pies boss scoffed at Brown’s assessment on Wednesday night, saying the triple premiership star had “zero understanding” of what happens at his club.
McGuire once claimed that running Collingwood and sacrificing time for his own TV career had cost him “four or five” Gold Logies, but maybe being the game’s most outspoken president is a part of the problem.
COLLINGWOOD’S RAP SHEET IN THE McGUIRE ERA
May 2000: Chris Tarrant and Mal Michael are booted from Crown Casino by security staff at 2am .
May 2001: Tarrant pleads guilty to careless driving and driving while suspended after doing a burnout and leaving a 17m skid mark on Beaconsfield Parade, Albert Park.
Sept 2003: Tarrant and Ben Johnson are involved in a fight at the Lower Plenty Hotel.
Dec 2003: Dane Swan is charged with affray after a drunken brawl at Federation Square. Receives 100 hours of community service.
Feb 2004: Ben Johnson breaks his hand and requires surgery after an early morning incident at a hotel.
March 2004: Tristen Walker and Tom Davidson face the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court after stealing two bundles of newspapers outside a Templestowe newsagency.
May 2004: Cameron Cloke clocks 144km/h in 100km/h zone. Loses licence for six months and fined $360 by a magistrate. Club fines him $5000. TAC docks club $10,000 from its sponsorship.
May 2004: Rhyce Shaw is punched at an Eltham bar while celebrating teammate Julian Rowe’s 19th birthday. The club fines a group of players for boozing midweek.
June 2004: Collingwood players damage a Mooloolaba hotel in Queensland during a mid-season break. One defecates and another vomits off a balcony.
“It just seems that whenever anything happens at our football club, it’s alcohol-fuelled. Basically, it just comes down to young people who can’t handle their grog,’’ McGuire said.
Aug 2004: Tarrant is involved in a 4am nightclub fight with Essendon’s Mark Johnson.
Oct 2004: Tom Davidson pleads guilty to punching a taxi driver in the head.
Dec 2005: Brodie Holland punches a woman in the head during a fight over a cab in the city at 3.30am. He later pleads guilty and is fined $2500 without conviction.
April 2006: Chad Morrison blows .093 while riding his motor scooter. The TAC fines the Magpies $200,000 for a breach of its sponsorship agreement.
Aug 2006: Tarrant and Johnson are interviewed by police after a 4am brawl in a Port Melbourne car park. Both are fined $5000 for breaking curfew but not suspended.
“The discipline has been very good this year,” McGuire said. “They just got themselves into the wrong situation. There’s no joy after 2am or 1.30am. I know boys will be boys but they should have known better … It’s not an endemic problem with our football club.”
Oct 2006: Alan Didak is arrested and locked in a police cell over an altercation with a taxi driver, winning the Copeland Trophy the following night.
“Those who do not give us every opportunity to achieve on-field success will no longer be tolerated. On-field and off-field discipline and commitment are essential to success in any business,” McGuire said.
June 2007: Didak signs new contract conditions, including an agreement to quit drinking, after nightclubbing and joy-riding with bikie and CBD shooter Christopher Wayne Hudson, but is not suspended.
“The easiest thing to do last week would have been to suspend him,’’ McGuire said. “The message has been sent to him loud and clear.”
Jan 2008: Sharrod Wellingham is arrested on a drink-driving charge after blowing 0.13 at Lorne. The club forfeits a $500,000 TAC sponsorship and fines player $5000.
“No there’s not (a drinking problem at the club),’’ McGuire said. “There’s a situation out there since time immemorial with people drinking too much. There’s a far bigger alcohol problem with journalists than there is with footballers. I know because I’m involved in both sides of the ledger there. So let’s not beat this up into a big story that’s not there, OK.”
Aug 2008: Heath Shaw blows 0.14 after crashing into two parked cars in Kew and lies about Didak being a passenger in the car.
“Didak will be accused of the Kennedy shooting next,” McGuire said
March 2010: Ryan Cook pleads guilty to negligently causing serious injury and is fined $3500 after breaking 10 bones in a man’s face outside a Sale nightclub.
May 2010: Simon Buckley is suspended for three games and sent to counselling for running a key down the side of his ex-girlfriend’s BMW.
July 2010: Dane Swan suffers damage to his teeth after being king hit in a Southbank nightclub.
Oct 2010: Two Collingwood players are linked to a police rape investigation in the hours after the club’s drought-breaking premiership. Both are later cleared.
Feb 2011: McGuire apologises for describing western Sydney as the “land of the falafel”.
July 2011: Heath Shaw is banned for 14 games (six suspended) and fined $20,000 for betting on captain Nick Maxwell to kick the first goal of a match. Maxwell, a defender who started the game as a forward, is fined $10,000 (half suspended) after his family placed the same bets.
“Everybody should know that this can’t happen. The integrity of the game is everything,” McGuire said.
March 2012: Sharrod Wellingham is suspended for two weeks for drinking alcohol while injured and missing a rehabilitation session.
March 2012: Paul Cribbin is bashed in a 2.40am CBD assault.
“They shouldn’t have been out anyway and again it’s the old motto: nothing good happens after 1am,” McGuire said.
Aug 2012: Dane Swan is suspended for two weeks for turning up to training in an “unfit state” affected by alcohol after a Sunday session.
“My position is this; the club has put in place a framework that will deliver success,” McGuire said.
Nov 2012: Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert warns of “volcanic” illicit drug use among AFL players.
Dec 2012: AFL doctors raise alarm about a group of Collingwood players avoiding drug strikes by “self-reporting” and exploiting a loophole in the game’s illicit drugs policy.
May 2013: McGuire suggests Adam Goodes be used to help promote King Kong the musical. “You know with the ape thing,” McGuire said
April 2014: Marley Williams is found guilty of grievous bodily harm and receives a 12-month suspended jail sentence following a four-day trial at Albany District Court in Western Australia over a 2012 nightclub fight.
June 2014: McGuire defends Dane Swan’s attendance at a $200-a-head dinner promoted by Mick Gatto.
“Dane Swan is a boy from Broadmeadows; his dad Billy’s a Painter and Docker, his cousin Aaron Ramsey is in the building trade, and you know people as you go through life. If you grow up in Broadmeadows, you’re going to know colourful identities.”
March 2015: Lachlan Keeffe and Josh Thomas test positive to the performance-enhancing substance Clenbuterol “cut” into cocaine they consumed. Both are suspended for two years.
March 2015: McGuire refers to Victorian sports minister John Eren as a “soccer loving Turkish-born Mussie” at an AFL meeting.
Jan 2016: Dane Swan and Travis Cloke are embroiled in an explicit “selfies” scandal involving photos, videos and messages leaked to Woman’s Day.
“Good to know Swanny’s got room for some more tatts,” McGuire said. “It’s got nothing to do with Collingwood. Ring their managers and the players’ association.”
March 2016: Multiple Magpies players test positive to illicit drugs after off-season hair-tests results are leaked to the media.
June 2016: McGuire apologises for saying he would pay $50,000 to see journalist Caroline Wilson stay under a pool of iced water.
March 2017: Jordan De Goey lies about breaking his hand while playing with his dog after a fight in a St Kilda bar. Suspended for three weeks and fined $5000.
Sept 2017: Andrew Krakouer publicly backs Heritier Lumumba’s claim he was nicknamed ‘Chimp’ during his time at the club and reveals he was pressured into playing a game in May 2013 after McGuire directed his King Kong jibe at Goodes.
“I’ve spoken to some people and I’ve found different things, the nuances I had no idea,” McGuire later said this year
Nov 2017: Jamie Elliott is arrested for urinating into a rubbish bin in Victoria St at 4.50am.
Feb 2018: Jordan De Goey blows .095 at a random breath test while on P-plates at Beaconsfield Parade in Port Melbourne.
“You’ve got to be careful on these things not to overreact but at the same time make sure we get the right result for society and for our club and for Jordan,” McGuire said.
Aug 2018: Sam Murray tests positive to cocaine during an ASADA match day test. Suspended for 18 months.
“The last person to find out anything to do with drugs is the club itself. It’s an AFL issue,” McGuire said
March 2019: McGuire is forced to apologise after mocking double amputee Cynthia Banham when she conducted the coin toss for a match between Sydney and Adelaide.
June 2019: Jaidyn Stephenson is banned for 22 weeks (12 suspended) and fined $20,000 for betting on matches he was playing in.
“Let’s clean the whole thing up. If you have an amnesty, you put all things down and clean the slate and start again,” McGuire said.
July 2019: De Goey is caught driving while suspended and using his phone while driving.
June 2020: Steele Sidebottom breaks AFL COVID-19 protocols and is suspended for a month after being picked up by police drunk and half-naked on the streets of Williamstown at 7.30am.
“The old fashioned was asleep on the couch and got up to go to the bathroom and walked out the wrong door,” McGuire said.
July 2020: Collingwood orders an independent inquiry into allegations of racism at the club between 2005-2014.
“We want to find the truth all the way through this. It’s not about trying to hide anything or manipulate, this is absolutely going to be straightforward, we want to do something,” McGuire said.
July 2020: Jordan De Goey is charged with indecent assault over a 2015 incident.
“He’s innocent until proven guilty. We are very conscious of looking after the complainant in this situation as well … that was 2015 allegedly an incident happened and now we are in 2020,” McGuire said on Wednesday.
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Originally published as Collingwood has a long list of off-field incidents involving players during Eddie McGuire’s presidency