Media Street: Mark Robinson’s scathing AFL attack disappears from league’s Trade Radio platform
A scathing attack on the AFL's handling of player behaviour from former Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson has vanished from Trade Radio's archives, sparking questions about league censorship.
It’s the mysterious case of the missing audio and AFL censorship.
Filling air time on the AFL’s Trade Radio product is a tough gig and the Thursday morning crew, hosted by Channel Nine’s Tom Morris and former Essendon great James Hird, decided to give an old friend a call.
They got former Herald Sun chief football writer Mark “Robbo” Robinson on the line to tell a few stories from the good old days of trade week like Chris Judd’s move from West Coast to Carlton.
The chat soon veered onto more recent topics and this is where things got interesting.
Robbo came off the long run and launched a stunning attack on the league over its mis-handling of Bailey Smith, citing the Geelong star’s recent poor behaviour towards women including an unsavoury Instagram post from Cats Mad Monday where teammate Max Holmes dressed up as reporter Caroline Wilson.
He said he was disappointed new AFL footy boss Greg Swann hadn’t come down hard on Smith while also criticising the original appointment of Laura Kane to that role saying it was “a wrong decision”.
At the end of the program Morris lauded the chat saying: “Mark Robinson was something else, Robbo. Have a listen on the podcast if you missed it. It was some sort of chat.”
For those who missed it, all of Trade Radio’s programs are available on the AFL website so you can catch up with what you’ve missed.
This is where Inspector Clouseau needs to be called in.
At the 41-minute mark of the podcast review of the show Morris throws to Robbo coming up next. But there is no Robbo on the other side of the break. In fact he is nowhere to be found.
Trade Radio is produced by Craig Hutchison’s Sports Entertainment Network for the AFL who run it live on the AFL App and their website. Hutchison came up with the original idea back in 2013 with this year’s starting even earlier than normal during Grand Final week.
It’s understood SEN is in charge of content and that the censoring of the interview from the podcast platforms was done by a producer at the Hutchison-owned radio station.
For those who are wondering what all the fuss is about, this is a taste of Robbo on Trade Radio.
“Some of the players are really starting to s**t me,” he said.
“I want to talk about Bailey Smith and everyone is going to call me a woke, silly old fool, but for Bailey Smith to abuse the photographer is one thing, that’s really poor.
“For Bailey Smith to be a part of an Instagram photo with (Holmes dressed as) Caroline Wilson and put a (colloquially) semen emoji up there is one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen a player do.
“If it was my mother, or my sister, or my wife ... I can guarantee you myself and my three brothers would be going around to say hello to Bailey Smith.
“Who does he think he is to put a semen emoji on a photo of (Holmes dressed as) Caroline Wilson.
“It’s not woke to call it out. It’s decency. Be a decent person. And for the AFL to allow that to go unpunished is one of the most disgusting inactions by the AFL in my time in football.
“We can all laugh at Bailey Smith and say he’s just a young man, you can have fun without being a pig.
“I’m disappointed in Greg Swann and in Andrew Dillon for allowing that to go through to the keeper without punishment.”
Robbo said the league was letting players get away with too much, pointing at Clayton Oliver’s expletive-laden response to a TV reporter last week.
“I’ve been really disappointed. The Clayton Oliver stuff. Fair dinkum. Does the AFL understand that the whole country is watching their players act like absolute bozos and it’s a bad reflection on the AFL and the players where it’s f-n this and they drop c-bombs,” he said.
“And I’ll say it again. Bailey Smith doing that to Caroline Wilson, and I’m no good friend of Caroline Wilson, for him to do that to any woman is absolutely disgusting and the AFL did nothing. I cannot believe it.”
Originally published as Media Street: Mark Robinson’s scathing AFL attack disappears from league’s Trade Radio platform
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