GWS Giants boss David Matthews comfortable with board member Jimmy Bartel’s criticism of players

It is not very common for a club board member to take a sledgehammer to their own players quite like Jimmy Bartel did last week. But for GWS, the AFL great is delivering exactly what the Giants were hoping for.

GWS chief executive David Matthews says he has no issues with club board member Jimmy Bartel’s public roasting of Giants players in the media.

In most circumstances, footballers might raise eyebrows if attacked by a director who sits outside the football department, but then again there aren’t many ‘suits’ who possess Bartel’s pedigree.

A Brownlow Medallist, three-time premiership winner, Norm Smith Medallist, two-time all Australian with Geelong and only two seasons out of the AFL, makes Bartel’s role and remit as a board member a unique case, according to Matthews.

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Bartel launched a withering attack on the Giants on his various media platforms following their humiliating loss to Hawthorn last Sunday, labelling it the club’s worst ever performance and one players should be “embarrassed” about.

Often in clubland, players might prefer administrators stick to administration after a bad loss, but Matthews said Bartel is in direct communication with the football brain’s trust “most weeks” and argues the criticism was not only justified but helpful.

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Not only are the Giants comfortable with Bartel wearing a second hat in the media, it’s one of the reasons why he was ushered onto the board.

“Jimmy Bartel brings to us on the board probably a skill set we haven’t had on the board before, which is very recent football experience and high performance football experience,” said Matthews ahead of Sunday’s crucial bounce-back home game against Carlton at Giants Stadium.

“His football pedigree is as good as it gets. He’s both supportive in what he sees in the program and from time to time he brings some critical thinking to it.

“I think that the comments he made broadly reflected the tone of (coach) Leon Cameron’s press conference, so I don’t think there’s any particular questions that he raised that weren’t being raised by Leon, Wayne (Campbell, football manager), myself and (Chairman) Tony Shepherd anyway.

Jimmy Bartel smashed the Giants for their effort against Hawthorn. Picture: Jason Edwards

“You’ve got to take the good with the bad.

“I know that becomes a bit of a focus for people from time to time because he’s on the board, but he’s 100 per cent behind what we’re trying to achieve, so we’re comfortable.

“He talks to Wayne, Leon, the leaders, he talks to people individually and collectively most weeks.”

Bartel will fly into Sydney on Friday for a Giants board meeting.

Matthews earlier this week had his say about the extreme bias that exists in the AFL world towards Victorian clubs, and it’s clear that Bartel — a key figure in the Melbourne football community — is seen as an asset in the western Sydney expansion club’s fight against insular thinking in the game’s capital.

Particularly when a club like Collingwood has a media powerhouse like Eddie McGuire pushing its cause.

“He’s in a governance role. He’s not in a management role, but I can tell you that he’s definitely bringing some value to the club,” said Matthews.

“He’s a couple of years out of the game and … in Sydney in particular it’s been hard for us to find somebody with very recent playing or coaching experience, because most of those people are Sydney Swans.

Jeremy Cameron was quiet against the Hawks. Picture: AAP Images

“It actually is an advantage that he is in Melbourne and it’s an advantage that he’s a voice that’s respected in the football media.

“I’ve talked about some of the advocacy that the critical mass of Victorian clubs get on major issues and the influence that gets brought to bear on decisions that the AFL make from time to time.

“I know we’ve certainly benefited already from the fact Jimmy gets to understand the challenges we face and the opportunities we face, and he has conversations with people at AFL head office about that from an informed position, which is good for us.”