The inside story of club legend Stephen Silvagni’s falling out with Carlton

In 2025 the Blues should be celebrating 30 years since their 16th premiership triumph. But a former Blue says that would be ‘the hardest thing in the world’.

When Stephen Silvagni chose to sit in a car outside the MCG rather than take part in his son Jack’s 100th game presentation, the football world was in shock.

This was supposed to be Jack’s moment, he’d had to fight and scratch to get out of the large shadow of his father and reached the milestone in the season opener against Richmond.

Parents watching at home were outraged, commentators were confused and the fact that “SOS” now worked for St Kilda was trotted out as an excuse for his absence in the Carlton rooms.

Some clarity on the situation came via a tweet from Jack’s brother, Ben: “Can confirm he was really tired and wanted to go home.”

Then, as the controversy continued to bubble on social media, Ben responded to another tweet with a statement which properly summed up the situation: “I wouldn’t have thought he owes the club anything either.”

How Carlton and one of its favourite sons, a player who was named in the top five greatest at the club of all-time, are no longer on speaking terms is a sad and complex tale.

Silvagni isn’t close to his former teammates – apart from Craig Bradley – after a playing career which spanned 312 games from 1985 to 2001, including premierships in 1987 and 1995.

“The hardest thing in the world would be to reunite the ’95 premiership team members,” one former Blue said.

Carlton’s messy salary cap drama from the back end of the 1990s to early 2000s still lingers for many.

The Blues ended up being fined almost $1 million and stripped of draft picks in 2002 when the scandal was revealed and Silvagni publicly linked to under-the-table payments and the AFL’s investigation.

A lot of relationships were tested in these times and Silvagni, who was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2005 and named full-back in the AFL Team of the Century, moved on elsewhere, taking an offer from his good mate Ross Lyon to be an assistant coach at St Kilda in 2007.

He spent four years at Moorabbin before he landed the much sought-after gig as list manager for expansion team Greater Western Sydney, where he had better-than-average access to some of the best young talent in the country.

There were plenty of hits and some notable misses there – Kristian Jaksch (pick 12, 2012), Cam McCarthy (No.14, 2013), Jarrod Pickett (No.4, 2014), Caleb Marchbank (No.6, 2014) and Paul Ahern (No.7, 2014) – before he was persuaded to return to his roots.

One of Silvagni’s best friends, Mark LoGiudice, took over as Carlton president and he reached out, luring Silvagni back to Princes Park at the end of 2014 as list manager.

It was an exciting time for the club, which in June that year celebrated its 150th year and when Silvagni was named alongside John Nicholls, Stephen Kernahan, Bruce Doull and Alex Jesaulenko as the five greatest players to play for Carlton.

There was a potential curve ball given Silvagni’s son, Jack, was showing promise as a junior and the Blues took him as a father-son selection in the 2015 national draft.

Initially it wasn’t a drama as Jack found his feet in the AFL, before Ben joined him on the list via the 2018 national draft

It was a great story for the club with three generations of Silvagnis donning the navy blue as Stephen’s father, Sergio, was also a club legend and dual premiership player.

But the gloss went off the fairytale at the start of the 2019 season when Jack was left out of the senior team for the opening month of the season by coach Brendon Bolton.

Silvagni made his disappointment in the decision clear, to the point where he stopped communicating with the coach for a time. As one club insider said: “It was a car crash waiting to happen.”

Things had become increasingly awkward with Silvagni having to step out of list planning meetings and salary cap discussions when the subject of his sons was on the agenda.

Cain Liddle wasn’t a Carlton person. He was a former Geelong player who had been hired by LoGiudice as chief executive at the end of 2017 from Richmond, where he’d been the chief customer officer.

He had commercial savvy which was the reason he was selected over former AFL executive Simon Lethlean for the job. Being an outsider meant he didn’t hold Silvagni in the same reverence as the Carlton faithful.

The relationship between the pair quickly became toxic.

It was an unworkable situation and, by the end of 2019, Liddle took a stand. He decided it was best for Carlton if they parted ways. Silvagni went straight to LoGiudice.

He expected his good friend to overturn the CEO’s call but instead the president held his ground given there was significant internal support for the controversial move.

The fallout was messy and ended the friendship of LoGiudice and Silvagni, who are no longer on speaking terms.

Three-and-a-half years later and the ill will between Silvagni and his old club remains.

Brian Cook, who replaced Liddle as Carlton CEO in 2022, says he is somewhat confused and disappointed by the strained relationship with the club great.

“In a nutshell I haven’t spent a lot of time on it, I’ve asked various people and got various commentary,” Cook said. “If someone said to me to try to explain the relationship, I couldn’t.

“I’m more worried about the future than the past.”

Silvagni’s future is now back at St Kilda, ironically under Lethlean, where he was appointed list manager in January.

On Sunday afternoon the two teams clash at Marvel Stadium and everyone will be on SOS watch. Will he be in the St Kilda rooms or in a corporate box supporting Jack with his family?

There is a third option … in the carpark.

Originally published as The inside story of club legend Stephen Silvagni’s falling out with Carlton