Graham Cornes says Warren Tredrea needs a mate – or two – right now and he’s happy to be one
The wolves are coming for Port legend Warren Tredrea after his controversial court case and podcast episode. But Graham Cornes is happy to be his mate. Here’s why.
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It would be exaggerating to say that Warren Tredrea and I are friends.
Work colleagues, would be a better description, but even then the contact is fleeting when we pass each other as the studios are vacated between footy segments.
One senses however that he is in need of a friend – or two.
This support comes not from the perspective of blind loyalty that close friends are wont to offer, but from the observation that he is being unfairly castigated.
Tredrea could not have predicted the fallout from his podcast program when his guest was AJ Roberts, a British Army veteran and self-proclaimed “performance coach and speaker”.
Roberts is not widely recognised in Australia so most fair-minded people, on hearing his comments, would find them a touch irrational, unhinged and coloured with pseudoscientific psycho-babble.
But hey, I don’t know AJ Roberts so that might be judging him too harshly.
It’s a long way from the MCG or Football Park where Tredrea did his best work, but his podcast, The Ballsy Show Podcast, is the latest of his vocational pursuits. A man has to earn a living somehow.
From the outside looking in it’s been a tough couple of years for Tredders. You wouldn’t know it though.
He presents a brave face to the world and radiates positive energy. He had a good gig at Channel 9 as a sports presenter but the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the established natural order of workplace, domestic and sporting relationships.
When Tredrea refused the Covid-19 vaccination, Channel 9 terminated his contract.
Tredrea subsequently sued for unfair dismissal in the Federal Court before Justice Geoffrey Kennett.
As most of Australia complied with the compulsory vaccination mandates, any outliers were highly criticised.
Several years later with the efficacy of the vaccinations still under question, the vaccine-deniers are not treated with the same unbridled scorn.
Medical advice, of course is to still be vaccinated, especially those who may have underlying medical conditions, but the vaccination rates indicate that the population is not rushing blindly to be jabbed.
Channel 9’s defence in the unfair dismissal case was that Tredrea’s contract was not going to be renewed anyway.
Lawyers, especially those acting for media outlets, can always mount a strong defence, bending and shaping perspective.
When other issues such as performance and inflammatory comments made on other media platforms were introduced, the judge was moved.
Tredrea may have had a case had he been terminated only because he refused to have the vaccine, said the judge in his verdict.
But Channel 9’s defence claimed that Tredrea’s comments made on other media outlets were not supported by Channel 9.
“Mr Tredrea was a controversial figure who was discussed in other media outlets in a manner that was unwelcome to Channel 9”, said Justice Kennett.
“It did not help that the viewpoint with which he was associated was diametrically opposed to the public opinion”.
Nine’s lawyers mounted a compelling defence, turning the issue into those of performance and station reputation.
Consequently, the unfair dismissal case was dismissed. There was an appeal which again was unsuccessful with the intriguing outcome that Tredrea claimed his payment of Channel 9’s costs had been settled with an IOU because no legal tender of gold or silver coins existed in the form that could pay the debt.
It’s a clever strategy but it remains to be seen if it will satisfy the courts. It’s never worked for me though.
So Tredders has moved on, presenting his opinions on Port Adelaide’s weekly performances.
He takes no prisoners with his forthright views. The famous “untenable” quote is now over two years old but it still divides the club.
Tredrea stood for one of the member-elected positions on the Port Adelaide board and was easily elected.
He remains a strong voice for those disaffected Port fans who think Ken Hinkley has had his time at the Power.
But ironically, being elected to the board has effectively silenced his criticisms – the public ones at least.
In one sense, he probably got his way as Hinkley and the club have agreed to part company at the end of this season.
So now Warren Tredrea hosts his podcast, the Ballsy Show Podcast.
I can’t claim to have listened to it, not through any dislike or disrespect, but rather from podcast overdose. There are just so many of them.
His guests are not only sportspeople. There are some from the corporate sector, others from politics to lifestyle.
Examples are Corey White, comedian/lawyer, inflammatory right-wing Liberal politician, Alex Antic and former champion ironman Trevor Hendy.
No one really took any notice until AJ Roberts was featured.
I don’t know how Tredders found the guy and I’m sure he did not anticipate the fallout from Roberts’ comments but podcasts are all about presenting opinions and defending them, although it must be said that Roberts’ broadcasted comments are hard to defend.
They are hard to understand also. His talk of bizarre Zionist conspiracies controlling World War II, satanic rituals, creating ISIS and “spiritual and energetic ley lines” are decidedly anti-Semitic.
But that doesn’t mean Warren Tredrea is. He was quick to publish a clarification. He started his podcast as his life moved in a different direction to mainstream media and “to provide a platform for others to present their views and opinions in an unfiltered forum”.
So is he responsible for Roberts’ outrageous opinions and philosophies? Should his position on the Port board be untenable because of them? Surely not.
He makes it abundantly clear he is not anti-Semitic.
“I am not in any way, shape or form an anti-Semite and consider it defamatory for anyone to accuse me as such,” he wrote. He “unequivocally condemns war and genocide”.
Is providing a platform for unpopular opinions the same as airing them yourself? Maybe, but not quite.
In one sense you are complicit if you do but we live in a lucky country where contrary opinions are allowed, even encouraged.
Society and AFL football boards need to have diversity of opinion. There needs to be vigorous debate. And there needs to be public scrutiny.
However, it is ridiculous and disloyal to one of the club’s greats to be subjected to that sort of “investigation”.
Warren Tredrea was elected by the Port Adelaide members. It should not be up to the board to dismiss him.
One suspects that if he had to stand for re-election he would be returned by an even bigger margin.
It’s true that Warren Tredrea can be a divisive character, such is his outspoken nature and strong opinions but that doesn’t mean he is a racist.
He is a good man with a good heart and the best of intentions, even if that means letting the odd “cooker” have a voice.
There was an old saying which goes: the “friend of my enemy is my enemy”. But that is not always the case.
Tredrea may have acquaintances with dubious political ideals but this is Australia, the lucky country. We advocate free speech and strong opinions.
Workplace acquaintances we may be, but Warren Tredrea is unfairly under critical scrutiny. I’d be happy to have him a mate.
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