Eddie McGuire loving time to smell the roses after ‘stepping away’ from Pies presidency
Nearly two years after resigning as Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is loving life as a free agent and sick of sport “scandal”.
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On a quiet afternoon at Flemington, Eddie McGuire bounces around the lush green racetrack with a spring in his step.
Wearing a suit and tie, he doesn’t hesitate climbing up the stewards’ clock tower for a picture, happily prances across the mounting yard to smell the blooming yellow roses and clutches the glistening Melbourne Cup with a grin as wide as Luna Park.
“10 out of 10 … with a little bit to go yet,’’ he proclaims about his excitement for the week ahead.
Every year McGuire looks forward to the Melbourne Cup but to be hosting it is another level altogether – it represents much to him both professionally and personally.
Not only did McGuire start his television career at Network 10 as a wide-eyed teenager in 1982, but in wearing a yellow rose on his lapel on Cup Day, he will carry a precious reminder of his late and dear mum Bridie.
“The yellow rose is very significant in my life,’’ McGuire says.
“I planted a yellow rose bush with my mum when I was about three and when she passed away two years ago now during Covid, I went out to Broadmeadows, dug it up and replanted it at home so I’ve got my yellow roses and I’m hoping to wear one of them in my lapel.”
McGuire’s journey back to racing, where he spent much of his formative years as a young reporter, hasn’t been without its ups and downs.
He was the ubiquitous president of the Collingwood Football Club for almost 23 years before his sudden resignation in February last year. It came amid the fallout of the Do Better Report. While it wasn’t a departure befitting of his legacy, he reflects now with a diplomatic ease.
“You pick when you go in, but you don’t pick when you go out most of the time,” he says.
“I am more than content with what I intended to go in and do at Collingwood and what I achieved.
“To use a cliche, I am a windscreen guy not a rear vision guy. There’s so much more to do and that’s what makes it great. We attach the word industry – the footy industry, racing industry, it sounds like we’re going off to the factory.
“It’s not; it’s lifestyle, it’s fun, it’s excitement, it’s romance, it’s history, it’s ambition, it’s the highs of great achievement, to the devastating lows of disappointment.
“What happens in football clubs, there’s moments in time. You get it right and you get rolling and a little bit of clean air. A lot of the best work is done when people think there’s turmoil. But you know what you’re doing and the media’s job is to report, and now it’s about everything is a scandal, and that’s not to knock, it is.”
He says the biggest trick is not to get sucked into all the noise surrounding the footy and what people are saying about you.
“I didn’t see anyone tipping the Pies this year. The vitriol is boring to be honest and the faux outrage at times,” McGuire says.
That period of change for McGuire also included leaving breakfast radio after 11 years and Triple M’s Hot Breakfast which he co-hosted with Luke Darcy. He admits he was never a morning person but he’s never been afraid of change or hard work.
“Always in my mind I had a time that I’d pull up a bit on that area of life when my boys (Joe and Xander) finished school,” he says.
“And that happened in the last 12 months. If you’re involved in football and media you know where you are every day of the week and when they have holidays. So from that point of view it’s eased up a bit and I’ve been able to do some travel for work. I’ve been to India, Europe and America a number of times.”
And as a result, “a number of doors have opened”.
“The last two years for everybody have been hard. Particularly in that first year of Covid, it was debilitating for footy. You looked at (footy boss) Gill (McLachlan) sometimes and he was about to fall over. (Magpies coach Nathan Buckley) Bucks was exhausted and everyone was. Teams dropped off and the hubs took so much out of people.
“People got very tetchy and footy became an ordeal for a lot of people. I know I’ve just enjoyed stepping out, rekindling my love for the game as such. Not having to have a position on every single thing that you’re asked about or when you’re on air.
“Even this year was nice, not trying to be a news breaker as such, but knowing what’s going on and being able to add to the conversation.
“What I loved about my job before I was president, I went everywhere and was in every club and had a great feel for it. What helped in The Footy Show is I knew the DNA of all these clubs.
“This year was great fun. I was sitting in the box at times with Daisy Thomas, Colonel De Lutis and the rat pack (former Magpies players). We catch up and rather than me telling them to go home, they’re telling me to go home. Mick (Malthouse) and I caught up and I never hold grudges with anybody. You can have spotfires but I don’t hold grudges. I know I’m trying to make things as good as they can possibly be and generally so are the other people. It’s just a battle of ideas.”
With his return to fronting Melbourne Cup coverage, the man cheekily known as ‘Eddie Everywhere’ is officially back in prime time.
He’s had a few months to get used to the idea, and just like those shots of him when cameras panned to the crowd at a Collingwood game, he’s up and about.
He said the idea became a reality after a meeting with VRC chairman Neil Wilson and as a member of the board of Visit Victoria, the plan was to get the Carnival back in the psyche of not just Australia, but the world.
“That’s why the Melbourne Cup and suite of events mean so much. From me as a cadet in those days right the way through to hosting it now. The economic impact, the fun of what’s going on and the community of the racing fraternity, the whole business, to be a part of it is a real honour and thrill,” he says.
McGuire says there was no issue with Channel 9 where he hosts Millionaire Hot Seat and both parties are happy to share his expertise. Just recently he had a dinner with former Channel 10 mentor Bruce McAvaney and recalled how the legendary broadcaster helped prick his interest in racing.
“He taught me what I knew at Ten at that stage,’’ McGuire says.
“I was a footy and cricket guy, I was a district cricket reporter when I was 13 and I was down at district cricket on Melbourne Cup Day listening to the radio. Like anyone who was of our bent, I ran all the sweeps at primary school and secondary school and I loved the whole atmosphere.
“The first bet I had was Gala Supreme winning in 1973 and then backed it up with Think Big the next year so I spoiled myself at an early age as a kid.
“When I came to Channel 10 Phil Gibbs was doing the role I’m going to play in the next week and he was so big when I started and a wonderful mentor. He gave me the chance to call the VAFA with Bruce and Rex Hunt and Tony Banks.
“Clem Dimsey did the first live call of a Melbourne Cup and he was a friend and we were all mad Collingwood supporters.
“Stephen Quartermain and I used to come out (to Flemington) on Oaks Day and we had our eyes bulging out of our heads looking at all the beautiful women and the fashions and hanging around the champagne bar and going to the Red Eagle in Albert Park afterwards and The Metro after that. It was just everything you could hope for. It is a rite of passage and an amazing one.”
McGuire built his journalism craft and reputation with the help of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. He recalls interviewing winning owners David Hains and Lloyd Williams in his early years, who have now become close friends.
“I worked at the track back in the days of Channel 10, starting out on the barrier,” he recalls. “I remember saying to Bruce McAvaney, I don’t want to work on the barrier and I said what do you think? He said take the barrier and it resonated with me.
“I went down and the horse nearly kicked my head off in the barrier and suddenly I was right in the middle of it all. It’s a good reminder it doesn’t matter what position you have it’s how you play that position that makes the day.
“It was great fun … my job at Channel 10 for years was to do the lead story on the news so at times I’d run down, race around, get back, it was like a James Bond movie.”
McGuire will wear a morning suit for the first two days of hosting, which he specially ordered in from Italy. He will also keep the phone close by, knowing wife Carla may offer some handy tips.
“She gives me feedback,’’ he says with a knowing smile. “I was hosting the Super Bowl in San Diego in ’98 and my phone was going and I glanced down, it said ‘straighten up your tie’.”
He added: “I’ve hosted the Super Bowl, Logies, I was lucky enough to host a lot of big events over the journey. Warnie’s memorial at the MCG too. There is a bit of nervousness because you want to do a good job. The event deserves to have the best result.”
McGuire, at age 57, will tick off another item on his bucket list by hosting the racing coverage, but one box left empty is calling a grand final on television.
If it happens or it doesn’t, he will continue to look on the bright side. And if the Magpies win a flag, “no one will celebrate harder than me”.
“Pressure is a privilege and to do something important really gets the juices flowing,’’ he says.
“This coming week is important. It’s important for Channel 10, it’s important for the VRC, it’s important for racing, it’s important for Victoria, it’s important for Australia and rolling all that up, it’s important for me. I want to do the history of this race justice and follow in the great traditions of those before me.
“Bill Collins and Mike Williamson in the ’70s, to be able to call the races and the footy, and then come back to the Penthouse Club (TV show). That would still be my best day out.
“Call a game of footy, go to the races, then go back and do a live studio variety show with an audience. I reckon that would be my happiest day ever.”
He pauses and laughs: “Provided the Pies won and I won on the punt.”