AFL 2020: Footy legend Shane Crawford offers advice to Eddie McGuire
A former Footy Show star has offered advice to Eddie McGuire after he was caught in the middle of recent Collingwood controversies.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Hawthorn legend Shane Crawford has advised Eddie McGuire to fly under the radar after the Collingwood president was caught up in his club’s recent controversies.
McGuire has faced heat after the Magpies were hit with a $50,000 fine — with $25,000 suspended — as a result of coach Nathan Buckley’s coronavirus protocols breach, just days after McGuire suggested the AFL should send players and their partners home for any further biosecurity protocol breaches.
Buckley’s decision to play a game of tennis with assistant coach Brenton Sanderson and former Aussie star Alicia Molik made a fool of McGuire.
Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Watch every match of every round Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
The TV host has continued to defend his comments since Buckley’s breach — and it is a scenario that has played out far too many times for the Magpies this year, according to former Footy Show panellist Crawford.
Crawford says McGuire’s high-profile and outspoken nature has poured fuel on some of the club’s recent controversies — something that would have “ruffled a few feathers” within the Magpies’ playing group.
McGuire was accused of hypocrisy earlier this year when he called for players to be “suspended for the year” and face fines of up to $100,000 for any quarantine or isolation breaches — only to turn around and say he was “proud” of Steele Sidebottom accepting his punishment when the Collingwood player breached the game’s protocols during a drunken night out.
The president’s comments have put his players under more scrutiny — and it’s something that McGuire must now re-think, according to Crawford.
“I think that happens with Eddie at times,” Crawford told Channel 9’s Full Time.
“Eddie puts everything into Collingwood, you know how much he loves them and he really does bleed black and white.
“So you’re certainly getting where he’s coming from but sometimes it’s best the presidents just shut the trap up. Just for a little while, until you sort of work things out; especially when you’re going through a few bumpy periods.”
Crawford said McGuire has left the Pies in a similar position to the one he experienced at Hawthorn under the presidency of former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett.
Crawford said the playing group eventually had to pull the club boss aside and tell him to pull his head in.
“A situation like Jeff Kennett ... he’s been awesome for the Hawthorn Football Club and what he’s brought to the club,” Crawford said on Full Time.
“But we had an issue there for a little while where every week, Jeff was a story and players were having to defend what Jeff was saying.
“It became a bit of a distraction; after a long time, it wasn’t as though there was one or two things being said. Every week, there was something else.”
“We said, ‘Pull up a bit Jeff’,” Crawford said.
“I remember as players, I think it was Luke Hodge at the time, I think he had to go and have a good chat to Jeff and say, ‘Can you pull up just a tad? We love ya, we adore you, but you’re just putting a bit too much pressure on our side and we have to defend everything you’re saying’.”
However, veteran footy commentator Caroline Wilson says McGuire has been hard done by in the situation and is owed an apology by his coach.
“I have enormous sympathy for Eddie McGuire on this one,” Wilson told Channel 9’s Footy Classified on Monday night.
“I think the AFL should have been tougher and I think Nathan Buckley owes him an apology.
“I think Nathan has actually let his whole club down, he‘s let his players down … and he’s really let his president down.”
Originally published as AFL 2020: Footy legend Shane Crawford offers advice to Eddie McGuire