AFL 2023: Former Sydney chairman Richard Colless labels Eddie McGuire a bully as COLA stoush reignites

Former Sydney chairman Richard Colless has hit back at Eddie McGuire’s claims the Swans rorted the salary cap system in their recruitment of Buddy Franklin, restarting a fierce feud.

SPORT AFL – 18.8.03 – Swans Chairman Richard Colless with a jumper for the President of Collingwood Eddie McGuire during a promotion for this Saturday's big game between the two sides. pic. Phil Hillyard.

One of football’s most respected off-field figures, Richard Colless, has slammed Eddie McGuire over “garbage” and “offensive” claims Sydney rorted the salary cap to poach superstar Lance Franklin.

McGuire has reignited a fierce feud with the Swans over the scrapped Cost of Living Allowance, saying the extra salary cap money was exploited to recruit free agent Franklin from Hawthorn in 2013.

Just days before Franklin was booed by fans at the Collingwood-Sydney game at the MCG on Sunday, McGuire said the COLA money “ended up being how many cleaners or housemaids that ‘Buddy’ Franklin had”.

The comment has infuriated Swans’ heavyweights including former Sydney chairman Colless amid calls to conduct an urgent review into football’s decline in New South Wales.

Lance Franklin joined the Swans in 2013. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

Colless, who stood up to McGuire over his Adam Goodes “King Kong” gaffe in 2013, said the former Collingwood president was “a bully” who “has form” with his commentary around Sydney’s indigenous champions.

Colless said McGuire demonstrated a lack of understanding around the “economic realities” of the property market in Sydney and the way the COLA money was distributed to every Swans’ player on a pro rata basis.

“He (McGuire) said he was supportive of it (COLA for younger players) but where he had an issue was all the cleaners and housemaids that ‘Buddy’ Franklin had,” Colless told the Herald Sun.

“I find that absolutely offensive and it has got a strangely familiar ring to the ‘Goodesy’ comments.

“The stupidity of it. I would ask him the question, do you even know how it (COLA) works?

“It is a pro rata thing. If ‘Buddy’ is on X and someone else is on Y, they all got it (COLA).

“It is the same percentage uplift (for every player). There was no Buddy-type slush-fund.”

The Swans and GWS Giants want to step-up talks with the AFL’s incoming chief executive Andrew Dillon about reviving the game in New South Wales, and in particular, ways to offset increased property prices in Sydney.

But Colless said COLA should be renamed to “accommodation weighting” due to the way McGuire had “demonised” the term.

Colless (R) says the COLA term should rebranded due to McGuire’s continuous comments about the program.

Last week on Channel 9, McGuire suggested the Swans made the mistake of using the COLA money to poach Franklin from Hawthorn, instead of using it to help players on lesser wages.

“I’m not getting the extra for someone on over a million dollars (a year). Don’t rort it and you’ll be right,” McGuire said.

Franklin was booed by Collingwood fans on Sunday, prompting calls from the AFL, Sydney Swans and Collingwood to stop the jeers.

Colless said McGuire had overstepped the mark once again, and was hypocritical considering how much the Magpies had profited from the father-son rule and next generation academy, picking up stars Nick and Josh Daicos, captain Darcy Moore, and Isaac Quaynor and Reef McInnes at a discount.

“If there is a club which has done well out of an element of the competition where there isn’t equalisation, then it is Collingwood,” Colless said.

“So, a lot of people are absolutely sick of Eddie’s self-serving approach, and I’m sick of defending him up here.

“He’s got form, talking about our indigenous players. He’s got form using the term rort.

“But he’s also got form because he is a bully. He says he won’t accept rubbish. I have had a gut full. I won’t accept his rubbish.”

Lance Franklin and Darcy Moore. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The Herald Sun revealed McGuire, who stepped down from the Collingwood presidency over the ‘Do Better’ report in 2021, was backed by new Pies’ president Jeff Browne to fill one of the vacant AFL Commission roles.

Colless was adamant the AFL should never have scrapped COLA and said player managers were reluctant to move their players to Sydney where house prices are 30 per cent more expensive than Melbourne, based on latest figures.

“I’m yet to find anyone that disputes the fact that the cost of living is much greater in Sydney. It is empirical data,” Colless said.

“And you look at all the capital cities and it is probably getting worse.

“What it all means is it is harder to trade-in players because you don’t have the capacity to pay.

“And players are leaving for the same reason.”

Colless said the AFL had to act and launch a major review into the game in New South Wales to increase participation, young talent and crowds.

“The game is effectively moribund (doomed) in the western suburbs of Sydney, and David Matthews said the NRL was stronger now (in NSW) than when he arrived,” he said.

“The AFL has to do a major review, not just band aids. Not just saying we will sharpen up Auskick, or we will pay greater attention to fixturing.

“We need to look at where the game needs to be in 25 years’ time.”