Everything you missed on TV from Monday night
It was an atypical round of applause for AFL House on Monday night after the appointment of Greg Swann, while Carlton and Hawthorn were also discussed at length. See what you missed on TV.
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AFL House earned a rare round of applause from the Monday night football programs for its capture of Brisbane Lions chief executive Greg Swann.
Hawthorn has warts on every line, so says St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt, who also put the AFL in his crosshairs after a time clock cock-up in the Cats-Eagles clash.
Wayne Milera’s “rabble” comments were a storm in a teacup according to Crows coach Matthew Nicks, but Jack Riewoldt still does not like it two days after first putting it on the agenda.
Should Carlton field trade offers for Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay? On that, the Footy Classified panel was divided.
And Jonathan Brown believes the Swans had everyone fooled with their early 2024 form.
Here is what you missed from the football programs on Monday night:
AFL ON-SONG WITH SWANN
Gerard Whateley hailed the AFL’s acquisition of Brisbane Lions CEO Swann as a “desperately needed and decisive” move to shore-up the league’s executive ranks.
Confirmation of Swann’s appointment as the new footy performance boss came on Monday, two days after the Herald Sun first revealed he was the AFL’s primary target to work alongside Laura Kane.
“That is a job that needed experience and needed some heft and he brings that,” Whateley said on Fox Footy’s AFL360.
“What he doesn’t know about footy is not worth knowing.
“If there has been a disconnect between headquarters and club land, nobody represents continuity in club land like Greg Swann.”
Co-host Garry Lyon suggested Swann’s “undeniably good relationship with media” would help the AFL navigate a crucial next phase after weeks of unrest around the league’s executive department.
Whateley said the AFL would look to fill the vacant chief operating officer role within the week, declaring any of Sydney Swans CEO Tom Harley, Western Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains or Fremantle CEO Simon Garlick would, alongside Andrew Dillon and Swann, form “a powerful triangle that is to drive the game forward”.
“I don’t think they can miss. I think they are three excellent candidates,” Whateley said.
“(These decisions were) desperately needed and decisive – decisive in a way that hasn’t come from headquarters in a while.”
Sam McClure revealed on Footy Classified that Garlick had “removed himself from contention” for the COO role, leaving Bains and Harley as the likely candidates.
Fellow panellist Damian Barrett suggested Dillon might also put in another call to MCC CEO Stuart Fox, who had previously declined an approach from the AFL.
On Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters, Caroline Wilson declared “clubs are rejoicing” over the Swann addition.
But Nick Riewoldt said his arrival came 12 months too late.
“If the AFL weren’t so consumed with being social justice warriors, Laura Kane would have been moved aside 12 months ago,” he said.
“It is (a win) now. Either the role was too big, or she was the wrong person (for the job).”
Wilson suggested Kane was “set up to fail” and certain key figures at clubs “will never, certainly in this current climate, rate a woman in that role”.
NO WORRIES, WAYNE
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks shrugged off Wayne Milera’s “rabble” comments that caught fire in the wake of the Crows’ smashing of Sydney on Saturday night.
“We don’t always get our words right – I have made plenty of mistakes chatting to a TV camera and the pressure that comes with that,” Nicks told AFL360.
“What I can say is, Wayne is an incredibly humble and respectful human being.”
Nicks said Adelaide had used Sydney and Friday night’s opponent Brisbane as blueprint clubs for what the Crows wanted to become.
“We have a huge amount of respect for them,” he said.
“Our respect level couldn’t be any higher than what it was going into that game (against Sydney).”
Jack Riewoldt was among the first to criticise Milera for his comments.
“When it dropped on Saturday night, I went a bit hard on him,” Riewoldt told On the Couch.
“I just don’t like the word ‘rabble’.
“I just think you have to be so careful when you’re in a position that you’re absolutely flying … you don’t want to disrespect someone and it comes back to bite you in the bum.”
Jonathan Brown was not having any of that.
“This is why clubs control players,” he said. “We treat them like 14 year olds.
“This poor bugger gets belted for calling them a rabble … god almighty, give me a spell.”
HAWKS LOOK SIC AND TIRED?
Jonathan Brown believes the Hawks are desperate to reach the bye after being brutalised back-to-back-to-back by the top three teams on the ladder.
And nobody needs a week off more than skipper, James Sicily.
“Sicily is injured. He has to be injured,” Brown told Fox Footy’s On the Couch.
“He was limping (against Collingwood). He was carrying something.
“A lot of reports about his groin or adductor … I’ve been through this, when you have groin and adductor problems you look like you can’t play the game. You lose your power.
“They need to work out a plan to get him back fit and healthy.”
Riewoldt had a similar diagnosis on Agenda Setters, suggesting the additions of Tom Barrass and Josh Battle had inadvertently stifled the Hawks’ ball movement from defence.
“(Sicily) is a shell of himself. He is symptomatic of what has happened to this Hawthorn group,” Riewoldt said.
“They were slicing teams on the rebound (last year). All of a sudden you get two really good defenders, but conservative (ball) users … and it looks to have stifled their ball movement completely.
“They have gone completely into their shells, the Hawks.
“That forward line now is looking like it looks on paper. When you’re not getting the super slick ball use, that is not the forward line of a premiership team.”
Essendon great Matthew Lloyd questioned whether Hawthorn made a mistake in adding both Barrass and Battle in the off-season.
“I think they’ve overcooked it. I don’t think they needed both of them,” Lloyd told Footy Classified.
“I don’t think they’re playing well together as a group.”
LIST CLEAN OUT COMING AT CARLTON?
“Nobody” at Carlton believes Tom De Koning will be a Blue in 2026 according to Damian Barrett on Footy Classified.
And De Koning might not be the only big name out the door before the beginning of next season.
Barrett said it was his belief that CEO-elect Graham Wright, slated to take over from Brian Cook in October, would step into the role “in July” and could entertain offers for stars including Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay.
“They’ve got some big name players on big contracts and I’ve got no doubt, in fact I know that if a club was to come to the Carlton footy club … with a feasible offer for some of those names, he (Wright) will engage,” Barrett declared.
“Don’t waste his time … if you want to put a proposal to them with three (or) two first round draft picks, do it. The conversation can be had and I imagine it will be had.
“We know what Graham Wright did at Collingwood. He moved out Brodie Grundy, he moved out Adam Treloar, he moved out others.”
Lloyd said it would be foolish for the Blues to trade out a known commodity of the quality of Curnow.
“It’s too hard to find the next one. A guy like Charlie Curnow comes around every 10 drafts or something like that,” he said.
“I do think about, say if they save a million bucks or $1.2m on what they would pay De Koning and one more goes, can they say, ‘OK, we have $2m, how can we balance our list out better?’”
Crows happy — but forget an early extension for Nicks
Adelaide are flying after four wins in five games. But even if they make the finals for the first time in Matthew Nicks’ reign, a contract extension will have to wait.
‘Reaffirm our strong support’: Winter backs Devils bid
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