Media Street: ABC reporter accuses Eddie McGuire of trying to ‘smear his reputation’
The journalist behind the alleged Hawthorn racism allegations story has fired back at Eddie McGuire over comments he made on Footy Classified.
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ABC journalist Russell Jackson has accused former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire of “trying to smear (his) reputation” in the Hawthorn racism saga.
Lions coach Chris Fagan was reportedly blindsided by the startling allegations surrounding his time at Hawthorn as football boss that were revealed by the ABC on Wednesday morning.
McGuire on Wednesday night mused about how questions were put to Fagan.
“My understanding from Brisbane was that it was sent to Brisbane to the general (email address),” McGuire said on Footy Classified.
But Jackson hit back immediately.
“Eddie McGuire has attempted to smear my reputation here and I will not stand for it,” he wrote on social media.
“I sent detailed questions to Chris Fagan’s Lions email address with 24 hours’ notice.
“He didn’t respond to my email, nor when I called his phone and left a message offering him more time.”
HUTCHY’S RADIO RIGHTS GRIP LOOSENED
Craig Hutchison’s grip on the AFL radio rights has been loosened with the league reverting back to dealing directly with its licensed partners.
As expected the AFL has changed SEN’s licensing model for metro AM commercial radio partners with all rights holders now contracting directly with the league to produce and distribute their own content on their channels directly.
Back in 2016 Hutchison’s Sports Entertainment Network became the umbrella rights-holder which meant it oversaw various programming and match-day calling agreements with all AFL broadcasters across Australia.
It was an inspired piece of negotiating – the overall radio rights deal doubled from $5m to about $10m for six years – as it enabled Hutchison to get better advertising deals with companies such as McDonald’s because he could push them not just across SEN but rival stations as well.
The new deal is for the next two years with the major change coming in the digital rights area with stations now able to make match calls available on digital platforms as well as analogue stations.
There is another win for footy fans with the AFL providing the software to ensure radio match calls can be heard with little to no delay in venues.
Executive General Manager of Customer and Commercial, Kylie Rogers said the priority of the AFL was to provide fans with unrivalled access to footy – anytime, anywhere.
“Our radio partners service millions of AFL and AFLW fans across the nation, and the addition of digital rights and zero latency Wi-Fi access will ensure they receive the best possible match experience on any platform of their choice,” Rogers said.
“We want all Australians to have access to our game, and we are proud to be partnering with SEN, Southern Cross Austereo, FIVEaa, Nine Radio, K rock, and ABC, and thank them for their continued support and commitment to delivering unparalleled content for our fans.”
It was pressure from Nine, the new owners of 3AW, which saw the league change the structure with Hutchison saying it was a decision in the interest of his shareholders.
“We’ve worked with the AFL to accommodate their request to work directly with the Nine and NOVA networks and unlock them from our previous rights structure, a decision we’ve supported in the strong interest of our shareholders and own platforms,” Hutchison said.
“With the growth, acquisition, and maturing of our own SEN stations we were fully focused on a deal that served the SEN listenership via our own stations, app and extensive regional partners. And we are rapt to be able to call local teams in Adelaide and Perth for the first time.”
TJ FINDS MORE BROWNLOW TROUBLE
POOR old Tony Jones can’t stop finding trouble with this year’s Brownlow Medal.
The Sunday Footy Show host blew up when he realised his usual invite from the AFL hadn’t lobbed this year.
Jones went on a rant saying it was a rubbish night and the league can get stuffed.
He changed his tune a couple of days later when the AFL reached out with an invite claiming it had been an administrative error.
The Channel 9 veteran accepted the apology and was seated at the table of league comms king Jay Allen.
But it was who was sitting behind him which had onlookers intrigued.
Dani Laidley, the former North Melbourne coach, was on the next table and it became obvious there was a frostiness between the pair.
In Laidley’s recently released book she has a crack at Jones and those in the vicinity Sunday night reported there was certainly no love lost.
GINNIVAN’S TOUGH WEEK CONTINUES
It’s been a tough week for Jack Ginnivan.
The Collingwood cult hero lost that thrilling preliminary final on Saturday in Sydney and now has to deal with the trauma of having his TikTok account banned.
With this generation, we’re not sure which event he will take harder.
Ginnivan has almost 79,000 followers on TikTok – he’s had more than 717,600 likes – with many of his fans blowing up on social media at the ban.
The Magpies hierarchy are probably secretly pleased given earlier in the season Ginnivan and his teammate Isaac Quaynor found themselves in hot water over a TikTok video.
They were forced to apologise after posting a video of them lying in bed, laughing while discussing women and rating them.
It had come just days after the Pies were dealing with the fallout from Jordan De Goey’s Bali fiasco.
WHO WAS THE VICTIM OF GILL’S BROWNLOW SPRAY?
Gillon McLachlan certainly was at the top of his game in his final Brownlow Medal count.
There were a few gags thrown in during the reading of the votes plus a touching tribute to Jack Gunston’s recently departed father Ray.
But one of his best lines came late in the count as things were getting tight on the leaderboard with the AFL boss keen to build the suspense.
The problem was by this stage four hours on the beers had a few of the players starting to get unruly which led to Gill snapping: “Sit down”.
Such crowd control isn’t usually a part of the broadcast and we can reveal who was on the end of Gill’s death stare and spray.
It was Adelaide’s Ben Keays who was carrying on when he shouldn’t have as he celebrated getting 11 votes – the second most of the Crows – for the season.
AW’S NEWEST FOOTY FIXTURE
The announcement of former Channel 7 host Jacqui Felgate joining 3AW’s football team for next year caught many at the station by surprise.
Felgate has quickly become a favourite of the station’s owners, Nine Entertainment, and has replaced Emily Power as the fill-in – alongside Geelong great Jimmy Bartel – for Ross and Russel’s breakfast show this week.
The press release to announce her addition to the 2023 football team failed to say what she would actually be doing.
It seems like there is a push to beef-up the station’s Friday night coverage with Felgate set to host the pre-game show.
Another new addition to the team, Sam McClure, who takes over host of the nightly Wide World of Sports program in November, has been pencilled in to host a Sunday afternoon football show.
PAPLEY’S LOVE OF THE PONIES
Sydney goalsneak Tom Papley isn’t letting Grand Final week get in the way of his normal preparation.
Papley loves punting on horses almost as much as the football and has been a regular contributor on SEN Track throughout the year offering his tips for the upcoming Sydney races.
And he’s created a following among listeners after landing a 100/1 multi recently.
After Saturday’s thrilling preliminary final win Papley tweeted the next day: “Last night was nice. Now for some winners.”
He then added with some love heart emojis: “Flemington on a Sunday mmmm.”
On Wednesday Papley was back for his regular segment although he reminded producers that as usual there was to be no football talk.
We also hear his coach John ‘Horse’ Longmire and the Swans communications team mightn’t be aware of his side gig.
SEN Track and its new marquee show Giddy Up with Gareth Hall – who recently moved over from RSN – has several AFL players involved with Adelaide’s Brodie Smith offering his tips on South Australian racing and Lions defender Darcy Gardiner set to do the same in Queensland.
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