Collingwood to decide punishment for Brayden Sier after injured midfielder played social basketball
Collingwood officials and players will meet to decide on a potential punishment for midfielder Brayden Sier after the injured midfielder played a social basketball game — and then attempted to “sweep it under the carpet”.
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Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has described Brayden Sier’s basketball cover-up as a “blue from a young player” and has not ruled out disciplinary action from the club.
Sier was caught out playing hoops for a friend’s team under the pseudonym “Phil Inn” on Monday night in an attempt to conceal his name while out of the side injured.
The 21-year-old, who has missed the past month with a calf injury, had told the club he had just been at the game to shoot around during breaks.
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Buckley said Sier had erred in not only playing the game while he was meant to be recovering from injury, but also in lying to the club.
But it was the deception from Sier that Buckley was most disappointed in.
“(It was) a blue from a young player,” he said.
“He made a couple of errors in the situation. One to play the game and two, to try to sweep it under the carpet.
Fair to say not the first time number 36 from Collingwood has tried to cover something up. Nice to see I left a legacy at the pies. #floreatpica
— Dane Swan (@swandane) August 15, 2019
“We will deal with that accordingly and appropriately, but we’ve got a game to prepare for on Saturday (against Adelaide) which he won’t be a part of and VFL don’t play this week, so we’ve a bit of time to sort that out.
“I can understand it’s a very human thing to maybe try and sweep things away, but it is an important part of it (trying to cover it up). The integrity of how we communicate to each other is more important that anything external. That will be a part of it.”
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Buckley said director of football Geoff Walsh, the club’s leadership group and himself would be involved in making a decision about any potential disciplinary action against Sier.
“Walshy is the director of footy and he will deal with it mainly, the leadership group and myself will be involved in it,” Buckley said.
“But the way we deal with it now is we focus on Saturday and worry about that when we get to it.”
Buckley said Sier trained fully today and expected he would be available for selection next week.
“He has just completed his first full session for the last month and he has been ill and hasn’t been able to complete sessions over the last week and a half to prove his fitness over the calf,” Buckley said.
“We would anticipate that he will be available and we will be asking him to do everything possible to be involved in our campaign whether it’s helping to prepare the senior squad or being a part of it.”
Asked if the Magpies’ lengthy injury list had compounded Sier’s error when the club needed all players available, Buckley said Sier had yet to prove himself among the team’s best 22.
“If he was fit and at he was at his best he may help us, but he hasn’t proved to be in that space for most of the year,” Buckley said.
“So we’ve been able to get the job done without Brayden for most of the year, so I think that’s a fair message for a young fell for what he needs to do.”
Buckley said the club protocols around extra-curricular sporting activities were “common sense”, but said everyone should be focused on the finals job in front of them.
“It’s common sense I suppose which is not always so common,” Buckley said.
“I think there is things on contracts around anything that could injure yourself or anything that could put yourself in danger.
“In the end, we are all hands on deck in here and everyone is fully focused on the next six weeks and these opportunities don’t come around all the time and time just continues to go past you and opportunities don’t always present.
“You’ve got to make the most of them when you’re in them. So speaking broadly, for us this is where we’re at and we need to take advantage of every opportunity.”
Earlier today, Pies midfielder Levi Greenwood couldn’t believe Sier had further jeopardised his season.
“I was looking ... today to see if I needed to know anything before talking to you,” Greenwood told SEN Adelaide.
“I was like, ‘get out, no way’. And I read into it and was like, ‘mate, are you serious?’
“I haven’t spoken to him, I’ve heard nothing about it.
“I’d hate for it to be true because it would be quite disappointing if it was, because we need players right now.
“If they’re out injured they should not be playing basketball full-stop, or doing anything that’s going to prolong their injury.
“If it is true the powers that be will be having their say about it. We’ll have to wait and see.”
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