Magpie leaders say Jaidyn Stephenson could have received discounted ban for self-reporting

Collingwood’s leaders accept the lengthy suspension handed to star Jaidyn Stephenson — but the coach is a little surprised his player’s honesty didn’t see him receive a lighter ban.

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley talks with Jaidyn Stephenson. Pic: Michael Klein

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Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley isn’t angry with suspended star Jaidyn Stephenson but is amazed by the 20-year-old’s “rookie error” that led to the longest betting suspension in AFL history.

Stephenson was yesterday handed a 10-game ban (22 matches including 12 suspended) and fined $20,000 by the AFL for placing three bets on Collingwood matches in which he played.

“Yeah, it makes very little sense,” Buckley said while saying he could see the innocence in the bets after hearing Stephenson’s version of events.

“It makes very little sense ... unless you’re in Jaidyn’s body at that point of time I don’t think you can even contemplate how that would happen.”

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Stephenson will now miss the rest of the home and away season but be available to play finals.

Buckley said he accepted the lengthy ban — and could understand how some viewed the penalty as “contrived” — but believed a discount could have been in order given the Pie self-reported.

“The fact it’s the harshest penalty (ever) handed down, I think is interesting to me given the way that this came to the AFL,” he said on SEN.

“I understand that the penalty includes some form of deterrent and that you need to be strong on these things, and I’m not in the AFL’s shoes, so I know that the AFL need to be strong on this.

“I accept the penalty and I understand how some would think that it’s been contrived ... and it’s hard for me to remove myself from the football coach that wants the player back at some point as well.”

“Obviously a couple of games (back playing) in the home and away into the run to finals would have been handy ... I thought that six to eight (weeks) would have been a fair whack for him.

“The fact that he came forward, you know (have) the bigger penalty and then suspend it down to six to eight, simply for the fact that you’ve got a young fella here who has put his hand up and come forward with something that for all intents and purposes was going to go into the ether and not be found if he had not (come forward).”

Buckley said his focus had been on supporting Stephenson through the investigation period rather than scolding his young gun.

“I’m not angry with him,” Buckley said.

“I can understand how (it happened) the way he describes it because he’s a very open book, Jaidyn ... I’m amazed that you can actually make a decision like that, like how do you get to the point where you make a decision like that, but the way he describes it, it makes sense to me.

“He’s sitting on the couch with a mate, he’s flicking a bet on this, this and this. And then it’s like ‘Yeah, put me in for half of that’ or ‘I’ll have a bit of that’ and that sounds like what happened with the first couple (of bets).”

Buckley said he found out about Stephenson’s betting investigation “about three weeks ago” but never considered not playing his young forward.

He said he was proud of the way the Pies had handled the investigation, starting with senior players coming forward, reporting to club officials and then ultimately handing the investigation over to the AFL.

Buckley said he had only had a genuine conversation with Stephenson about his indiscretion this week, instead letting his star concentrate on playing football while the matter was dealt with.

Nathan Buckley with Jaidyn Stephenson ahead of last year’s grand final. Pic: Michael Klein

STEPHENSON COULD HAVE ‘GOT LIFE’

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has given an insight into how the length of young Pie Jaidyn Stephenson’s suspension was decided.

McGuire said discussions between the club and the AFL over a ban for Stephenson’s bets on three Collingwood games went “from life to four weeks to everything in between”.

It was settled that Stephenson would be outed for 22 weeks, with 12 of those suspended.

“People might say that’s a number that’s been picked,” McGuire said on Triple M this morning.

“It started way beyond that number and came backwards and we landed at 10 and everyone, including Jaidyn Stephenson, accepts that for the game itself.

“As a legitimate punishment, 10 weeks is fair enough.

“He’s probably had the most innocuous of bets, other than the fact it had Collingwood in it.

“So that takes it from innocuous to high level. He self-reports, so that takes it back a bit. But there’s all these other elements in there.

“So he went from life to four weeks to everything in between.

Stephenson and Pies officials face the media on Wednesday. Pic: Andrew Henshaw

“As you put it up on the board and put a star or put a cross and a tick next to all the elements and it came out at 10 weeks, $20,000, and he’s on match payments, so he doesn’t play, he doesn’t get paid.”

The ban expires after Round 23, leaving Stephenson available for selection in the finals, and had some critics suggesting that was convenient. But McGuire said the length of the ban had “integrity”.

“Now people say ‘oh, he’s back for the finals’ — well, what happened was, there was another discussion where, had this happened in Round 3, he would’ve got 10 weeks,” McGuire said.

“If you’re going to go down the line that we have integrity (in the AFL), there has to be integrity in the suspension as well.

“I have no doubt that if Jaidyn Stephenson or any player actually had something in his multi — let’s say the opposition team winning was in there, he would have got life.

“There is no way in the history of mankind that the AFL would have found out that Jaidyn Stephenson’s mate had put on a multi, unless he came forward.”

Stephenson won’t return until September. Pic: Michael Klein

McGuire said the he fought to ensure the ban would ensure the integrity of the game, but also ensure other young players weren’t scared away from self-reporting gambling activity.

“The integrity of the game is the paramount concern on everybody,” he said.

“I was lobbying hard that we have to make sure that kids will want to come forward, we don’t want them to be driven underground.

“We have a situation that, literally you can take any drug you like (and) if you self report that is seen as a positive thing.

“There are very big mental health issues in gambling at the moment.

“There’s a myriad of issues, but in the end you have to distil it down to a straight up rule and that is if you bet on a game, you’re going to get clobbered from here on in.

“If you bet on your own team, you’re going to get really smashed and if you bet in a way that you influence a game, you are facing a year, 22 weeks.”