AFL 2021: Tyson Goldsack on Collingwood’s ‘Do Better’ report
Heritier Lumumba once again took aim at Nathan Buckley this week. And former Magpie Tyson Goldsack believes Bucks’ silence won’t last for long.
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Collingwood premiership hero Tyson Goldsack says he expects coach Nathan Buckley will soon break his silence on the Heritier Lumumba racism row.
While fallen president Eddie McGuire took the brunt of this week’s firestorm, Buckley is yet to respond to the damning findings of the leaked ‘Do Better’ report which has rocked the Magpies.
Lumumba has repeatedly taken aim at Buckley for his public defence of the club’s culture.
Goldsack, now at Port Adelaide as a development coach and on the Power’s list as a rookie, said: “I know Bucks’ head is right into the game for season 2021, but he’d have his opinions and thoughts no doubt.
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After responding to the club’s apology, Heritier Lumumba has taken a fresh swipe at Nathan Buckley, calling on his former coach to revisit his comments from 2017.@chriscavanagh1 has the details: https://t.co/yisbCJaXnD pic.twitter.com/NvCy4B9B3M
— SuperFooty (AFL) (@superfooty) February 5, 2021
“Whether he has been a part of it, it is hard to know without actually going through the document or its findings, but he is a clever man and he assesses things quite well so I’d imagine he will come out in due course.”
In a recent tweet, Lumumba asked Buckley if he still “stood by” the content of an email the coach had sent him late last year, stating: “how much the club had changed”.
Goldsack, who left Collingwood at the end 2019, said he considered he was “pretty close” to Lumumba as their time as teammates but hadn’t spoken to him for a while.
“But obviously things have happened and obviously things happened that I wasn’t aware were happening and that is probably what has caused the unrest is that things did happen,” he said.
“I don’t know if we were naive through that time, it is hard to say, but no I haven’t spoken to him for a long time.
“I had reached out a while back and didn’t get much in return.”
Collingwood has announced Magpie directors Mark Korda and Peter Murphy will act as interim co-presidents.
The duo will take charge of the club effective immediately following this week’s departure of McGuire.
In a statement, the Collingwood board said it would take eight weeks to decide its next president.
The board also declared the expert advisory panel recommended by the club’s report into racism would be formed as a priority, reporting directly to the board.
The club will also employ a strategic advisor to help implement “all the recommendations of the Do Better report across the organisation”.
Goldsack said he was hopeful some “good change” would come from the report.
“It has been tough, not tough to cop, but it is hard because I am sitting here from a middle aged white male’s point of view so I don’t know and I can’t pretend that I do know what people go through or have been through,” he said.
“All I can say I’d like to think I tried to make it as happy and as welcoming of a place as I could (when he was at Collingwood) but Eddie to me was always a great guy, he appears to have taken the brunt of it and it was sad when I watched his (resignation) presser.
“Eddie has done so much good for the club for so long and it’s in the position it is (because of him), I still have a lot of love for the club obviously so to see him walk away is a sad moment.
“But if it is for the greater good then … hopefully it can spur on some things in the future where, it’s hard for me to say more welcoming but it has been proven that they have done some things wrong — I don’t know exactly what they were — but if it brings about good change it must be a good thing.”
In a 2017 post-match interview seized on by the Lumumba camp Buckley said: “I suppose I’d echo the sentiments of the club, just hoping he is doing well and that he can still see the positive of his experiences as an AFL footballer as well.
“I’ve personally always looked out for and been aware of H’s issues or his concerns or his challenges and tried to support as best as I possibly can.”
Buckley also said he had never heard the “Chimp’ nickname used.
“This has the capacity to get out bigger than it needs to be. I’m conscious of H and where’s at the moment. And as I said I just hope is doing well.”
Port Adelaide has not discussed the Do Better report, or the fallout from it, but captain Tom Jonas said there was “a collective acknowledgment that there is no place for racism in our game or in our club”.
“We’d be really disappointed if anyone in our club or anyone in our community felt like there was any form or racism or systemic racism here or in the AFL.,” he said.
“As role models for the rest of the community, it’s our job to lead by example and do our best to eradicate it from society.”
Power young gun Connor Rozee said it was good Collingwood had faced the issue.
“As long as they’re continuing to improve and get better, as a whole competition in general, it’s something we need to know we need to get better at and hopefully we can get to a point in time that sort of thing doesn’t happen at all,” he said.
“I think Port Adelaide in general does a really good job with our Indigenous players and players from different backgrounds – we’ve got a pretty diverse playing group.
“I’d like to think Port Adelaide is one of the better clubs in the competition for including and providing a good platform for those players to speak freely and be respected.”
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Collingwood premiership hero and leviathan businessman Craig Kelly is unlikely to make a play for the Magpies’ presidency.
Kelly, 54, has long been touted as a frontrunner to take over from Eddie McGuire who stood down as president on Tuesday amid fierce pressure over the club’s racism report.
But sources on Wednesday said a bid from Kelly was highly unlikely due to his business ties and role as the manager and close friend of Collingwood senior coach Nathan Buckley.
Kelly, who is one of Australian sport’s most successful businessmen, co-founded management company Elite Sports Properties and is now the chief executive of TLA.
TLA has hundreds of AFL players on its books including a significant portion of Collingwood’s list.
In addition, Kelly’s son, Will, is in third second season at Collingwood.
Kelly is also close with Collingwood’s new football boss Graham Wright, who has replaced veteran football manager Geoff Walsh ahead of the 2021 season.
The close links are seen as key conflicts and insurmountable difficulties in any unlikely bid to become Collingwood’s next president, even though many supporters have seen Kelly as an otherwise excellent candidate and a natural fit.
Kelly played 122 games for Collingwood including the 1990 premiership.
Collingwood director Peter Murphy is seen as a leading candidate for the club’s presidency and has strong internal support after running a 2017 review of the football department, which saw Buckley’s coaching contract extended.
Collingwood played off in the Grand Final against West Coast the following season.
One of the club’s two vice-presidents Mark Korda and Alex Waislitz could take over from McGuire in the interim.
Left field president options in line to replace Eddie
Collingwood great Peter Moore has urged the Magpies to “look outside” the club in its search for a new president to replace Eddie McGuire, suggesting America’s Cup winning skipper John Bertrand could be a perfect fit.
Following McGuire’s immediate resignation from the role he had held for almost 23 years on Tuesday, the search is now on for a new president for one of the league’s biggest clubs.
Moore, a former Collingwood captain whose son, Darcy, now plays for the club, suggested the Magpies should cast the net outside the club to fill the role.
He named Bertrand, who most recently held the role of Swimming Australia president for seven years until last year and famously skippered Australia II to victory in the 1983 America‘s Cup, as a perfect fit.
“I don’t know whether they should go for one of the internal people, I don’t know the people involved,” Moore said on SEN.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing someone from outside, like a really high-calibre … someone that comes to mind is someone like John Bertrand.
“He headed up Swimming Australia and has run big organisations in the past and (is) involved in sport and understands the culture and understands sport.
“So someone like that might be a viable candidate. But I think I’ll keep right out of that one.”
Moore’s comments came as an entrepreneur who lives by the mantra MAD – make a difference – was being touted to become Collingwood’s interim president.
Peter Murphy, a member of the Magpies’ board since February 2019, has been endorsed by club great Peter McKenna as the best person to take over from the departing Eddie McGuire.
McKenna called Murphy, who founded PAN Group Australia, a great fit not only to fill the void in the short term but permanently.
Collingwood did not announce an interim replacement after McGuire stepped aside on Tuesday.
“Peter’s a passionate Collingwood man, he’s a down-to-earth person – everything about him I’ve been impressed with,” McKenna told The Herald Sun.
“He’d be every chance to get the job.
“He’s very highly thought of down at the club … and he’s a good guy.
“He’d be an outstanding president in my opinion.”
Collingwood’s website describes Murphy as “an entrepreneur and philanthropist passionate about empowering individuals to chase their dreams and change the world”.
Murphy is also the global chairman of Global Citizen and a trustee and chair of Collingwood’s foundation.
“Murphy distinguished himself as a leader in the corporate world from a young age, and has a strong leadership and management record of high performance across a range of organisations,” the website said.
“Murphy founded PAN Australia Group as the combination of decades of work to unlock the amazing potential of people and ideas to affect positive change.
“His mantra is MAD (make a difference), which combines his business acumen with seminal experiences working in communities that face far greater challenges than he ever imagined.”
Mark Korda is another candidate to take on the post in the interim and the club may go down that path because he is vice president.
The Magpies’ other vice president, Alex Waislitz, who is a close friend of McGuire’s and has been on the board since 1998, is not expected to be a contender.
Jodie Sizer, who impressed while fronting Collingwood’s ill-fated press conference last week in response to the ‘Do Better’ report, could be an outside chance.
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