Eddie McGuire shares AFL’s dirty secret over weekend incidents

Eddie McGuire has claimed there would have been an unexpected response from the AFL after watching its finals series derailed.

Eddie McGuire has claimed the AFL would privately have been happy to witness the prickly scenes that unfolded after Port Adelaide’s win over Hawthorn.

The Power’s thrilling elimination final was quickly overshadowed by the extraordinary scenes where Ken Hinkley became involved in a heated verbal stoush with Hawks captain James Sicily after appearing to sledge Jack Ginnivan after the final siren.

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After 36 hours of accusations and public swipes, the AFL eventually handed Hinkley a $20,000 fine.

The league was widely criticised for the severity of the fine handed down to the veteran coach, but McGuire has now shared the dirty secret that league officials would be happy to see it dominate headlines because it has taken some of the focus away from other controversial incidents over the weekend.

The former Collingwood president singled out the Welcome to Country performed before the Lions’ miracle comeback win over the Giants in Sydney on Saturday — as one of the issues the league wants to steer away from.

Kerin’s Welcome to Country was met with mixed reactions with some taking offence to his blunt comment that the ceremony was “not for white people”.

“You know what they would have done at AFL House, they would have gone ‘You beauty’,” McGuire said on Nine’s Eddie and Jimmy podcast.

Eddie McGuire and Brendan Kerin. Photo: Channel 9 ad Channel 7.

“We’re not going to have too much of the carry on about the Welcome to Country in Sydney, we don’t want to have that one going into the last two weeks of the footy.

“We’re not going to have (commentary on) the fact that we had players in two of the biggest games of the season ... trying to headbutt the ground to induce a free kick. That was disgraceful behaviour and those decisions had massive impacts on the outcomes of teams going through to the finals.”

Dangerous tackles during the weekend’s semi-finals have also been somewhat forgotten because of the bigger drama surrounding Hinkley.

There were multiple cases on Friday night of Port Adelaide players executing crunching tackles only for free kicks to be given to Hawthorn because of minor contact between the turf and the player’s head.

Footy greats were up in arms about the “disgraceful” calls, but the umpires and the AFL’s footy department have largely been able to avoid the spotlight — thanks predominantly to Hinkley.

It comes after Collingwood great Tony Shaw on Monday took a swipe at the league on Twitter.

“What a weak politically correct organisation the AFL is,” he posted.

“$20k fine for verbal taunts same as actual physical contact. The political decisiveness (divisiveness) of welcome to country last night was embarrassing but any public rebuke?”

His comment about “physical contact” has widely been interpreted to be a reference to the incredible scenes of Giants football boss Jason McCartney bumping into Sydney player Tom Papley last week. The football club was fined $20,000.

Ken Hinkley gestures to Jack Ginnivan that he won't be on a flight over this Insta reply "see u in 14 days'.

Ken Hinkley and James Sicily exchanged words.

Hinkley’s fine also matched the one handed to Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson when the four-time premiership coach acted “inappropriately” during an outburst towards St Kilda players Jimmy Webster and Dougal Howard in March.

According to a report, there were extenuating circumstances behind the league’s decision to take heavy action against Hinkley.

Hinkley started his post-match press conference by saying he regretted his actions — but reports on Monday emerged to suggest Hinkley and his club were not apologetic behind the scenes.

Veteran footy reporter Caroline Wilson said on Channel 9’s Footy Classified that Hinkley did in fact swear towards Ginnivan.

According to Nine, Hinkley said: “You’re not going anywhere, you cheeky little f***”.

Wilson said the AFL whacked Hinkley so hard because of how Power officials handled the situation behind the scenes.

“The feeling was that in all the negotiation and in all the back and forward of the weekend, Port was not contrite,” Wilson said.

“I think the AFL is internally saying they came down harder on Ken Hinkley for several reasons. Because it was off the back of (Jason) McCartney and this is becoming a habit among coaches and officials and they need to nail it.”

Port Adelaide next plays the Swans in a preliminary final blockbuster at the SCG on Friday night.

Originally published as Eddie McGuire shares AFL’s dirty secret over weekend incidents