‘Misread the room’: AFL greats, journo clash over Jordan De Goey drama

The Jordan De Goey Bali drama has dominated the AFL media over the past few days and the scandal has sparked a heated debate.

The Jordan De Goey Bali drama has continued to dominate the headlines and the debate got heated on Sunday as AFL greats and a journo were split over who was to blame for the scandal.

On Friday night, video leaked onto social media of De Goey partying in Bali during his mid-season break.

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The video included a moment where he appeared to attempt to expose a woman’s breast inside a nightclub, as well as making rude hand gestures.

The woman in the video, named Remy Jackson released a short statement on social media after the news broke, writing on her Instagram Stories: “Hey everyone, I can’t believe the backlash towards Jordy and myself over here in Bali … nothing to see here.”

It comes just months after he was fined $10,000 by the AFL for his involvement in a late-night incident in New York late last year.

He pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of harassment in the second degree having first pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and harassment. Charges of forcible touching were also dropped.

The footy world piled on the drama, blasting the Magpies for allowing De Goey to go and the star for his lack of “common sense”.

On Saturday, De Goey blasted the media for reporting on the drama.

Jordan De Goey makes a statement on his Instagram account. Source: Instagram/jordyDeGoey

But on The AFL Sunday Footy Show, AFL reporter Damian Barrett and Kane Cornes found themselves in fierce disagreement over the scandal.

The discussion began with host Nathan Brown saying: “Nobody on this desk condones this”, but discussed the question of whether Collingwood should have allowed De Goey to go.

AFL journalist Damian Barrett said he believed a player should be able to do whatever he wants in his own time.

“I am over the control that footy clubs think they have over an individual,” he said.

“The problem with this conversation now is that Jordan De Goey behaved badly yet again and this is where this conversation moves into.

“In terms of the specific part of should a club have the right to ask and tell someone what they can and can’t do, I don’t like it. They are adults and should be age to do in their own time.”

Cornes asked whether clubs should be able to tell their players not to drink on a six-day break, which Barrett said they should be able to do.

“So where’s the line?” Cornes responded.

Barrett continued: “They control the lives of these athletes in a pre-season sense from November through to September if you make finals. You compare with other sports around the world Kane, on so many other levels you want the NFL-style of athlete in the AFL system and we don’t get it. We robotise every single athlete.

“Now without speaking specifically about De Goey …”

Cornes interrupted: “I think you have to speak specifically about De Goey. I’ve said if it was Scott Pendlebury wanted to go to Bali with his family — 100 per cent, happy days; Collingwood, let him go.

“(De Goey) a guy who was locked up in New York not that long ago, stood down by his club. So you can’t separate De Goey and then say what’s good for him is good for everyone. You have to have the background of what this guy has done.”

Brown asked if Cornes meant that Pendlebury should be able to go but De Goey shouldn’t, to which Cornes replied: “100 per cent.”

Barrett said: “You just contradicted yourself there.”

“Have you seen Jordan De Goey’s wrap sheet?” Cornes fired back. “If you are at risk to be sucked into temptation — which he was always going to be at risk — you have to manage these players and advise them on the back of …”

Barrett: “Are you going to hold their hand to cross the road as well?”

Brown: “Are you saying that he can’t leave Melbourne? Is that what you’re saying? What is the difference if he goes to Gold Coast or Perth?

Cornes: “Are you more likely to get tempted in Bali than Victoria?”

Brown said he believes it’s all the same, while Barrett contributed: “He’s found trouble in Melbourne too.”

Damian Barrett and Kane Cornes clash. Photo: Channel 9

Cornes said he should be suspended.

“I don’t think it is acceptable to behave like that in 2022,” Cornes said.

“Clubs suspend players and have done for drinking mishaps. Fremantle just had one with (Michael) Frederick for drinking on a six-day break.”

Brown interjected: “Did the club say that you’re not allowed to drink on a six-day break though?

“If a club says that you don’t drink because that is part of you being an AFL footballer. A club can’t say that you can’t travel to Bali.”

But Cornes wouldn’t be swayed, blasting Collingwood for the decision.

“I think they set him up to fail and it was a ridiculous decision,” Cornes said.

“Collingwood was on the front page of the paper two days in a row and looked foolish because of one of their players.

“His statement is embarrassing. For him to blame the media for this is embarrassing. He’s misread the room as much as he’s misread the room by going to Bali. To think he would blame the ‘uneducated bias and ill-informed narrative has gone too far’. How about he takes some ownership.

“Absolute fault with the management and club, but 98 per cent fault for De Goey putting himself in this position again.”

Jordan De Goey in action for the Magpies. Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

“I know if I was in that position, yes, I wouldn’t go, but even if I wanted to, someone I would lean on is my manager Craig Kelly and he would look me in my eye ‘You are not going’,” Goddard said.

“He's has the best interests for me and so should Jordan’s manager and brother in law. That’s where he should maybe put more trust in the people that would know the landscape a little bit more and say to him mate, you’re not going.”

Matthew Lloyd said he believes that in 10 years: “He will have a lot of regrets that he didn’t get the most out of the ability he was blessed with.”

Originally published as ‘Misread the room’: AFL greats, journo clash over Jordan De Goey drama