By Peter Ryan and Michael Gleeson
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon has defended the performance of his executive team, while expressing his disappointment in Geelong star Bailey Smith following his recent “nose beers” comment on social media.
Dillon joined with the AFLPA on Tuesday in unveiling a new $54 million package funded by current players as part of the collective bargaining agreement to provide more support for players post their football careers.
Andrew Dillon has defended his leadership team at the AFL.Credit: Getty Images
The AFL and AFLW players’ injury and support fund means past players could receive up to $600,000 in compensation for severe injuries, including concussion, that hamper future earnings, as the game grapples with the effects of head trauma.
Dillon, speaking at the launch of the fund, was quick to defend his executive team following the bungling of a range of football matters – such as the miscommunication with the AFL’s umpiring department over Collingwood star Lachie Schultz’s concussion drama against Fremantle.
Dillon said a process was underway to fill the important chief operating officer position, which is designed to bring a club CEO into the AFL as second in charge. He said he had complete confidence in his executive but that did not mean he wouldn’t add to it when required.
“We have an unbelievably talented executive team,” Dillon said. “We have got a lot more on our plate as well, and that is why we’re looking at the structure and we are always looking at [that].”
Meanwhile, the AFL is in talks with Geelong and Smith about his cheeky social media exchange with a fan about having “nose beers” if the Cats win the grand final.
Bailey Smith is fresh off a standout game against his former club.Credit: AFL Photos
Smith, who has one of the biggest Instagram followings of AFL players, quickly posted afterwards that he was just joking. But the AFL was less amused.
“The team is talking with Geelong and talking with Bailey, and we wouldn’t want to see it [a comment of that nature] again,” Dillon said.
“Our players need to be mindful, whether they are in public or on social media, that they are in the public eye, and they are role models and particularly with social media players have to be mindful how they use it, whether they are posting, messaging, liking … Bailey deleted the comments, he put up an apology.
“We don’t condone it and know this is a serious thing not to be joked about, and if he had his time again, I am not sure he would do it. The players are professional athletes and know they are role models and remember that.”
Smith had posted on Instagram after the win over the Bulldogs and had an exchange with a follower who asked if he had “got on the nose beers [cocaine] after the game.”
Outgoing AFLPA CEO Paul Marsh.Credit: AAP
“Nah bro, after the flag maybe tho,” Smith replied.
AFL Players’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh said he didn’t condone the comments but said they were tongue in cheek.
“Bailey is a breath of fresh air to the industry, everyone loves him, [and] is hanging off everything he is doing and saying,” Marsh said.
“It’s not something we want to glorify - illicit drugs - or something that necessarily sits comfortably, but there is an element of he is showing some personality.
“I took it as something that was tongue in cheek. Maybe if he had his time again he wouldn’t do it, but at the same time I don’t think we want to take him down for a guy that is actually showing some personality at a time where, I think, it is getting more difficult to show personality because of the criticism that flows on when you do.”
Dillon and Marsh – who has resigned from the AFLPA to soon move to head up the cricketers’ association – have been working on refining the AFL’s illicit drug code, a revised version of which they said was close to being announced.
“I don’t think it is about having a firmer look at it. Show us the evidence that a more punitive approach is going to improve outcomes on this issue,” Marsh said.
“This is an issue we have both always taken the approach of identify, support and try to change behaviours, and that is still what we are trying to do with the policy.
“What can get frustrating on an issue like this is there a lot of people, who are not experts in the space, who have a whole lot of solutions based on nothing that we can work out that makes any sense, in terms of how you are going to deal with it.
“We are working with experts, we have got a behaviour-change approach to this that hopefully we are not too far away from agreeing to something that can be announced.”
The severe injury benefit program, which applies to both AFL and AFLW players, is part of the $54 million package, which includes payment for surgery, dental care, career-ending injury payments and mental health programs. There are also provisions available for dependents to receive support.
Players will be required to prove their claim to an independent assessment panel, which will recommend to a board containing Dillon, the players’ association CEO, two representatives from both organisations and an independent chair.
The AFL said the package was a response to those suffering the effects of concussion, and it did not preclude potential claimants from ongoing legal action.
Marsh said the program was a significant benefit for a past player who was unfortunately “permanently and severely injured from playing football”, with the program to cover both cognitive and physical impairment.
To be considered eligible, players will need to have played at least one AFL game before 2017 or been on an AFL list since that year when the hardship fund was first introduced through the collective bargaining agreement. Past players needed to make a one-off payment of $50 to be eligible to make a claim as a past player alumni member, and the players’ association was encouraging players to join, with 5000 alumni members in place.
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