Axe Man
14-08-2019, 12:51 PM
This is spot on. How ridiculous is it to have the CEO commenting about a potential player movement like this?
Gillon McLachlan should not be trying to influence Stephen Coniglio in his club choice (https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/gillon-mclachlan-should-not-be-trying-to-influence-stephen-coniglio-in-his-club-choice/news-story/3b26761ea47faff1de5d3c9ea4f5e213)
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan is showing bias and he needs to pull his head in, especially when his appalling conflict of interest is on full display.
COMMENT
Why is the CEO of the AFL suddenly commenting on where star players should go or stay?
On Tuesday afternoon, Gillon McLachlan was being interviewed on 3AW by Caroline Wilson when he was asked about off-contract GWS star Stephen Coniglio and he implored the midfielder to stay at GWS.
McLachlan went as far as saying he would “love” him to stay there.
This is despite reported overtures by other clubs including long-struggling Carlton, who are apparently a favourite to gain the signature of the 25-year-old.
McLachlan not only poured cold water all over the reports of Coniglio heading to the Blues, he also then went on to appeal to Coniglio’s character to get him to stay a Giant.
Wilson asked the league boss on 3AW if he’d be disappointed if Coniglio left the expansion club. “Yeah, I would,” McLachlan said. “Certainly my advice is that it’s not a given (that he’ll leave).
“I think he’s a star player and I know he’s a leader of the club. I know him a bit personally, I think he’s a fabulous person. I’ll be explicit — I’d love him to stay up there.”
Sorry Gil, since when do you get to try and influence a player’s business decision? Stay in your lane.
Not only is any knowledge McLachlan might have on what is happening with Coniglio not for public discussion but he shouldn’t be using his status in the game to try and sway a star player’s decision either.
Doing so is an absolute abuse of his influence and flies in the face of his policy of staying quiet on other major issues this year, most notably the security crackdown on stadiums and the failure of the 6-6-6 to increase scoring, as it was supposed to.
Whether Coniglio stays or goes should be no business of McLachlan’s, but perhaps he has a vested interest: The success of GWS as an entity.
And it is especially for that reason that McLachlan showing clear bias towards them is concerning.
Not only has the AFL given that club every conceivable opportunity to succeed but they need them to.
So far despite all GWS’s stars the number of premierships is zero and right now they don’t at all look likely to buck that trend this season.
Coniglio is rated one of the best players in the AFL and is also regarded as a key figure in developing and maintaining a strong culture at the Giants, he’s also a player fans might want to see and in recent years GWS have lost enough of those — Adam Treloar, Tom Scully, Dylan Shiel, Lachie Plowman and Jack Steele all bailed on the club.
But despite that talent and the talent they have now, the jury is still very much out on the GWS experiment — they might have made finals for the last four seasons and will do so again this year but more often than not despite the talent they have and efforts to get fans involved often at their home games in a boutique stadium the stands look empty.
This year their average home crowd is a measly 12,480, and only recently has that gone above cellar-dwellers Gold Coast, who average 11,798 per match at Metricon in 2019. In fact crowd attendance for GWS home games has gone down the last two seasons after peaking in 2017 at an average of 13,196 in a stadium that seats just 24,000.
No wonder McLachlan is trying to get a major star to stay — but as CEO he should not, it’s an appalling conflict of interest.
Gillon McLachlan should not be trying to influence Stephen Coniglio in his club choice (https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/gillon-mclachlan-should-not-be-trying-to-influence-stephen-coniglio-in-his-club-choice/news-story/3b26761ea47faff1de5d3c9ea4f5e213)
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan is showing bias and he needs to pull his head in, especially when his appalling conflict of interest is on full display.
COMMENT
Why is the CEO of the AFL suddenly commenting on where star players should go or stay?
On Tuesday afternoon, Gillon McLachlan was being interviewed on 3AW by Caroline Wilson when he was asked about off-contract GWS star Stephen Coniglio and he implored the midfielder to stay at GWS.
McLachlan went as far as saying he would “love” him to stay there.
This is despite reported overtures by other clubs including long-struggling Carlton, who are apparently a favourite to gain the signature of the 25-year-old.
McLachlan not only poured cold water all over the reports of Coniglio heading to the Blues, he also then went on to appeal to Coniglio’s character to get him to stay a Giant.
Wilson asked the league boss on 3AW if he’d be disappointed if Coniglio left the expansion club. “Yeah, I would,” McLachlan said. “Certainly my advice is that it’s not a given (that he’ll leave).
“I think he’s a star player and I know he’s a leader of the club. I know him a bit personally, I think he’s a fabulous person. I’ll be explicit — I’d love him to stay up there.”
Sorry Gil, since when do you get to try and influence a player’s business decision? Stay in your lane.
Not only is any knowledge McLachlan might have on what is happening with Coniglio not for public discussion but he shouldn’t be using his status in the game to try and sway a star player’s decision either.
Doing so is an absolute abuse of his influence and flies in the face of his policy of staying quiet on other major issues this year, most notably the security crackdown on stadiums and the failure of the 6-6-6 to increase scoring, as it was supposed to.
Whether Coniglio stays or goes should be no business of McLachlan’s, but perhaps he has a vested interest: The success of GWS as an entity.
And it is especially for that reason that McLachlan showing clear bias towards them is concerning.
Not only has the AFL given that club every conceivable opportunity to succeed but they need them to.
So far despite all GWS’s stars the number of premierships is zero and right now they don’t at all look likely to buck that trend this season.
Coniglio is rated one of the best players in the AFL and is also regarded as a key figure in developing and maintaining a strong culture at the Giants, he’s also a player fans might want to see and in recent years GWS have lost enough of those — Adam Treloar, Tom Scully, Dylan Shiel, Lachie Plowman and Jack Steele all bailed on the club.
But despite that talent and the talent they have now, the jury is still very much out on the GWS experiment — they might have made finals for the last four seasons and will do so again this year but more often than not despite the talent they have and efforts to get fans involved often at their home games in a boutique stadium the stands look empty.
This year their average home crowd is a measly 12,480, and only recently has that gone above cellar-dwellers Gold Coast, who average 11,798 per match at Metricon in 2019. In fact crowd attendance for GWS home games has gone down the last two seasons after peaking in 2017 at an average of 13,196 in a stadium that seats just 24,000.
No wonder McLachlan is trying to get a major star to stay — but as CEO he should not, it’s an appalling conflict of interest.