Butt out Eddie, says Carlton’s Kernahan

Carlton president Stephen Kernahan has a blunt message for his Collingwood counterpart – butt out, Ed.

Kernahan’s rebuke for Magpies counterpart Eddie McGuire came as former Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse also said on Sunday he would only take over as Carlton coach if he was convinced they were the right fit.

The Carlton boss brushed off McGuire’s comments last week about the controversial third-party deal that helped the Blues recruit captain Chris Judd from West Coast.

Kernahan also said McGuire should be more worried about re-signing key forward Travis Cloke.

There has been speculation since the Blues sacked coach Brett Ratten last week that they might recruit Cloke.

Adding to that intrigue, Malthouse also said on Sunday that Carlton appeared to need a key forward or a key back.

It is expected that Malthouse, Cloke’s old coach at Collingwood, will soon take over at Carlton.

Judd has a long-term agreement with Vis, the cardboard company founded by former Carlton president Dick Pratt.

With limited free agency about to start, McGuire said he wanted answers from the AFL about how that deal worked.

Kernahan was predictably unimpressed by that when he spoke before Sunday’s season-ending AFL loss to St Kilda.

It was an unwanted issue for Kernahan in the week that he oversaw the sacking of Ratten, his long-time friend.

“While my only thoughts this week have been for our football club and for Ratts, I have had fleeting moments of hearing the rantings of the president from the black and white mob,” Kernahan said.

“We have nothing to hide as a football club and we’re always underneath that (salary cap).

“I’m sure the AFL boss Andrew Demetriou was more than a little surprised that one of the more experienced (club) presidents … (accused) the AFL of showing preferential treatment to another club.

“So Ed, we’ll get on with our business, you get on with yours and sign up your player if you want to keep him.”

Collingwood’s negotiations with Cloke have stalled and the two parties will resume talks once the season ends.

Kernahan said AFL investigations manager Ken Wood, renowned for his enforcement of the player payment rules, had ensured the Judd deal was in order.

“Carlton have their TPP (total player payments) checked off every year by the AFL,” Kernahan said.

“The AFL bloke in charge of that … is Ken Wood – I’m not kidding you, he could be a Nazi because he’s hard at it.

“He keeps that TPP absolutely, rigorously defended.”

Speaking on 3AW, Malthouse said his manager Peter Sidwell might have spoken with Carlton already, but he had not.

“I will meet Carlton. That’s a fact. (But) I have not spoken to them,” Malthouse said.

“It would be neglectful to presume this is just going to take place.

“I would need to through a number of issues to convince myself they’re (Carlton) the right fit.”