Fremantle have taken a thinly-veiled swipe at former West Coast great turned AFL talking head Peter Sumich regarding an ‘erroneous’ article questioning the future of club CEO Simon Garlick.
Sumich wrote on Thursday that Garlick, who has been at the Dockers since 2019, was set to be headhunted to the AFL’s vacant general manager of football position, which was vacated by Brad Scott when he was appointed Essendon coach late last year.
However, the Dockers swiftly moved to quash the report – and slam the controversial Sumich in the process.
“As a Club we don’t make a habit of responding to erroneous media articles, however on this occasion I feel it is important to our people to provide absolute clarity,” Dockers president Dale Alcock said in a statement.
“Simon has been transparent with me, the board and the executive in recent months about discussions he had with the AFL about the CEO role, which are no longer continuing.
“Given the high level of interest surrounding other potential appointments at AFL House, the Club has fielded a number of queries from credible journalists wanting to cross check facts prior to running a story, and as a result, have come to the conclusion there is no story surrounding Simon Garlick leaving the Club.
“Unfortunately, this particular commentator has chosen not to follow such journalistic methods.
“Simon is highly regarded within the AFL industry. Our Board see first-hand the impact he and his management team continue to have on our Club.
“We understand as part of our Club’s ongoing improvement and build toward sustained success, our people may be targeted for other roles and opportunities. However inaccurate reports can potentially cause uncertainty and need to be called out.
“Simon has worked hard to embed himself in the Freo community and, alongside his management team, has established strong foundations and set ambitious strategic goals for our Club’s future. That is his absolute focus, and it will continue Friday night as we work to get the win over the SUNS at Norwood Oval for the AFL’s Gather Round.”
Garlick spoke to 3AW radio regarding the rumours on Wednesday, where he reiterated his commitment to the Dockers.
““I understand there might be links made due to my history as a former Victorian but I am a happy sandgroper as it stands, and we have a lot of work to do and a lot of opportunity in front of us,” Garlick said.
Sumich served as an assistant coach at the Dockers from 2011 to 2016, after a decade as an assistant at the Eagles.
In his playing days, he kicked a then-club record 514 goals during his 150-game senior career, a mark since broken by Josh Kennedy, while playing in the Eagles’ 1992 and 1994 premierships.
(Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Western Bulldogs great Tony Liberatore has reportedly been charged with assaulting an official during a confrontation at a pre-poll booth in the days before last year’s Victorian state election.
The Age reports Liberatore, whose son Tom plays his 200th AFL match for the Bulldogs this weekend, will appear in the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court in June over the charge, which he will be contesting.
The incident allegedly occurred after Liberatore pushed a female member of staff against a wall at an Essendon voting centre, after being denied access to the polling booth due to it closing for the day.
The 57-year old played 283 games for the Bulldogs during a decorated career, also winning the 1990 Brownlow Medal.
Michael Voss and Carlton had no idea that was coming.
The Blues were terrible in the first term on Thursday night and that eventually condemned them to their first loss of the AFL season.
Adelaide kicked eight goals to two in the opening quarter and while Carlton did their best to rally, the Crows kicked clear late to win by 56 points in the 18.10 (118) to 9.8 (62) victory.
Certainly, Carlton’s pre-game was not ideal, with Mitch McGovern ruled out during the warm-up because of calf tightness.
But the start, especially on such a big occasion, was every coach’s nightmare.
Voss said the Blues were relishing the chance to continue their impressive start to the season.
It was a big occasion – the opening match of Gather Round, against one of the host Adelaide teams – and Carlton flopped.
“I thought our preparation was really good. We’ll forensically look at that, just to make sure that it was,” Voss said.
“We were really excited coming here and we were really excited by the opportunity. We understood the challenge.
“The Carlton Football Club is not talking down the Adelaide Crows, let me tell you.
“So we knew what was coming and we just weren’t able to get the game the way we wanted it early.”
Asked whether it was Adelaide’s great play or Carlton’s poor execution, Voss said it had to be a combination.
“There was a response… and I’m pleased they stuck that out,” he said.
“But when the whips are cracking, you have to be there at the start and we just weren’t.
“It has to be a bit of both. We tip our hat to the opposition, they were too good.
“We didn’t do the right thing. We didn’t come at the start and at an away venue, at a really important occasion, we were on the back foot.”
Voss said Carlton deserved whatever criticism is levelled at them, with the focus now on preparing for another big test against St Kilda on April 23.
“Accept what comes our way. We can only go about in the coming week and the next opponent we face,” he said.
One bright spot was the impressive return of midfielder Sam Walsh, who played his first game of the season after being sidelined with a back injury.
But along with McGovern, ruckman Marc Pittonet suffered a lacerated eye and defender Adam Saad has hamstring tightness.
“We’ve started the year in good shape. This was not what we wanted and we’re pretty disappointed,” Voss said.
© AAP
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