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As Brodie Grundy’s pending move to Sydney draws closer, there remains one small but significant hurdle that all parties need to jump.
Money.
Three sources close to Grundy, who were not able to talk publicly because of the sensitivity of negotiations, confirmed that he wants to join the Swans and a deal between the Demons and the Swans is expected to be reached where Melbourne will no longer pay part of Grundy’s contract.
About $650,000 is expected to be taken on by his new club, who will honour the remaining four seasons on his contract.
Brodie Grundy at Melbourne training earlier this month.Credit: Getty Images
But then there’s Collingwood.
Less than 12 months ago, Melbourne coughed up pick No.27 for Grundy on the proviso that the Magpies would pay a significant portion – approximately $350,000 a season for the rest
of the contract (which ends at the end of 2027).
Yes, it was a pretty good deal for Melbourne, who only had to give up a second-round pick for a dual All-Australian and two-time club best and fairest. But Collingwood needed the cap space, so the Demons were always going to have the majority of the leverage.
This column can reveal that, when the deal goes through, Collingwood will seek clarity from the AFL as to whether the club can remove itself from the deal, and therefore clear the $350,000-a-year space in their future total player payments.
Collingwood CEO Craig Kelly.Credit: AAP
A senior club source, who wouldn’t speak publicly due to the confidentiality of player contracts, confirmed the Magpies had discussed internally the status of Grundy’s seven-year Collingwood contract if he were to move clubs again.
Collingwood’s position will be that it had a deal with Grundy and Melbourne, but not with Grundy and Sydney. It’s a position that might be difficult to get past the bosses at AFL HQ, given that Andrew Dillon and Laura Kane are both lawyers.
Having said that, if there were two men in football you’d want fighting for your life from a club perspective, it’s Jeff Browne and Craig Kelly.
President Browne, the former boss of Nine (the owner of this masthead), wrote a significant portion of the AFL rules that govern the game and CEO Kelly was, alongside the likes of Paul Connors and Tom Petroro, one of the highest-profile and powerful player agents the game has seen.
Whatever happens, Sydney certainly won’t want to be left with a million-dollar price tag for their new player.
We expect things to remain civil and work out … eventually.
One final selfie
As the curtain falls on Gillon McLachlan’s time at the AFL, the outgoing AFL chief executive has attended a number of farewell functions.
But it was a personal moment between Gillon and his Channel Seven host brother Hamish at the Gabba on Saturday that caught the eye of this column.
One runs the game and the other plays a key role in football coverage for the host broadcaster, but both have tried their best over the years to keep their jobs as separate as possible.
“He was best man at my wedding and I was best man at his. We’re extremely close,” Hamish told The Scoop.
Hamish was MC for the welcome to country and national anthem in front of a packed house in Brisbane as Gillon watched from the boundary line, flanked by his successor and close
friend Andrew Dillon, as well as the league’s new football boss Laura Kane.
As the anthem finished, the crowd erupted and the players sprinted off to take their starting positions, Gill and Hamish stopped on the wing to share a short but meaningful family moment … a selfie.
“He said to me, we will never have a moment like this again,” Hamish said with a smile as he rushed back to Seven’s commentary box.
After an intense investigation, The Scoop tracked down the photo.
Gillon McLachlan and little brother Hamish.
First-class customer service
Qantas have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons of late, particularly when it comes to customer service.
But things could not have run more smoothly on the 9.20am flight from Melbourne to Brisbane on Saturday, with the vast majority of passengers travelling north to watch Carlton take on the Brisbane Lions in the club’s first preliminary final in 23 years.
Staff were smiling, meals were delivered promptly, and the flight departed on time, nearly to the second.
We’re sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Qantas and AFL chairman Richard Goyder, and his wife, were sitting in 1A and 1B.
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