A fierce feud between two heavyweight AFL figures has reignited, with ex-Swans chairman Richard Colless hitting back at former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire’s “offensive” claims over Sydney’s past use of the contentious Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA).
Senior Swans figures were last week left infuriated by McGuire, according to the Herald Sun, after the former Magpies president said money from COLA – a now-scrapped allowance that assisted Sydney-based AFL players cope with cost of living pressures – had “ended up being how many cleaners or housemaids that ‘Buddy’ Franklin had”.
McGuire’s comments came amid a live TV discussion around the new Tasmanian team and Sydney coach John Longmire’s hopes the introduction of the club later this decade wouldn’t result in the AFL cutting corners in its commitment to New South Wales.
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“We’re all focused on Tasmania, which is terrific. But if you’ve got one third of the population sitting here in NSW and only one per cent playing AFL football, I think we need to do a bit of work in that space,” Longmire told reporters.
Giants football director Jimmy Bartel said on Channel 9’s Footy Classified that key parties in the AFL industry should have a “mature conversation” around Sydney’s cost of living pressures and whether the allowance for players in the two NSW-based clubs should return.
That prompted fellow panellist McGuire to share his strong COLA views and reference superstar forward Lance Franklin’s famous movie from Hawthorn to the Swans via free agency, which saw him sign a nine-year, $10 million deal after the 2013 season.
“Yeah it’s really hurt everyone. How many Grand Finals have you (the Giants) played in and how many have the Swans played in since COLA went?” McGuire asked Bartel on Footy Classified.
“Yeah there are (cost of living challenges in Sydney) and I was happy for it and supported it (initially). I turned and I’ll tell you why: Because it ended up being how many cleaners or housemaids that Buddy Franklin had.
“I’m happy for the young players who haven’t got the money to pay … but you’re not getting anything extra for someone over $1 million.
“Don’t rort it and you’ll be right.”
Speaking to the Herald Sun this week, Colless, who stood up to McGuire over his Adam Goodes “King Kong” gaffe in 2013, labelled the claims about Franklin and COLA rorting “garbage”.
Colless said the ex-Pies president didn’t fully understand the “economic realities” of Sydney’s property market in Sydney and how COLA money was distributed on a pro-rata basis to every Swans player.
“I find that absolutely offensive and it has got a strangely familiar ring to the ‘Goodesy’ comments,” Colless told the Herald Sun.
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“The stupidity of it. I would ask him the question, do you even know how it (COLA) works?
“It is a pro rata thing. If ‘Buddy’ is on X and someone else is on Y, they all got it (COLA).
“It is the same percentage uplift (for every player). There was no Buddy-type slush-fund.”
Colless suggested the extra allowance, should it return, should be dubbed “accommodation weighting” as McGuire had “demonised” the COLA term.
The former Swans boss claimed McGuire had been hypocritical, considering the Magpies had drafted Next Generation Academy graduates (Isaac Quaynor and Reef McInnes), as well as father-son recruits (Nick Daicos, Josh Daicos and Darcy Moore) at a discounted rate.
“A lot of people are absolutely sick of Eddie’s self-serving approach, and I’m sick of defending him up here,” he said.
“He’s got form, talking about our indigenous players. He’s got form using the term rort.
“But he’s also got form because he is a bully. He says he won’t accept rubbish. I have had a gutful. I won’t accept his rubbish.”
McGuire last week claimed the abolishment of COLA had helped Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs ultimately helped both clubs play in Grand Finals and win flags.
“Equalisation came in and the clubs who, you (Bartel) say had ‘vocal presidents,’ were the ones who signed off on the idea to keep everyone going.
“I’m not going to cop this rubbish anymore, I’m not the president anymore. I’ll tell you straight what happened there: ‘You overbaked the cake and in the end you burnt it.’”
Five-time All-Australian Garry Lyon predicted the war of words would now only accelerate.
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“They’ve got history these two, going back a fair way,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.
“That’s going to ignite all sorts of things, all sorts of emotions because he’s brought up the Adam Goodes situation as well.
“I think Eddie’s point being the money was distributed in a way that wasn’t intended for – that’s the point he was trying to make. I don’t think there was an Indigenous connotation, but that’s how Richard has interpreted it – and it’s going to set off another firestorm.”
