Caro does NOT blame the Saints

[philtee]

Fairly even-handed opinion piece from the Grand Dame...


That St Kilda is no longer branded the AFL club of scandal is far more than just the work of an image makeover. It has been the result of two seasons of internal rebuilding and restructuring under the new regime fronted by CEO Matt Finnis and coach Alan Richardson.

Two years since the burning dwarf, more than five since the schoolgirl saga began; it is six years since Andrew Lovett came to St Kilda and was promptly suspended and later sacked after an incident that led to a rape charge, of which he was later acquitted.

Jake Carlisle and his irresponsibly stupid and selfish decision to allow himself to be filmed doing illicit drugs is coming to a club unrecognisable from the old St Kilda. This time around the Saints resemble another country.

But one act by a player with a history of behavioural issues in terms of team has undone some of that good work. CEO Finnis has dealt with his board, all of his sponsors, staff and members while his coach and football boss held a phone hook-up with a reportedly furious and currently far-flung playing leadership group. It is telling that on this occasion not one sponsor has blinked.

But it remains unclear how the parents of the Saints' younger players have responded. No parent of a teenaged or slightly older player would feel comfortable with a senior footballer who has been filmed doing illicit drugs coming into the club. It is not that long ago that the Saints leadership group boasted at least one player with an illicit drug issue.

Carlisle will be target tested by the competition, forced to undergo a program guided by the club and explain himself to his new team-mates. He has already held talks in the US with his new coach with his mood assessed as a combination of remorse, embarrassment and shame. Reportedly he is not blaming others or social media and his heavily negotiated statement reflected that.

Because the AFL's new illicit drugs policy has been settled but not rolled out Carlisle's action will count as a strike under the old three-detection system. Much will be made of the fact that he, like former Gold Coast Sun Harley Bennell, is not automatically disciplined under either system although the new rules would have seen him one detection away from a six-week suspension and fine. That's assuming this current strike is his first.

But while St Kilda will be determined to get the best out of the talented player for which it sacrificed draft picks 5 and 22 in return for Carlisle and pick 14, it should also renegotiate the player's contract. Carlisle knew of the video's existence when he signed with the club and yet agreed to a separate and generous marketing deal under the AFL's additional services allowance that falls outside the salary cap.

The Saints could rightly argue that they will struggle to realise Carlisle's promotional value now and both player and manager Anthony McConville should accept that. Fairfax Media understands the club, one of the poorer in the competition, will examine its legal options as it should.

During one of their international conversations that took place overnight, Finnis and Richardson, who is in Cleveland as part of a professional improvement trip, agreed that the club would back itself to discipline and rehabilitate the problematic Carlisle. Football boss Jamie Cox was involved and even part-time assistant and former club captain Danny Frawley jumped on board to support Richardson.

Jake Carlisle demonstrated at Essendon that he was not always a team player. Given what he endured at the Bombers his decision to on more
than one occasion badmouth the club in public could have been mitigated. But not in this instance.

Carlisle's manager McConville should also have spoken up earlier. Contacted by Channel Nine early on Tuesday he had an obligation to pass on that information to the Saints but only spoke to the various competition authorities on Wednesday when he knew the video was to be aired on 'A Current Affair'.

And what this story says about those acquaintances who hawked for financial reward the Carlisle vision to various media networks should not need to be said. Except to reflect upon what mean-spirited immoral individuals this society can produce.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/s ... z3pGOuJNS6
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[mullet]

we are not to blame I don't need caro to tell me that. He was not a stkilda player when this was taken. Unless we loaded him up with coke and said have a good time how the hell are we to blame.

How are the hawthorn players going who have rape allegations against them going

[sainterjo]

[ripplug66]

Who,? They're still anonymous I believe.

Do you feel like a good bloke for putting those names out? I deleted them as the mods better.

[satchmo]

[SemperFidelis]

To be honest, this is a better outcome on the Caro front than history might have suggested.

I can live with it.

[Playon]

Who,? They're still anonymous I believe.

Do you feel like a good bloke for putting those names out? I deleted them as the mods better.

So its fine to name a suspected drug taker and not a suspected rapist?
If you google it you can find those names in 2 seconds

[ripplug66]

Who,? They're still anonymous I believe.

Do you feel like a good bloke for putting those names out? I deleted them as the mods better.

So its fine to name a suspected drug taker and not a suspected rapist?
If you google it you can find those names in 2 seconds

Probably just a little different and one has admitted it now.

[amusingname]

When you consider that part of why alleged perpetrators are not named is to protect the victims identity as well, I think there is a fairly good reason not to be naming names.

You can't compare the two scenarios.

[Playon]

Who,? They're still anonymous I believe.

Do you feel like a good bloke for putting those names out? I deleted them as the mods better.

So its fine to name a suspected drug taker and not a suspected rapist?
If you google it you can find those names in 2 seconds

Probably just a little different and one has admitted it now.

Not really I just dont like the way we protect sex offenders in this country, virtually no penalty and they remain anonymous

[Wrote for Luck]

surely the deal is massively compromised now that it seems to be the case the agent knew and therefore Carlisle would have known.
it's not dealing in good faith and it's not bringing everything to the table, actually it is actively covering up. surely as part of due diligence Saints would have asked Carlisle questions on the topic of illicit drugs and is there anything Saints need to be made aware of. you know like in Chopper - is there anythin' you're not tellin' me Jimmy?
it may make Carlisle grow up a little. it may be good for the playing group to lay into him right at the get go (especially Reiwoldt and Armo), and it may be good, as a gesture of good will to mitigate against fraudulent dealings with the club, to offer to reduce his salary by $100k per year.

you've got to hit people in the wallet.

[avid]

Good article by Caro I think.
Good thoughts by millarsaint above too.

[saintbrat]

surely the deal is massively compromised now that it seems to be the case the agent knew and therefore Carlisle would have known.
it's not dealing in good faith and it's not bringing everything to the table, actually it is actively covering up. surely as part of due diligence Saints would have asked Carlisle questions on the topic of illicit drugs and is there anything Saints need to be made aware of. you know like in Chopper - is there anythin' you're not tellin' me Jimmy?
it may make Carlisle grow up a little. it may be good for the playing group to lay into him right at the get go (especially Reiwoldt and Armo), and it may be good, as a gesture of good will to mitigate against fraudulent dealings with the club, to offer to reduce his salary by $100k per year.

you've got to hit people in the wallet.

suggest either donation to the club-to cover any possible sponsor backlash
or to MRV and Time at Sacred heart -

[Enrico_Misso]

$100k won't cover the sponsorship dollars lost.

Carro should have laid into us for the total lack of due diligence that has seen us become the laughing stock of the comp.

[saintbrat]

http://www.3aw.com.au/news/st-kilda-see ... kg8kn.html

[St Lenny]

$100k won't cover the sponsorship dollars lost.

Carro should have laid into us for the total lack of due diligence that has seen us become the laughing stock of the comp.

Or the 40,000 members we hoped for

[CURLY]

Like how she chucked in the player in the leadership group with a illicit drug problem.

Saints should back Carlisle in we need him to play his best footy. Do people think those in the know at clubs don't know about all the players issues.

[felix]

How does due diligence come into it .. . How do you make someone confess that they take drugs , is there a history of Jake taking drugs ,? Does he associate with drug takers ? Have you ever bought drugs Jake ?... As if he is going to say yes and end his career there ..I'd say there is no way due diligence can be done in this matter when there is no prior convictions to look at.

[SaintPav]

Could have asked around to see if he was a c**k head.

[Enrico_Misso]

How does due diligence come into it .. . How do you make someone confess that they take drugs , is there a history of Jake taking drugs ,? Does he associate with drug takers ? Have you ever bought drugs Jake ?... As if he is going to say yes and end his career there ..I'd say there is no way due diligence can be done in this matter when there is no prior convictions to look at.

A few questions to his manager who already knew about the video might have raised alarm bells.

[Enrico_Misso]

Carro just had to mention the "StKilda schoolgirl".
Does this woman ever let go?
Has she any integrity?

[elizabethr]

Who cares what this hideous apparition thinks or writes?

[Toy Saint]

St Kilda needs to accept the responsibility for due dillagence that failed.

Essendon should be blamed for fostering an unacceptable drug culture.

Player manager McConville and probably the EFC should be torn to pieces for failing to disclose critical information. The AFL must take action against this rotton club.

And yes, I agree with the previous poster

[To the top]

The real problem with the media and their reporting is the labeling, such as Cousins always being referred to as a drug addict (a disease), our 2 top ranked tennis players being labeled as they are etc. etc. etc.

The same goes for St Kilda as "the AFL Club of scandal"

So, during the tenure of Lyon as Coach, and making 2 Grand Finals plus finals participation, St Kilda was the Club of scandal?

What do the players think of that? Players, of the ages they are, committing to the savage regime that is AFL football and the focus put on them.

I would put that, as with society et al, some associated with St Kilda have acted in a manner less than satisfactory - BUT was the dwarf incident a "scandal" and Lovett was found not guilty.

Charges were not bought against Milne.

The "school girl" saga was of a troubled teenager pushed along by media attention (as with Fevola, given a microphone by Channel 9 as he was - why exactly knowing he was in the state he was?) - and there were no charges bought.

So why aren't other Clubs so branded?

Hawthorn currently have 2 players being investigated as a result of allegations. Are they branded "the team of rapists" by the media? Or even the "team of scandal"?

Collingwood had Didak driving around as he was. Plus they have had players suspended for drug incidents. A "team of scandal"?

The list goes on and on.

In regards Carlisle, yes very, very stupid to put events on social media or be compromised in regards events being put on social media - and St Kilda are tarnished by the media including the regurgitation which includes "Lovett was acquitted" (and the media, including Wilson, forced that resolution on St Kilda in regards a man who was acquitted.

But what about all the Clubs who have players on 1 or 2 "strikes"?

To be fair to St Kilda and Carlisle, all players on 1 or 2 "strikes" should be named so we can "brand" the Clubs they play with.

Not defending Carlisle, who now has the job ahead of him, but where is equity in this labeling?

The media need to have a good hard look at themselves because they do this Nation no service whatsoever.

And that is BEFORE we get to Murdoch, where you know the content before you ever open a page!

[ripplug66]

I must be missing something about this incident. I thought the media on a whole have been very fair to our club.