‘Got a smell like Fitzroy’: Eddie’s radical AFL plan

It comes with North Melbourne sitting at its lowest ebb in years, with the team on the bottom of the AFL ladder with a 1-14 record and a paltry percentage of 49.5. The grim scenario prompted the club’s board to engage the services of veteran footy administrator Geoff Walsh’s to conduct a review of the football department

McGuire last month on Channel 9’s Footy Classified detailed a bold proposal that would see a Melbourne-based team – he used North as the example – play 11 games in Melbourne and 11 games in Tasmania.

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AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan last month insisted the league was only considering issuing a new license — not relocating one of the 18 current clubs – while the Tasmanian government has been long committed to a stand-alone franchise.

But McGuire said he was perplexed why his idea wasn’t being taken more seriously by the footy community, adding he’d had support from key AFL and club figures.

Asked who from the AFL industry had responded favourably to his proposal, McGuire told Channel 9’s Footy Classified on Monday night: “I spoke last year to St Kilda, Hawthorn and North Melbourne about this idea about the best way to get the best result for Tasmania and for a Victorian-based club.

“We don’t want to lose 11 games out of Victoria. We’ve got to pay for Marvel Stadium, we’ve got to play games at the MCG – there’s a lot of knock-on effects other than just playing football in these decisions. We don’t come into these things and make them up when we walk into the studio.

“This is a big decision for AFL football and there’s a really elegant way for this to happen for both teams, so long as people don’t think – and North Melbourne fans do at the moment – that this will be the start and it’ll be all over in 10 years time and it’ll be like another Fitzroy with the merger with the Brisbane Bears. They’ve got to look at it like South Melbourne and Sydney.

“Eleven in Melbourne, 11 down there – no one has told me that doesn’t work and stack up. And a lot of North Melbourne people and AFL people are saying ‘yes, that’s the best result’.”

Asked if it was his belief North would be “out of the game altogether” if they didn’t seriously consider a Tassie deal, McGuire said: “I think every week that goes by, they’re losing their bargaining power, North. It’s just got a smell of Fitzroy about it.

“No one wants 19 teams. They might have to have 19 teams or they might announce a Tasmanian licence, but I don’t think anyone wants 19 – and you know who the first bottle to fall will be.

“It’s not insurmountable, this. You could turn this club around pretty quickly with the right people in place making the calls and the right benefits for the players coming through.

“North fans, don’t lose despair. There’s a little bit of light ahead, but there’s some big decisions that have to be made, smart decisions – and not just emotional decisions.”

Meanwhile, The Age reported earlier this week the Kangaroos were in the market to recruit an experienced, highly-respected veteran in the back-end of their career – similar to what the Lions pulled off when they lured four-time premiership Hawks Luke Hodge (2017) and Grant Birchall (2019) to the club.

Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd said North’s current scenario would make it tough to attract big names, but said landing a star veteran like Travis Boak would be ideal.

“You need to get every spoke in the wheel right and if they want to land a senior, mature. experienced player but if they haven’t got the spokes in the wheel, who’s going to go there?” Lloyd asked on Footy Classified.

“The professionalism of a Travis Boak, the professionalism of a Rory Sloane – these guys are the ones. You can mention Pendlebury, Selwood and Cotchin, but I can’t see them leaving.”

Ex-Dockers and Saints coach Ross Lyon said he liked the Boak idea, adding: “If they (the Kangaroos) get pick assistance with a first-round pick but you have to trade it out, does it go to Port and incentivise them with picks and you get Boak?”

For now, all of embattled coach David Noble’s focus is on his side’s next match, which is against in-form top-eight side Collingwood this weekend.

Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Wednesday night, Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson said it would be “a miracle” if Noble survives, but added: “It’s not all his fault because it’s a total club situation.

“You look at that football club and that football club is on fire – in every area.

“David Noble was really stoic and calm (in his Wednesday presser), but they can’t afford not to be.

“You’ve got the chairman, Sonja Hood who’s a well-respected person, comes out and calls the coteries group agitator ‘gutless’, which is really emotive.

“She was asked if she fully supported Ben Amarfio and she said ‘yes 100 per cent’ … There’s going to be change at the end of this review, so where is that change going to be if Amarfio’s not going and Hood’s not going? There’s only one major change left – and David Noble would’ve read those comments or told about those comments.”

Dual premiership Kangaroo David King advised the club to show restraint when commenting publicly.

“I get sick of the conversation around it to be honest,” King told AFL 360.

“(Former Roos coach) Denis Pagan used to say ‘don’t complain, don’t explain’. People make their own opinions on what they see and what they want to write or what they want to give in the media – you’re not going to stop them. So the less questions you answer, the less oxygen you give these situations.

“What I will say is that Sonja Hood is entitled to say she’s 100 per cent supporting everyone, because when they’re your people, you support them until they’re not your people. If you asked her if she was supporting the coach, she’d say ‘100 per cent I’m supporting the coach’ – because they’re North Melbourne people until they’re not. Until that point, you treat everyone the same and you move on.

“I understand what she means when she says that (supporting Amarfio) – and that’s been the North Melbourne way for 100 years. If someone’s in the business of not doing that, they’ll find themselves out pretty quick.”

Originally published as ‘Got a smell like Fitzroy’: Eddie’s radical AFL plan