Fitzpatrick on Open Mike, Caro, Clarkson

[Velour&Ruffles]

When it comes to the crunch, she will back Gil, Eddie etc and toe the AFL line and do their bidding.

I don't think so. While I don't agree with all that she says, I reckon she's taken more shots at Eddie, The Dill and the loathsome Fitzpatrick than any other journo I can think of.

[S.S. Bleeder]

Mike Fitzpatrick was on "Open Mike" this week which covered a wide range in the 30 mins available, which included only briefly Buddy & Goodsey (didn't record it, so going by my single viewing). When Sheahan brought up Buddy, Fitzpatrick reckoned he was happy Buddy went to the Swans even though he hoped he'd go to GWS to help kick start them like Plugger did with us (*cough *cough). Fitzpatrick played down his abusive phone call to Colless & queried whether Colless did record it. He proudly claimed he was the last defender of the Swans COLA, but had to remove it after we got Tippett & Buddy in successive years. Sheahan then said to Fitzpatrick "are you saying the Swans manipulated the Cola to get Tippett & Buddy?" (which he did very much came across like that). Fitzpatrick said no they didn't (probably to save himself from Swans legal action). Disappointed Sheahan did not raise & press him on the consequent trade ban.

Thanks KSAS. That is amazing. A golden opportunity to do a great interview gone missing. Happy Buddy went to the Swans? The last defender of COLA? What a filthy liar.

Whats this about the abusive phone call to Colless? Haven't heard about that. Can you elaborate?

[Blood Fever]

I don't think so. While I don't agree with all that she says, I reckon she's taken more shots at Eddie, The Dill and the loathsome Fitzpatrick than any other journo I can think of.

Part of the Melbourne footy mafia. What McLachlan did as CEO was a disgrace.She hasn't called it out.

[S.S. Bleeder]

Yes, to me it seems that there are a decreasing number of journalists, that are prepared to ask powerful people tough questions. Using AFL as an example, firstly, there's those who actually work on the AFL site. You're probably not going to get much criticism of AFL management there. Then there's Fox Footy. Essential parts of the Fox business model, are to flog subscriptions to people who want to watch AFL and to get advertising revenue from ads shown during the breaks in AFL coverage. So, once again, we're probably going to get things reported in a manner that is friendly to the AFL. Then there's other TV stations and the newspapers. They've all had shrinking advertising revenue for years and consequently, the number of journalists employed has been shrinking. The often job insecure ones that remain, are more likely to tow the corporate line and to give favourable coverage to major advertisers: like the AFL.
Which tends to leave a lot of frustrated media consumers thinking, "My god, why aren't they asking that bastard the obvious questions!"

Its extremely conflicting that the AFL has their own journalists. How do you expect them to act independently when their boss is so biased? They will never report anything that their bosses aren't happy with. It's like an ABC journalist not complying with their bosses leftist agenda. It airn gonna happen.

[S.S. Bleeder]

When it comes to the crunch, she will back Gil, Eddie etc and toe the AFL line and do their bidding.

Not so sure about that. Her history would show that a big headline is her goal regardless of who gets pee'd off. Her main weakness is a bias towards Richmond.

[Velour&Ruffles]

Part of the Melbourne footy mafia. What McLachlan did as CEO was a disgrace.She hasn't called it out.

OK, so who has called it out MORE than she has? Who should she be more like?

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Not so sure about that. Her history would show that a big headline is her goal regardless of who gets pee'd off. Her main weakness is a bias towards Richmond.

Yep. I'm not necessarily suggesting she's noble. As Paul Keating said, always back self-interest because at least you know it's trying .....

[Blood Fever]

OK, so who has called it out MORE than she has? Who should she be more like?

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Yep. I'm not necessarily suggesting she's noble. As Paul Keating said, always back self-interest because at least you know it's trying .....

There is no one to emulate. That is my point. Maybe best of a bad lot. She probably had to hectored by the Swans to write this. Didn't say boo about Clarkson and McLachlan off her own bat. To be fair to her, she has been known to criticise Clarkson, but goes very easy on Gil.

[Bloods05]

Whats this about the abusive phone call to Colless? Haven't heard about that. Can you elaborate?

Widely reported at the time. Never denied by Fitzpatrick. His performance on Open Mike was a masterclass in dissembling.

[CureTheSane]

I don't love or hate Caro.
Sometimes I agree with her, sometimes I don't.
But I've always put her in the basket of saying what she thinks and not holding back.

[Velour&Ruffles]

There is no one to emulate. That is my point. Maybe best of a bad lot. She probably had to hectored by the Swans to write this. Didn't say boo about Clarkson and McLachlan off her own bat. To be fair to her, she has been known to criticise Clarkson, but goes very easy on Gil.

OK, but it's also my point too. If she's the best of a bad lot, how about you direct your criticism to the WORST, or even mid-ranking, of the bad lot rather than the best of the bad lot? What purpose is served by bagging the "best" - the one journo who by your own assessment is MOST favourable to us, above all others? She's one of the few I can think of in recent years who as been prepared to say anything even vaguely pro-Swans. In fact, I feel she's becoming more outspoken as time goes by. Anyone in Eddie's pocket refuses (and there are plenty of them - I'm talking to you Foxtel F-wits). Caro at least has been critical of both the Toxic Dwarf and The Dill over the journey.

[CureTheSane]

The worst of all 'experts' are Frawley and Gaze. I just can't listen to a word from either of them.
At least when the Footy Show hit the highs of spewing crap it was funny.
I like Mooney, and to a lesser degree Dunstall, but they sink to big lows with the others on that show.

[KSAS]

Widely reported at the time. Never denied by Fitzpatrick. His performance on Open Mike was a masterclass in dissembling.

Correct. Swans had kept their plans to get Buddy a secret from the AFL, who thought it was fait accompli he was going to GWS as they (Fitzpatrick) had orchestrated. So when Buddy announced he was signing with the Swans, Fitzpatrick was so peed off he rang Colless and called him a F & C. Colless fired back saying that he knows Fitzpatrick broke the AFL's own rules by having third parties involved in paying Buddy's Salary with the deal they had set up with GWS. There was speculation Colless might've had this phone conversation recorded.

P.S Only KB, Colless, Longmire, McVeigh (Capt) and Liam Pickering (Buddy's Manager) knew Buddy was going to the Swans from almost 12 months out. This is why the secret was so well kept and took the AFL world by complete surprise.

[top40]

Caroline Wilson article in The Age today talking about Clarkson and Longmire burying the hatchet . Good description of Swans anger and disappointment over Clarkson's comments and McLachlan's meeting with him. She still doesn't criticise McLachlan directly. Frightened to lose her preferred AFL journo status.

Disagree about Wilson. I find her constant and pointed criticisms of the AFL on ?Footy Classified? aggressive, apparently constructive, and always rather courageous.

[barry]

Why didnt we use the threat of the recorded confession of third party deals to pressure Fitzpatrick when the trade ban came in. ?

Bad as he was, I think he really was the only pro expansion commissioner.

If it wasn't for the swans exception management, we'd have 4 basket case northern clubs.

[Sandridge]

Disagree about Wilson. I find her constant and pointed criticisms of the AFL on ?Footy Classified? aggressive, apparently constructive, and always rather courageous.

You're right. While I don't like the way she belittles people who have a different opinion to her, I think she's fearless and not beholden to anyone. She's was an aggressive critic of the AFL regarding its handling of Goodesy when it was happening and still voices her displeasure about it.