Pies’ mobile mishap costly
COLLINGWOOD has been whacked with its second major fine in less than 12 months, with the Magpies ordered to pay $20,000 for Jordan De Goey and Jeremy Howe’s mobile phone gaff on Friday night.
But unlike last year’s $50,000 (half suspended) fine for coach Nathan Buckley’s breach of the AFL’s COVID-19 protocols — he and assistant Brenton Sanderson played tennis with Alicia Molik — this penalty will not be counted in the club’s football department spending soft cap.
The league confirmed that COVID fines were specifically called out of the soft cap, whereas this breach was unrelated to those protocols.
While the sanction still stings, having the $20,000 counted in the soft cap could have, for example, forced a full-time staffer to drop down to working four days per week.
Collingwood’s mobile phone box was inexplicably unlocked during the Round 5 loss to West Coast and De Goey (concussion) was captured on broadcast cameras retrieving two phones before passing one to Howe (hamstring), who was also injured in the rooms.
It was a blatant breach of “AFL Rule 30”, regarding the use and possession of communications devices in restricted areas. Buckley attributed De Goey’s brain fade to the concussion he had sustained.
But it was Collingwood’s responsibility to ensure the phones were locked away and the AFL said there was no excuse for the mishap.
“The rules, which have been in place for a long time to protect the integrity of our code, clearly state no mobile phone usage during the match,” AFL general counsel Andrew Dillon said.
Collingwood football boss Graham Wright was among the club’s 10 authorised device users and his phone should’ve been used to contact Howe and De Goey’s families.
The Pies put their hands up on Saturday to recognise they made an innocent mistake.
Pies operations manager Nick Maxwell is usually tasked with securing the box of mobile phones, which must remain locked until after the final siren.
But Western Australia’s border restrictions meant that Maxwell did not travel to Perth for the Round 5 game because he had been in Queensland the previous week for the club’s AFLW preliminary final at the Gabba.