Collingwood president Eddie McGuire isn’t letting former football operations boss Rodney Eade leave the club to become the new Gold Coast coach without a fight.
McGuire is demanding substantial financial compensation for poaching Eade and is threatening to sabotage his coaching comeback unless the Suns make a contribution to offset Collingwood’s potential salary cap strike in finding a replacement. The hardball stance comes after the league recently introduced heavy restrictions on football department spending.
“There will be no deal unless we are compensated. There is now a salary cap on administrations and I won’t be paying overs for a replacement,” McGuire said Wednesday.
“My man has a three-year contract and he has been totally professional, and just as Peter Gordon’s club had to dip into its pocket to get Ryan Griffen to GWS, so too someone will have to dip into their pocket to get our director of coaching.
St Kilda was besieged by a similar claim from Port Adelaide last offseason when the club hired the Power’s coaching director Alan Richardson as senior coach. Port initially sought $150,000 to approve the deal, but settled for a $20,000 payout instead.
“Rodney’s a wonderful person and we won’t stand in his way,” McGuire added. “We wish him well and we understand he did not put his hand up for the job. Gold Coast came to him. But he remains in contract and everything’s negotiable.”
“My birthday present (on Wednesday) on the 16th anniversary of being president of Collingwood is a nice compensation cheque from Gold Coast – or the AFL, or anyone else who wants to sign one.
“Send it down to the Westpac Centre and I will send Rodney Eade back with a nice bow around him.”
News Limited reports that the Suns brass is considering paying recruitment costs and relocation expenses for an interstate hiring, but would not be willing to pay for the replacement’s salary in a compensation deal.
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