Fogdog on the money about on Carlisle being in the news for the wrong reasons this week.
I’d love to know Carlisle’s “expense” bill on his o/s trip.
Channel Seven was offered video footage purporting to show Jake Carlisle in a room with illicit drugs in Las Vegas nine days before Channel Nine broadcast damning footage that prompted the St Kilda recruit to issue a public apology.
The footage that Seven was offered was of poor quality and did not show Carlisle actually taking drugs. The grainy images showed Carlisle and drugs in a room but there was no “money shot” of him taking the drugs.
The footage was offered by two tradesmen who turned up at the station’s offices on October 12 asking for $20,000 for the video. It appeared the video may have been filmed from the phone of a third person.
A Seven source said he was unsure whether it was the same video later screened by Channel Nine’s A Current Affair but said that it was definitely of a poorer quality.
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The network rejected the offer because of the poor quality of the images, the price and because it did not actually show the player taking drugs.
Seven contacted Carlisle’s manager, Anthony McConville, and asked him about the video and whether his client had taken drugs.
It is understood McConville contacted Carlisle in America and questioned him about the footage. At the time Carlisle denied he had been taking illicit drugs.
Neither Essendon nor St Kilda were approached about the footage offered to Seven.
Channel Nine’s A Current Affair eventually broadcast footage of Carlisle on October 21 – hours after he was traded to St Kilda from the Bombers.
The following morning Carlisle released a statement apologising for his behaviour, in what was interpreted as an admission of drug use.
It is understood Carlisle’s denial to his manager that he had taken drugs on the Seven video meant that when McConville was asked the same question by Nine about drug-taking, he thought the network had the same footage, and repeated Carlisle’s denial. McConville also went back to Carlisle again before the show went to air and was again given a denial. It was only after the footage was shown that Carlisle admitted his misbehaviour.
St Kilda was furious with Carlisle’s behaviour and with not having been informed by McConville about the pending news.
The Saints remain in negotiations with Carlisle and McConville to seek to revise the player’s contract, which is for four years with a trigger for a fifth year.
He was also due to sign a separate marketing contract under the AFL Additional Services Agreements, which fall outside the salary cap, but this contract is being changed and Carlisle will lose a significant amount of money.
The AFL Players Association defended McConville’s decision not to inform St KIlda of the fact a news story was about to break alleging Carlisle had been filmed taking drugs.
McConville had sought advice from the AFLPA about his responsibilities in the matter before the story went to air and the PA advised him his duty was to best represent his client and that he was not compelled to inform the Saints.
A Current Affair National executive producer Grant Williams clarified that the program had only received a copy of the footage for the first time late on Monday October 19 and they contacted McConville and Essendon on the Tuesday for a comment and decided to publish the following evening.
He said they had not deliberately held the story until a trade was completed.
“On the Wednesday news broke of his trade to St Kilda and we quietly pulled someone from the Saints media team aside to inform them of the video. We then asked St Kilda to come to view the material privately before we put it to air. They declined,” Williams said.
Don’t be surprised if I ask you to be a referee for my next job interview.