Itâs another club, and nice to hear of its own politics and dysfunction, but there are similar parallels and some lessons here that we would be wise to heed.
From the Herald Sun today
When Stephen Silvagni chose to sit in a car outside the MCG rather than take part in his son Jackâs 100th game presentation, the football world was in shock.
This was supposed to be Jackâs moment, heâd had to fight and scratch to get out of the large shadow of his father and reached the milestone in the season opener against Richmond.
Parents watching at home were outraged, commentators were confused with the fact that âSOSâ now worked for St Kilda was trotted out as an excuse for his absence in the Carlton rooms.
Some clarity on the situation came via a tweet from Jackâs brother, Ben: âCan confirm he was really tired and wanted to go home.â
Then, as the controversy continued to bubble on social media, Ben responded to another tweet with a statement which properly summed up the situation: âI wouldnât have thought he owes the club anything either.â
How Carlton and[ one of its favourite sons], a player who was named in the top five greatest at the club of all-time, are no longer on speaking terms is a sad and complex tale.
Silvagni isnât close to his former teammates â apart from Craig Bradley â after a playing career which spanned 312 games from 1985 to 2001, including premierships in 1987 and 1995.
âThe hardest thing in the world would be to reunite the â95 premiership team members,â one former Blue said. âA lot of that is because of SOS.â
The Silvagni family with Jack after his 100th game â father Stephen was nowhere to be seen.
Carltonâs messy salary cap drama from the back end of the 1990s to early 2000s still lingers for many.
The Blues ended up being fined almost $1 million and stripped of draft picks in 2002 when the scandal was revealed and Silvagni publicly linked to under-the-table payments and the AFLâs investigation.
A lot of relationships were tested in these times and Silvagni, who was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2005 and named full-back in the AFL Team of the Century, moved on elsewhere, taking an offer from his good mate Ross Lyon to be an assistant coach at St Kilda in 2007.
He spent four years at Moorabbin before he landed the much sought after gig as list manager for expansion team Greater Western Sydney where he had better-than-average access to some of the best young talent in the country.
There were plenty of hits and some notable misses there â Kristian Jaksch (No.12, 2012), Cam McCarthy (No.14, 2013), Jarrod Pickett (No.4, 2014), Caleb Marchbank (No.6, 2014) and Paul Ahern (No.7, 2014) â before he was persuaded to return to his roots.
One of Silvagniâs best friends, Mark LoGiudice, took over as Carlton president and he reached out, luring Silvagni back to Princes Park at the end of 2014 as list manager.
It was an exciting time for the club which in June that year celebrated its 150th year and when Silvagni was named alongside John Nicholls, Stephen Kernahan, Bruce Doull and Alex Jesaulenko as the five greatest players to play for Carlton.
There was a potential curveball given Silvagniâs son, Jack, was showing promise as a junior and the Blues took him as a father/son selection in the 2015 national draft.
Initially it wasnât a drama as Jack found his feet in the AFL, before Ben joined him on the list via the 2018 national draft
It was a great story for the club with three generations of Silvagnis donning the navy blue as Stephenâs father, Sergio, was also a club legend and dual premiership player.
But the gloss went off the fairytale at the start of the 2019 season when Jack was left out of the senior team for the opening month of the season by coach Brendon Bolton.
Silvagni made his disappointment in the decision clear, to the point where he stopped communicating with the coach for a time. As one club insider said: âIt was a car crash waiting to happen.â
Things had become increasingly awkward with Silvagni having to step out of list planning meetings and salary cap discussions when the subject of his sons was on the agenda.
Cain Liddle wasnât a Carlton person. He was a former Geelong player who had been hired by LoGiudice as chief executive at the end of 2017 from Richmond, where heâd been the chief customer officer.
He had commercial savvy which was the reason he was selected over former AFL executive Simon Lethlean for the job. Being an outsider meant he didnât hold Silvagni in the same reverence as the Carlton faithful.
âSOS doesnât like to be challenged and doesnât like to be held accountable,â was how one observer described the tension inside Princes Park.
âWhen youâre a champion of a club and you have been treated like your s**t doesnât stink for so long, you think you can behave like that.
âCain Liddle was the first one to stand up to him.â
The relationship between the pair quickly became toxic, but Silvagni was also barely communicating with some key football staff. He had a direct line to the president and felt he was only answerable to him.
It was an unworkable situation and, by the end of 2019, Liddle took a stand. He decided it was best for Carlton if they parted ways. Silvagni blew up and went straight to LoGiudice.
He expected his good friend to overturn the CEOâs call but instead the president held his ground given there was significant internal support for the controversial move.
The fallout was messy and ended the friendship of LoGiudice and Silvagni who are no longer on speaking terms.
Three-and-a-half years later and the ill will between Silvagni and his old club remains.
Brian Cook, who replaced Liddle as Carlton CEO in 2022, says he is somewhat confused and disappointed by the strained relationship with the club great.
âIn a nutshell I havenât spent a lot of time on it, Iâve asked various people and got various commentary,â Cook said. âIf someone said to me to try to explain the relationship, I couldnât.
âIâm more worried about the future than the past.â
Silvagniâs future is now back at St Kilda, ironically under Lethlean, where [he was appointed list manager in January.]
On Sunday afternoon the two teams clash at Marvel Stadium and everyone will be on SOS watch. Will he be in the St Kilda rooms or in a corporate box supporting Jack with his family?
There is a third option ⌠in the carpark.
while we had the chance. It was a mistake not to do so. Imagine having Logan McDonald playing if thatâs who we ended up picking?