Former Carlton list manager Stephen Silvagni has provided his perspective on a number of players that have raised questions in the Blues’ orbit in recent years.
Silvagni, who departed the club at the end of 2019, spoke in depth about the aspects of the Eddie Betts trade that he didn’t agree with, the recruitment of Mitch McGovern, the drafting of Paddy Dow and more.
Read his thoughts below.
Eddie Betts
“We all agreed that Eddie Betts should come to the Carlton Football Club. We all agreed on that, but it was at a price in terms of what the deal looked like and what his deal looked like,” Silvagni told SEN Breakfast.
“When someone above decides to change those rules, the reason you get a little bit annoyed and frustrated at times, is when we went into the Carlton Football Club and it wasn’t just myself it was Andy McKay and Steven Trigg … our list wasn’t in a good state and neither was our salary cap.
“You work really hard to get your salary cap and TPP into a position that you can look after the players now and you can look after players in the future, but when certain people start splashing money out after we all agree what that payment should look like and particularly as a list manager, when you’ve got to look after other players and other managers, and you’ve got a 17-year player sitting there who you’ve actually just done a deal with and you look eye to eye with them and say ‘this is all we can pay you’ and he’s been very loyal to his club, and I’m talking Carlton, and then another player comes in (Betts) that you’re bringing back and then you want to pay that player more than the player that has been sitting at your club, I don’t find that fair.
“We all have a responsibility to make sure the players that are loyal to the club are looked after and when you have players at clubs overrule your decisions that you’ve worked so hard for, and because they want memberships to look great or they want the accolade that they’re bringing someone back, is their intention the right intention for the Carlton Football Club and I don’t think it was.
“100% (it was a decision by Cain Liddle to go over my head).”
Tom Papley
“The Tom Papley approach got a little bit messy. When you have a contracted player you have to work with their management group really closely and also that manager needs to condition (Sydney) and give them some significant time to get themselves prepared should a deal be able to get done,” Silvagni said.
“When it comes at the last minute and it’s really difficult for clubs to do deals because they need to be respected and search the marketplace and get their list into order and see what else is out there, but when it comes late those players that are contracted, it’s very difficult to get done.
“For me, on that deal, we gave Sydney a very good offer, but you’ve got to understand he’s contracted to them and they opted not to accept their deal and that’s what happened.”
Dan Butler
“Dan Butler was certainly in the equation at some point, but as a list management team we decided not to go there,” Silvagni said.
“It’s really difficult. Eddie Betts was coming in, Tom Papley was supposedly coming in and then you had Butler as well.
“Ultimately you’ve got to be able to get the deal done and you also had Jack Martin coming in as a forward as well.
“At some point you’ve got to say which ones are your priority and which ones are you going to let go and be respectful to that player and let them go and search for another club.”
Brandon Ellis
“We certainly had a discussion about him, we obviously met him, was he a priority? Probably not high priority, but certainly there was interest depending on whether we got our other priorities through the trade period,” he said.
Mitch McGovern
“Mitch is a great guy and I think he has got a lot of talent. I think Mitch was a better player at Adelaide than he has been at Carlton.”
“Which I guess is a bit his own fault because of the way that he prepares and gets up for training each week, but I just feel as though the club hasn’t done him any favours because they’ve played him when he’s been unfit and out of form.
“We needed to get a player through to the club and he’s got some x-factor and particularly with the key forwards we’ve got there, he’d be something from left-field that would be really hard to match up on, particularly with Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay. I thought Mitch could get out on the loop a little bit.
“But having said that, he probably hasn’t delivered. He needs to get moving a bit because he has got talent, but for what we got him in the club for and what he’s getting paid, he needs to get moving.
“I just think he’s been given a bit of a free ride at the minute and this is just my opinion, I think he’s been very lucky to play a lot of footy this year.”
Charlie Curnow
“I think Charlie is a special player, but people are going to need to be patient because he hasn’t played for two years,” Silvagni said.
“He’s going to need some time to get his touch back.”
Paddy Dow
“What I do know is Paddy’s first year was very good. Second year he battled, probably second year blues, but having said that what I do know about his season this year, he barely did a pre-season and he was injured for most of the year.”
“Then you’re in a hub situation where even from a form point of view, you’re playing 12 versus 12 games and then trying to pick up and play at AFL football at the highest level.
“I think Carlton supporters need to realise Paddy was injured for most of the year.”