St Kilda CEO Matt Finnis has addressed Caroline Wilson’s claim that senior leaders at the club asked Seb Ross and Tim Membrey to remain with the team for Saturday night’s loss to Adelaide.
Ross and Membrey missed the Round 13 match against the Crows in Cairns to return to Melbourne to be with their partners with Wilson questioning their decision to head home given the club’s finals hopes were on the line.
“I think supporters and sponsors and members and other teammates would have every right to be a bit disappointed,” Wilson told Channel Nine’s Footy Classified on Monday night.
Finnis was quizzed about the situation on SEN’s Whateley. See the key questions below:
Whateley: “Are there senior figures at St Kilda who have misgivings about either Seb Ross or Tim Membrey missing Saturday night’s game for family reasons?”
Finnis: “No. There are no misgivings.
“What I will say is that like any organisation that’s in a highly competitive industry, we debate these decisions. But ultimately, once decisions are made, we get behind the players and we give them our support and we get on with our business.”
Whateley: “Were there senior leaders at the football club who asked Seb Ross to stay with the team?”
Finnis: “What we did was to check if there’s anything more that the club could do to help the guys feel support.
“I think our players know, and we’ve got a pretty consistent record of this as a footy club, is that we’ll always put family first and they’ll be supported with those decisions.”
Whateley: “Is there a significant level of disappointment in Seb Ross at the club?”
Finnis: “No, I don’t think so.
“You can be disappointed, but you can be understanding. I don’t think emotions are mutually exclusive. As a CEO, I’d love to have our best players on the park, but I do that every week. But as a father, I also understand that we’ve got to prioritise what we know is important with our families. No one can know that except for the family themselves.
“I just feel like sometimes we can have a lack of empathy about that in the way in which these things are discussed.”
Whateley: “Caroline Wilson had a level of detail that meant she had spoken to people who represented that side of the debate that had misgivings and disappointment. Have you spoken to people within the football club to ensure there is unity in support here?”
Finnis: “I don’t need to go looking for that. We’re having a lot of conversations right now. You just know that the players get on with things. I spoke to Seb yesterday and Tim was in yesterday as well.
“Our focus was making sure those guys understand that they’re supported.”
Whateley: “Should they have been with the team?”
Finnis: “They shouldn’t be with the team once they’ve made the decision. Their families require them to be at home.
“We’d like to think that the football media can respect that you’re not always going to understand the intricacies of each individual.”
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Whateley: “Are you disappointed with how this has gone?
Finnis: “Caro’s called stuff out which has had great benefit for our game, but I would have handled that differently in the sense of naming the player’s partner, publicly speculating around medical issues where none of us can be fully aware of that context.”
Whateley: “Have you spoke to Caroline in the aftermath?”
Finnis: “Yes.”
Whateley: “Did you express that view to her?”
Finnis: “Yep.”