Dermott Brereton has set the record straight about his comments related to a debate centred around Daisy Pearce and Wayne Carey.
Legendary AFL caller Rex Hunt took aim at Channel 7 for replacing Carey with Pearce for Friday night football.
Brereton defended Hunt in a recent story published by the Herald Sun.
The Hawthorn great clarified his comments and voiced his displeasure at a headline that was attached to the story.
“I felt for Rex because Rex is from a different era,” Brereton told SEN’s The Run Home.
“Rex made a comment and perhaps Rex didn’t get it quite the way that we would’ve liked to have heard his comments, but he had his opinion.
“No matter which way you receive them, Rex probably didn’t say it in a fashion that befits 2022. I think that’s a fair comment.
“But Rex is a legend of our game, so basically my feelings were don’t p--- on Rex. He’s a statue. He’s an ornament. He’s a legend. He’s got it wrong, let’s let that go.
“I passed comment on that and then Alice Coster called me from the Herald Sun and asked me, ‘What are your thoughts’.
“My point being it’s the plum job and Daisy’s a tremendous caller and a high-quality person and very, very capable. But this is Wayne Carey, so Rex’s comments were about those two and if left to my choice, my selection is Wayne. I would choose Wayne. It’s the plum job.
“Alice asked me another couple of other questions … and that sort of came through well enough in the article, but then there was a heading put on it which was none of my words whatsoever which says Derm … and then says, ‘Daisy a Lame Duck’.
“I thought, ‘How dare they do that. It’s not my words’. So I contacted Alice and said, ‘You’ve let Daisy down with that title, you’ve let me down with that title’ and she blamed the sub-editor which is a common fallback position for journalists.
“I thought it was a little disingenuous because the heading of it wasn’t my commentary, but it made it sound like I was negative towards Daisy.
“All I’ve done is said that Wayne’s my favourite. Daisy’s very good, but Wayne’s my favourite.”
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Brereton said further: “I’ve contacted Daisy.
“I won’t tell you what she said to me, but she was very polite and calm about it. She’s a high-quality person with very good principals.
“As I’ve said, I prefer Wayne as a caller, but if I was in the position of putting together a call team, I’d have Daisy on a Friday night. It makes sense, it absolutely makes sense.
“Calling to a market that needs to be catered for and she’s good at her job and I think it makes 100 per cent sense to have her there.
“That got lost in the article too.
“Alice was very kind and she chatted to me for 15 to 20 minutes and you tend to allow people in when you take them on face value and their kindness.
“She was lovely, but she let this slip and she let me down.”