“I do not use illicit drugs”: Melbourne coach Goodwin has “had enough” of rumours, character attacks
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has once again vehemently denied all accusations of illicit drug use.
Speaking in-depth to SEN Breakfast, the Melbourne coach and CEO Gary Pert spoke candidly on three years of allegations and attacks.
News Corp has reported consistently for the last three years that Goodwin used illicit substances at the Sorrento Hotel, with former president Glen Bartlett leading the charge against the coach.
Bartlett was pushed out the door in 2021, reportedly over disagreements regarding Goodwin’s behaviour.
Asked directly about whether he used illicit drugs, Goodwin couldn’t have been clearer, saying: “Never”.
“And I’ve said this over a three-year period now and it’s pretty ordinary that I’m actually sitting in this position and having to justify that situation,” the premiership coach added.
“I know where it happened in terms of a rumour from down in the Mornington Peninsula where it was clearly going around.
“That for me was really concerning and bizarre at the time. It then led to an allegation. An allegation that was fully investigated by Gary Pert and the club about what that might’ve looked like – and there was nothing in it.
“I do not use illicit drugs. I give everything I can to my family and my team in a way that dedicates my life to my football club and to have this play out over three years where my reputation has been caught up in a board room battle.
“It has been documented over and over and over again in the public and it’s been really hard for myself, my family and enough is enough. I don’t use illicit drugs and I never will.
“When it’s such a sustained period of time and there’s no fact to the rumour, it is really tough on your family.
“I certainly don’t condone illicit drugs and it has been widely accused that I have a behaviour and lifestyle that’s just not acceptable.
“Do I enjoy having a beer and a punt and a glass of wine with mates? Of course I do. I’m a pretty straightforward type of guy, but I live my life in a way that is a dedicated approach to my career and my football club and my family.
“The rumours have to stop. It’s gone way out of control from a board room battle into court documents into republication and rehashing of a story over and over again to the extent where it’s become a ‘fact’, which is just not fair and it’s gone from a rumour, to an allegation, to a fact and it has got to stop.
“I’ve had enough and I think as an industry we need to be better than what we are today. We’re starting to really hurt people in this game too much through this period of time.”
Pert reiterated Goodwin’s frustration, saying he has worked hard to get to the bottom of the illicit drug rumours, believing them to be categorically false.
“I’m disgusted with what has played out over the last three years. Three years ago there were rumours going around, and like we do with other rumours, we checked them out and we take them the full length to establish whether we have any issues. For three years now I’ve been saying that this has been fully investigated,” Pert said.
“Every single person who is spreading this rumour at the time I spoke to and all of them said the same thing – ‘well I’m only passing on what I got told by someone else’, so I’d go back through the chain and took it all the way back to what seemed to be where it started from.
“The one or two people where it started from all said ‘we haven’t referred to drugs’, they were referring to the fact that Simon was down at the Mornington Peninsula at the Sorrento Hotel with some of our senior players – they were living there at the time because we were training at Casey Fields and they were having a beer and a bet on the races and that’s literally where it got to.
“Now, I’ve made it very clear publicly for three years, and I presented that to the board at the time when I said I would investigate it, Glen Bartlett who was the head of the board, the rest of the board signed off on that and accepted that there was no further action required.
“There’s been no new information, there’s been no new people come forward, so nothing has changed in that period of time and it’s really been disgusting to watch it play out and I’ve felt really quite helpless to watch Goodwin go through this. The whole family has had to wear these constant attacks and it’s something that’s got to stop.
“There’s been no facts, there’s been no merit, there’s been no substance at any stage. I’ve never seen rumours flare up like this for years.”
Former AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan became involved in the situation in late 2020, telling Pert: “I know for a fact your coach is out drinking with players at the Sorrento pub – are you crazy? That doesn’t work. Hanging out with his players, drinking and betting – just the wrong behaviour. There has to be enough distance. You need to respect him and like him, don’t have to love him, but respect him. You can’t be doing that s--t. You have to make tough decisions. It doesn’t work.”
These comments were revealed by News Corp in the aftermath of their reports.
Pert strongly disagrees with McLachlan’s assertations and believes his commentary did not help the situation.
“It certainly doesn’t help that the AFL CEO said that at the time, especially since I totally disagree with him and I said that at the time,” Pert said.
“If our players were not wanting to have a beer with the coach because they don’t have a relationship with him, especially when they’re living in the same suburb over summer, I’d have an issue with that.
“My biggest problem with Simon is that he’s too focused on his footy, he spends too much time on it and I want there to be balance. It’s the only way you have a long career in the game and as a head coach, you’re totally absorbed by it.
“I made that very clear to Gil at the time. I do not have a problem with the head coach going to his local pub, which is run by one of his best mates, and having a drink with two of the most responsible senior players we’ve got – I loved the fact that that happened.”
News Corp re-reported last week that the Demons and Pert were ‘scenario planning’ for the sacking of Goodwin heading into 2021.
Responding to those claims, Pert said any conversations had on that issue at the time were good governance and immediately shut down once their investigation yielded no facts.
“What comes out would be standard practice. As the governance of the club, we think of possibilities,” he said.
“It was a very simple conversation which was ‘if we have a problem with a senior leader within the club’ – and it was raised at a board level confidentially to say ‘what if we did have a problem’ and you go through the contingencies, that is good governance. That would apply to anyone.
“There was no requirement for it because the investigation proved that there was no facts and there was no merit. It died and it was never talked about again.
“That’s why it is so frustrating and all of the people, everyone knows the third parties that have been driving this for three years, all of them for three years have been very aware that there is no substance or fact in this whatsoever and they continue to drive it.”
Goodwin plans to head to New Zealand to get away from the Victorian footy bubble before the Demons head into the 2024 pre-season.