Chief Advertiser footy scribe and FIVEAA’s Michelangelo Rucci has ridiculed Port Adelaide’s push to have Essendon pay the wages of Angus Monfries and Paddy Ryder, saying the argument is “foolish”.
Now at the Power, Monfries and Ryder have both been slapped with a 12-month ban for their part in Essendon’s 2012 supplements program, but Rucci says paying them is not Essendon’s responsibility.
“I’m a strong believer in that because you’ve got two clubs being Port Adelaide and St Kilda that talked players away from Essendon and made them offers,” Rucci said on SEN radio in Melbourne.
“In the end it’s not as if they were looking at Carlisle and Ryder not aware of what they were exposed to as a risk factor.
“The argument Port Adelaide has against Essendon is foolish – but the argument Paddy Ryder has against Essendon is a different one.”
David Koch says Port Adelaide shouldn’t have to pay suspended players
Port Adelaide chairman David Koch said on FIVEAA that the club were given incorrect information when they recruited Ryder.
“I’m a little bit intrigued about some of their due diligence where they say they took their issue to the AFL and their advice was that virtually no one would be banned,” said Rucci.
“How does the AFL have the right to tell anyone about how a judicial process is going to play out?
“I found that bewildering.”
St Kilda and Port Adelaide have both lodged applications with the AFL to enlist top-up players to replace those suspended, which is something Essendon has done.
“There’s a fair bit to unfold here particularly when they’ve already set an agenda with Essendon and top-up players,” Rucci said.
“I don’t see how they can walk away and say that rule won’t apply to everyone else that’s affected.”
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