Mark Duffield - Editorial

**Mark Duffield** (0:08)
Mailing WA for WA. This is Mornings with Mark Duffield on SENWA.
Hello everybody, welcome to the SENWA Radio Studio. We're out here at Optus Stadium. It is a Tuesday morning in Perth. It is chilly.
We're here thanks to Beaumont Homes. Award-winning design, built to be loved forever.
It will be sunny in the world's best city today, but atop of just 16 degrees and just 8.4 degrees outside. At the moment, made in WA for WA, this is Mornings with Mark Duffield on SENWA. So two stories caught my eye yesterday, or more to the point, one story with two key threads. So Codesport is reporting that Collingwood is now the front runner to obtain the services of dual Brownlow medalist, Lockie Neal, via the offer of a three-year contract worth somewhere between $2.5 and $3 million, which would literally blow rival offers from clubs, including Fremantle, who it is said would offer Neal a two-year deal worth somewhere between $1.2 and $1.5 million to try and get him back to the first club that he played for. Now, the reason why Collingwood would offer Neal so much money is Coach Craig McCrae's want to keep topping up with players to try and stay relevant in the Premiership conversation. And this is where the second strand of this story kicks in. There is a strong belief from some that if the Magpies aren't in contention, then the club runs the risk of losing Nick Dacos to a more highly rated and competitive rival. Now, to the Neil question.
If the Pies want him, then I'd be saying have at him. He'll be 34 next year. He had a significant calf problem last year, and that's the old man's injury. The Magpies will already be either making calls or managing the following players. Darcy Cameron, who will be 31 Jamie Elliott, who will be coming off serious injury and will be 34 Jeremy Howe, who will be 36
Daniel McStay, who will be 31 Tim Membrey, who will be 32 and turning 33 early in the season. Darcy Moore, who will be 31 and can't get out of his front door without twanging a muscle somewhere. Scott Pendlebury, who's going to be 39, who hasn't ruled out playing on yet. While Steele's side bottom will be 36 at the start of the season. So that's eight players well into their 30s, and Membrey and McStay aside, all closer to the top end of the Collingwood list than the bottom end. You add Lockie, and the best of luck with all of that. What should be added to this is that if Nick Dacos seeks a trade from Collingwood to go to a more competitive club because he can't be convinced they are still in contention, then the AFL should move immediately to scrap the father-son rule for good. The minute that that hits the airwaves, you can trigger the outrage. What about tradition? What about romance? Et cetera, et cetera, and blah, blah, blah. But if a bloke like Dacos leaves, you can label the tradition and romance as bulldust, bulldust, and more bulldust. So some father-sons stay and play at one club over their entire career. Some leave and play for other clubs, and some who could be father-sons never represent the clubs their fathers played for, and none of this hurts footy. But what affects the competition's fairness and integrity is that father-sons have regularly impacted the outcome of AFL Premierships in the past 20 years. Gary Ablett Jr., Matty Scarlett, Tom Hawkins at Geelong in 2007 and 2009, Hawkins again in 2011, Heath Shaw and Travis Cloak at Collingwood in 2010, Tom Liberatore, Lockie Hunter, and to a lesser degree, Zane Cordy at the Bulldogs in 2016, Josh Dacos, Nick Dacos, Darcy Moore at Collingwood in 2022, 2023, sorry, two Ashcrofts and a Fletcher at Brisbane in the past two seasons.
Now, Footy doesn't die. It doesn't even suffer a flesh wound if a potential father-son goes on to glory at another club.
Brisbane's Premierships have included a father-son who wasn't, and that is Josh Dunkley, who wasn't father-son by Sydney where his father, Andrew, played and he's played in Premierships for the Bulldogs and Brisbane. The first Brisbane flag also included Joe Danaher, a father-son at a legendary Essendon family who left the Bombers to play somewhere else for more enjoyment. The anomalies don't end there. Travis Cloakes' father, David, played 114 games for Collingwood and 219 for Richmond. He played in the Tigers' 1974 and 1980 Premiership teams. The Pies luring Travis Cloakes had little to do with romance and tradition and a lot more to do with the Magpies being able to satisfy the Cloakes' family. Possibly, maybe even by taking Travis' less talented brothers, Jason and Cameron with father-son picks before Travis arrived. If Dacos leaves the Pies, it'll just be more proof that footy is a business for players, and who your dad played for should have nothing to do with where you end up. 487 736 736 is the text line. Let's have your thoughts and questions. 1312 55 is the Barra and O'Day open line.