AFL journalist Damian Barrett has questioned some of North Melbourne’s off-field appointments following Geoff Walsh’s return to Arden Street.
Walsh is back at the Kangaroos in a short-term advisory role in the club’s football department, making it his third stint at the Roos.
SEN’s Sam Edmund reported on Saturday that Walsh’s arrival blindsided North Melbourne CEO Ben Amarfio.
Walsh, a former CEO of the Roos who was present during their 1996 and 1999 premierships, will work with senior coach David Noble and football bosses Daniel McPherson and Brady Rawlings.
Speaking on The Sounding Board podcast, Barrett also took aim at Paul Roos’ consultancy role and Glenn Archer’s stint as club director.
See Barrett and Craig Hutchison’s discussion on North Melbourne below:
Hutchison: “Is this a good move?”
Barrett: “No, not with Geoff.
“There are a few other footy people out there who I would’ve thought might have been a better option than Geoff.”
Hutchison: “Why do you say that? He went into Carlton last year and helped with their review and that seems to have worked alright.”
Barrett: “He was also at Collingwood at a time when their own salary cap was blown, and they had to move on key players.
“He left North Melbourne twice – once as CEO and once as footy operations boss – to go to the greener pastures at Collingwood on two occasions and now people at the club have decided to bring him back to tell them what they should know to fix themselves.
“If this was Richmond footy club in 2008 or 2009, I’d be saying the same things. If there was an equivalent … just insert club name here.”
Hutchison: “Do you think it spells trouble for the coach?”
Barrett: “Yeah. But again, why couldn’t the board itself make that decision? Why couldn’t even other people at the club make that decision? Why do they need Geoff Walsh to tell them they’re broken, and they’ve got no idea what they’re doing? That’s pretty much where it’s at right now.
“They’re already paying Paul Roos as a consultant all the way from the States.
“Maybe the new consultant Geoff Walsh can as a first and starting point review the consultancy role that Paul Roos has had.
“Because if he’s done something, it’s not obvious, of any positive note.
“There are still a few people at the footy club who were there when Geoff was there last time around.”
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Hutchison: “Is it a case of the old army? At what point is this team going to get progressive?”
Barrett: “Anthony Stevens has just replaced Glenn Archer, who blew the club up and then walked away.”
Hutchison: “It’s unnecessary language ‘blew the club up’.”
Barrett: “The decisions have blown up.”
Hutchison: “Glenn is all heart. He’s done all he can … you can’t dispute his motives. He’s been fantastic.”
Barrett: “You might have wanted him to stay the journey on the decisions that he made, wouldn’t you? Is that fair?”
Hutchison: “He probably got to a point where he realised he made one or two bad ones.”
Barrett: “One or two?”
Hutchison: “It’s not easy.”
Barrett: “No one asked him to do it. No one asked him to trailblaze in. Don’t forget, he’s left a couple of times himself and came back.
“No one said, ‘Hey Glenn, come and fix us up’.
“They were going Ok there for a while, and OK is relative, I get that.”