COLLINGWOOD president Eddie McGuire has slammed Gold Coast's poaching of Western Bulldogs fitness coach Justin Cordy as a contradiction in the AFL's quest for equalisation.
Speaking at a pre-match function before the Magpies hosted West Coast at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, McGuire described the development as an "anathema".
"I couldn't help but wonder when Mike Fitzpatrick, the chairman of the AFL Commission, made such a big issue about, 'Don't overpay the phys-edders. We can't give you idiots at clubland money because you just spend it on phys-edders'," McGuire said.
"We do spend money on trying to produce the best footballers to produce the best standard of play, and to achieve what we all want to do, which is to win.
"Sometimes the clubs and the AFL are at cross-purposes – we are in a competition; they're in a marketing exercise.
"To see the Gold Coast Suns, the AFL's team, going out and knocking off a senior executive from another club – mind you, (they are) world champions at it because they did it to our football director last year and made him coach in Rodney Eade, continue to do so …
"And not only that, but to knock them off from the Western Bulldogs, who are just starting to get going …
"It's the anathema of what they're trying to talk about that every given weekend (any team can win).
"I'm staggered by it."
McGuire was concerned that such issues could affect the standard of football and in turn diminish the AFL brand at a time when the game was under increasing threat from other codes.
"John Elliott was derided once when he said, 'No one barracks for the AFL.' And he was 100 per cent right. Yes we have to help (clubs) … but at the same time what we can't do is drag them down," McGuire said.
"We want to build our competition. We want to protect our great game … but we think that the AFL have just got this philosophy wrong and we need to stop it before it's proven to be the case."
The Collingwood president's criticism comes after Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said on Friday that the Suns had "crossed the line" in their approach to Cordy.
"We really rate Justin and he's been fantastic for us and I find it really interesting that they'd head hunt from an AFL club – I find that really disappointing," Beveridge said.
"Justin is a contracted member of our staff and for me it's really disrespectful for the Suns to talk publicly about their new relationship with him.
"In some ways, they've crossed the line and it's disappointing."
