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A heated war broke out on the radio between AFL great Warren Tredrea and veteran sports journalist Caroline Wilson.
The fuse was lit when Tredrea – who has a radio slot on FiveAA in South Australia – picked up a phone call from an angry Port Adelaide fan calling for coach Ken Hinkley’s head.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: James Brayshaw sends a message to Warren Tredrea.
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The fan vents to Tredrea and called Hinckley a “fraudster”.
“He (Hinckley) said he had the roster, he sold our top future draft picks to get the roster. Now he’s saying he’s gone, he’s a fraud,” the fan said.
Tredrea, a club legend and Premiership captain, joined The Port Adelaide Board in February.
When the fan finished speaking, Tredrea simply replied, “Cool.”
Wilson took offense at this response.
“I want to start with a question for Warren: Are you still on the Port Adelaide board after your comments the other night?” Wilson asked Tredrea during a FiveAA segment.
“I was really surprised by your response to this caller and really surprised that you seem to be at odds with the head of football, Chris Davies, following his observations about the list.”
Tredrea said that claim was “completely incorrect” and that he was not at odds with Davis.
He also said he was disappointed in himself after his “cool” response to the angry fan.
“(It) wasn’t an endorsement, it was an acknowledgment of the caller. And I understand the content of his call, it was one of about 300 that we took that night,” he said.
Wilson replied: “Even without comment, Warren? There’s not even a comment saying the coach isn’t a cheater?’
Tredrea said there are a lot of fans who have “let their spleen loose” and it’s not up to him to “police their comments”.
“I have been very, very supportive of Ken Hinckley both publicly and personally,” Tredrea said.
But before Tredrea joined the board, he made headlines in April last year when he told the Big Deal podcast that Hinckley’s position as head coach was “untenable”.
And Wilson objected to Tredrea’s lack of authority during the fans’ on-air remarks.
“Warren, I’ve done a lot of radio shows. If someone calls in with an opinion that’s unfair or that I don’t agree with, I say so, and I think Stephen does, and I’ve heard you do,” she said.
“I don’t think it was enough to say ‘good decision’ and leave it at that, considering the boy asked for Ken to be removed almost immediately.”
Tredrea accused Wilson of giving him a “good job” despite the fact that he was on air to clarify and apologize for his one-word response to the fan.
Wilson had suggested on a television program that the club was furious with Tredrea, but Tredrea stressed that was not the case and no one was angry.
“I got a text message (from the club after talking to a fan),” Tredrea said.
“I called them and said, ‘What’s the problem?’ They said, ‘Oh, that’s a good thing to call.’ I said, “Okay, great, I’m going to go off the news, I’m going to explain that this is not an endorsement, (I’m just confirming) the caller.” And that should have been the end of it.
“But it seems you then went on the air when I had already clarified my situation and you still went on the air with a successful job.”
Wilson said she “did not accept” Tredrea’s explanation.
“Well, that’s how I made it,” Tredrea said.
“You chose to look at it as you chose to look at it. Then you say Port Adelaide is a divided club – that’s complete nonsense. There is nothing to suggest (this).
“Well, who tells you we’re not separated? That we are separated? Because every discussion I’ve had with the football club has been absolutely supportive of Ken Hinkley, his tenure, the current coaches, the role we play in trying to be better, and then we have this.
“It was just poor for me. I clarified my comments, you tried to make a mountain out of a molehill and Port Adelaide was not boiling.
Wilson said she reported the situation accurately.
“I never said Port Adelaide was seething, I said there was a level of frustration and I still believe that…” she said.
“And I’ve been told a few times and we’ve talked at the Hall of Fame, I know people have been pretty happy with your performance (on the board) so far, but I think after a loss like last week and the level of frustration and unhappiness, concern and uncertainty that comes as a result of these losses, what your club needed was all hands at the pump.
“It’s not just someone saying ‘good decision’ at the end of a speech that describes the coach as a fraud, the president as having an ego that will influence his decisions, and calls for the coach to be removed before the next round.
“I think it deserved a better response than ‘good call,'” she said.
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