North Melbourne AFLW champion Jasmine Garner says the club’s women’s team has “a bit of mixed emotions” about the recruitment of Nick Blakey, but the playing group is backing the club’s leadership.
Garner, a dual premiership midfielder, spoke after North Melbourne’s AFLW win over Essendon on Sunday, days after the Kangaroos completed a trade for the former Sydney defender.
“Yeah, obviously decision’s been made (to recruit Blakey), and it’s probably a decision that’s brought on a bit of mixed emotions,” Garner said, as reported by 7NEWS. “It’s something we’re working through as a group, and for us, we’re really backing in the leadership of Jen and Sonja.”
Jen Watt is North Melbourne’s chief executive and Sonja Hood is the club’s president.
“For us as well, like obviously we know we’ve got finals to play. We’ve got a big few weeks to play, so we also want to focus on that and our performance,” Garner said. “But yeah it’s definitely a decision that brings a lot of mixed emotions.”
Read more: Nick Blakey Traded to North Melbourne From Sydney, Reports Say
“We were spoken to”
Asked whether the team had been consulted enough before the decision, Garner said: “It’s probably one that we’re still probably working through but, yeah, we were spoken to and at the end of the day I think we’re backing in Jen and Sonja and their leadership.”
The Age reported that Hood and Watt spoke with the AFLW team about the decision to recruit Blakey, but that the meeting was not a forum to object to the move, Nine reported.
Garner’s comments followed North Melbourne list boss Brady Rawlings’ press conference last week, when he said he was not in the meeting where the trade was raised with the club’s AFLW leaders. “But clearly we’ve got Nick in through the door … so clearly our leaders are comfortable (with) everything that’s going on,” Rawlings said, according to 7NEWS.
Blakey’s move to Arden Street
Blakey was one of five Sydney players who served a club-imposed ban through the AFL finals for breaching the Swans’ behavioural standards at the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne. 7NEWS reported that the club sanction was separate from an ongoing Victoria Police investigation, that no charges have been laid, and that there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Blakey.
In a statement released by North Melbourne after the trade, Blakey said: “I want to say that I’m sorry for the events that led up to my exit from Sydney. I know I have to win back the trust of the broader community, football and otherwise.”
Blakey, whose father John played in two premierships for the Kangaroos in the 1990s, joined North Melbourne on an eight-year deal worth more than $11 million, 7NEWS reported. Garner said the AFLW group’s focus was now on its finals campaign.
More News
