‘You should apologise': AFL legend, journo in heated clash
St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt has demanded an apology after his comments were called 'sexist' during a heated TV exchange on Monday night.
The Saints champion and veteran football reporter Caroline Wilson exchanged verbal barbs on Channel 7's The Agenda Setters as the panel discussed North Melbourne's abysmal 101-point defeat to Geelong on Saturday.
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Wilson said it was now up to North Melbourne president Sonja Hood and chief executive Jennifer Watt to come out and address the club's woes in public.
Wilson said it was also up to Hood to scrutinise the club's football department and coach Alastair Clarkson.
Riewoldt said Clarkson would not be happy if Hood decided to question the four-time premiership coach's operations, despite the club enduring another disastrous season where they sit 17th on the ladder with just four wins this season.
Nick Riewoldt gave Caroline Wilson both barrels. Photo: Channel 7.
Hood was on a public relations drive and was full of praise for Clarkson when he was appointed coach of the Kangaroos on a five-year deal that reportedly made him the highest paid coach in the sport.
Riewoldt described Hood's behaviour at the time 'sycophantic' with Wilson taking umbrage to the term.
'That is bordering on sexism,' she said.
'If a male president had lauded getting a premiership coach … you wouldn't call it sycophantic. I bet you wouldn't.'
Riewoldt responded: 'What are you talking about … I resent the fact you think that's a sexist comment. That is a ridiculous thing to say.
'How is someone being sycophantic got anything to do with their gender?
'That's ridiculous and you should apologise.
'It's not sexist Caroline.'
Wilson said she was not going to 'cop' Riewoldt's comment.
Nick Riewoldt and Caroline at three paces. Photo: Channel 7.
'You're making ridiculous statements like that. You're wrong to say she was sycophantic,' she said.
'You should apologise to her Nick for calling her sycophantic. That's ridiculous.'
The tension seemed to have simmered when the show returned from an ad-break.
Wilson last week made plenty of headlines when she put Channel 7 host Craig Hutchison on the spot asking him not to fire her on air.
The pre-planned segment, which Hutchison clearly did not know was going to happen, related to the media mogul's awkward appearance on radio network RSN last week after he announced a raft of sackings at the station.
Earlier this month, the TV host's SEN group purchased RSN in a $3.25 million deal and immediately set about cutting costs, including giving popular hosts Daniel Harford and Michael Felgate the flick.
Many long-time listeners of the station only learned the news when Hutchison fronted Felgate's Racing Pulse show last Thursday.
So Wilson took the opportunity to make a cheeky plea over her own future on the Channel 7 show.
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Set up by Riewoldt in a section called The Spill, the former St Kilda captain put the vague question to Wilson: 'The hour on air of the Agenda Setters is the highest risk of all.'
The long-time Age reporter replied: 'Well, certainly if you're on air with Craig Hutchison.
'This is no respect, disrespect I should say, to Michael Felgate or Daniel Harford for that matter.
'But if you're going to remove me from the show, can you please not do it with me on-air?'
Wilson delivered the jab with a straight face and Hutchison did not take it well.
'This is not something to joke about,' he shot back.
There was plenty of drama elsewhere on Monday night with Channel 9's Footy Classified showing previously unseen footage of Giants captain Toby Greene appearing to kick Swans defender Dane Rampe in the groin region.
The new vision shows Greene lashing out, kicking directly behind him between Rampe's legs during a heated confrontation before the start of the game.
Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd, on Monday night, told the AFL and new general manager of football performance Greg Swann the league needs to come out and make a public statement about Greene's uncovered act.
Originally published as 'You should apologise': AFL legend, journo in heated clash
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"[The earthquake] being in Russia and so far away from where we are ... there wasn't really alarms going off here like there was on the North Shore of Oahu [in Hawaii]. "It was pretty chill. The comp wrote in our group chat about it and kind of warned us, a few protocols, but nothing was ever too serious. "We were down there at 6am looking at the conditions early and everything seemed all good. It was never too much of a worry." At the end of another lay day when he spoke to the Herald, Baker was hopeful for better surf come Friday (AEST). The US Open of Surfing begins with a men's round of 80, which Wilson will start in, but Baker, Callinan and Cibilic begin in the round of 64. The Challenger Series (CS) began with Newcastle Surfest in June, and had its second stop in South Africa last month. After a round-of-64 exit in Newcastle and only advancing to the round of 32 at the Ballito Pro, Baker is ranked 42nd ahead of the Huntington contest. Callinan is ninth, Cibilic is 24th and Wilson, who missed the South African event, is 71st. Given this week's event is the third of seven CS contests, there remains plenty of time for Baker and his countrymen to improve their rankings as they chase a return to surfing's top tier. Only the top-10 ranked CS surfers qualify for next year's Championship Tour. "It's definitely not the start to the year that I would have wanted," Baker said. "You'd think having your first event in Newy, I would have much rather got a result like Ryan [second]. "But I'm super happy for Ryan, he is in a great position to get back on tour. For me, I just want to join him, so that fuels the fire to get on the horse and start to get some points. "This event hasn't really been the best one for me in years past, but I've been putting in the work. Everything feels good; the boards, my body feels 100 per cent, which it hasn't been before, so I'm definitely happy about that ... the only thing I can control in these small conditions is my head space and take it heat-by-heat. "To make some heats and gain some confidence would be amazing heading into an event that I really love over in Portugal and then into Brazil where I did well last year." Baker fell off the Championship Tour in mid-2023. Callinan dropped out mid-season this year. Cibilic hasn't been in the top tier since 2022, while Wilson is making a professional comeback after retiring in 2021. Jackson Baker's thoughts quickly turned to the people of Hawaii when tsunami warnings were issued after the Russian earthquake, warnings which extended to America's west coast where he is waiting to compete in a professional surfing contest. Baker and fellow Novocastrians Ryan Callinan, Morgan Cibilic and Julian Wilson have spent this week waiting for some suitable surf to develop at Huntington Beach in California. The iconic break is hosting the third event of the Challenger Series, the World Surf League's second-tier series which surfers compete in to try and qualify for the following year's Championship Tour. The contest has had several lay days due to what Baker described as "pretty much dead flat" conditions, but took an interesting turn on Wednesday (AEST) when news of the earthquake prompted tsunami warnings across the Pacific. "Day one when I got here, which was a Friday, it was super fun, pretty standard Huntington. Literally since then it's become un-surfable," Baker said, speaking to the Newcastle Herald from America on Thursday (AEST). "I heard the tsunami warning but was never really super worried about it, knowing that Hawaii was in front of us and that was an area they were worried about. "[The earthquake] being in Russia and so far away from where we are ... there wasn't really alarms going off here like there was on the North Shore of Oahu [in Hawaii]. "It was pretty chill. The comp wrote in our group chat about it and kind of warned us, a few protocols, but nothing was ever too serious. "We were down there at 6am looking at the conditions early and everything seemed all good. It was never too much of a worry." At the end of another lay day when he spoke to the Herald, Baker was hopeful for better surf come Friday (AEST). The US Open of Surfing begins with a men's round of 80, which Wilson will start in, but Baker, Callinan and Cibilic begin in the round of 64. The Challenger Series (CS) began with Newcastle Surfest in June, and had its second stop in South Africa last month. After a round-of-64 exit in Newcastle and only advancing to the round of 32 at the Ballito Pro, Baker is ranked 42nd ahead of the Huntington contest. Callinan is ninth, Cibilic is 24th and Wilson, who missed the South African event, is 71st. Given this week's event is the third of seven CS contests, there remains plenty of time for Baker and his countrymen to improve their rankings as they chase a return to surfing's top tier. Only the top-10 ranked CS surfers qualify for next year's Championship Tour. "It's definitely not the start to the year that I would have wanted," Baker said. "You'd think having your first event in Newy, I would have much rather got a result like Ryan [second]. "But I'm super happy for Ryan, he is in a great position to get back on tour. For me, I just want to join him, so that fuels the fire to get on the horse and start to get some points. "This event hasn't really been the best one for me in years past, but I've been putting in the work. Everything feels good; the boards, my body feels 100 per cent, which it hasn't been before, so I'm definitely happy about that ... the only thing I can control in these small conditions is my head space and take it heat-by-heat. "To make some heats and gain some confidence would be amazing heading into an event that I really love over in Portugal and then into Brazil where I did well last year." Baker fell off the Championship Tour in mid-2023. Callinan dropped out mid-season this year. Cibilic hasn't been in the top tier since 2022, while Wilson is making a professional comeback after retiring in 2021. Jackson Baker's thoughts quickly turned to the people of Hawaii when tsunami warnings were issued after the Russian earthquake, warnings which extended to America's west coast where he is waiting to compete in a professional surfing contest. Baker and fellow Novocastrians Ryan Callinan, Morgan Cibilic and Julian Wilson have spent this week waiting for some suitable surf to develop at Huntington Beach in California. The iconic break is hosting the third event of the Challenger Series, the World Surf League's second-tier series which surfers compete in to try and qualify for the following year's Championship Tour. The contest has had several lay days due to what Baker described as "pretty much dead flat" conditions, but took an interesting turn on Wednesday (AEST) when news of the earthquake prompted tsunami warnings across the Pacific. "Day one when I got here, which was a Friday, it was super fun, pretty standard Huntington. Literally since then it's become un-surfable," Baker said, speaking to the Newcastle Herald from America on Thursday (AEST). "I heard the tsunami warning but was never really super worried about it, knowing that Hawaii was in front of us and that was an area they were worried about. "[The earthquake] being in Russia and so far away from where we are ... there wasn't really alarms going off here like there was on the North Shore of Oahu [in Hawaii]. "It was pretty chill. The comp wrote in our group chat about it and kind of warned us, a few protocols, but nothing was ever too serious. "We were down there at 6am looking at the conditions early and everything seemed all good. It was never too much of a worry." At the end of another lay day when he spoke to the Herald, Baker was hopeful for better surf come Friday (AEST). The US Open of Surfing begins with a men's round of 80, which Wilson will start in, but Baker, Callinan and Cibilic begin in the round of 64. The Challenger Series (CS) began with Newcastle Surfest in June, and had its second stop in South Africa last month. After a round-of-64 exit in Newcastle and only advancing to the round of 32 at the Ballito Pro, Baker is ranked 42nd ahead of the Huntington contest. Callinan is ninth, Cibilic is 24th and Wilson, who missed the South African event, is 71st. Given this week's event is the third of seven CS contests, there remains plenty of time for Baker and his countrymen to improve their rankings as they chase a return to surfing's top tier. Only the top-10 ranked CS surfers qualify for next year's Championship Tour. "It's definitely not the start to the year that I would have wanted," Baker said. "You'd think having your first event in Newy, I would have much rather got a result like Ryan [second]. "But I'm super happy for Ryan, he is in a great position to get back on tour. For me, I just want to join him, so that fuels the fire to get on the horse and start to get some points. "This event hasn't really been the best one for me in years past, but I've been putting in the work. Everything feels good; the boards, my body feels 100 per cent, which it hasn't been before, so I'm definitely happy about that ... the only thing I can control in these small conditions is my head space and take it heat-by-heat. "To make some heats and gain some confidence would be amazing heading into an event that I really love over in Portugal and then into Brazil where I did well last year." Baker fell off the Championship Tour in mid-2023. Callinan dropped out mid-season this year. Cibilic hasn't been in the top tier since 2022, while Wilson is making a professional comeback after retiring in 2021.
