Essendon great Matthew Lloyd has criticised the club’s decision to use rookie forward Tex Wanganeen as an untried medical substitute in his debut match.
After making the club’s list just over a month ago, Wanganeen, the son of club legend Gavin Wanganeen, was named as the medical sub in Essendon’s 22-point loss to Brisbane on Saturday.
However, despite the fanfare surrounding his debut, Wanganeen was resigned to the bench for the entirety of the match, with Essendon not activating its medical substitute, despite late injuries to Nik Cox and Zach Merrett.
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The move was called “demeaning” to the Wanganeen family by AFL Sunday Footy Show host Tony Jones, and Lloyd too was unimpressed by what took place.
“I don’t like it,” he told the Sunday Footy Show.
“Gavin Wanganeen’s out there presenting him (his jumper), he had family fly over, all these arrangements yet the person doesn’t play one second of football.
“When it’s such a special moment – we can all talk about our first kick and what the experience was like – they’ll ask him and he won’t be able to say anything.
“I think wait ’til they’re good enough to be in the 22 to give them their first game and that special occasion, rather than have them sit there for the whole game.
“What do you do with him this week? Do you drop him or do you (give him a game)? I know Wanganeen-Milera was the sub for St Kilda last week, they’re going to play him this week because he got that experience last week.”
Following his side’s loss to the Lions, Essendon coach Ben Rutten explained the thinking behind naming Wanganeen as the medical sub.
“He’s not far away,” Rutten explained.
“With Tex, we really like a lot of things that he brings, we love what we’ve seen throughout pre-season. But he’s also missed a lot of footy over the last couple of years, whether it be COVID, or he’s had some injuries as well.
“We think we’ve got a long-term player in Tex, and we want to make sure that we’re setting him up to succeed. But having said that, he’s getting really close, and we were obviously prepared for him to play.
“We wouldn’t have been unhappy (if he played).”