Essendon star Darcy Parish‘s on-field exchange with skipper Dyson Heppell has been downplayed, with club great Brendon Goddard among those encouraged by what took place.
The incident occurred as the Bombers headed towards their huddle at quarter-time of their 16-point loss to Port Adelaide on Sunday, with Parish and Heppell at odds over what had taken place in Essendon’s goalless opening term.
Parish and Heppell’s exchange, which also included defensive duo Jake Kelly and Zach Reid, as well as vice-captain Andrew McGrath, seemed to spark Essendon, who outscored Port six goals to five in the final three quarters of the match.
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“When you’re under the pump, issues like this get highlighted and they get manifested in a way that they perhaps shouldn’t,” Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes told Nine’s Footy Classified of the exchange.
“I actually don’t mind this. I think this is what good clubs do, you have a discussion about this on field.”
However, Cornes did take issue with Parish turning his back on Heppell towards the end of the pair’s conversation.
“You would love for him to engage rather than walk off there, Darcy Parish,” he said.
“You want to make sure your house is absolutely in order with everything that you’re demanding of your teammates, and I’m not sure that has been the case defensively with some of his efforts this year.
“At a good club, no issue. When you’re going through a rough time, this looks pretty ugly, and I don’t think they’d review that and think that was a good look.”
Cornes’ view was backed up by Goddard, who said Parish’s actions showed his development as a leader.
“It’s good to see (Parish) do it because it’s probably not in his nature,” Goddard said.
“He’s quite a bit of an introvert and I’d say it’s not natural for him to do that, in terms of having strong conversations with people. I thought it was great.
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“Obviously, I’ve been part of it in the past, but when teammates are playing in a game of sport like football that’s a highly competitive, emotional thing, there’s going to be some discussions that are had that are urgent, that sometimes look over-aggressive. But that’s just what happens.
“When the good teams do it and they’re winning, then it’s showing good leadership and strong leadership, but when it’s a team that’s losing or going poorly, all of a sudden it’s stepping over the line.”